Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Book a Car with HTH & get up to 48% OFF!

It's peak season here in Hawaii, which means there are more people wanting to see our beautiful islands. What better way to check out places like the North Shore, Waimanalo, sunrise @ Haleakala, Road to Hana, Volcanoes National Park, & Waimea Canyon than with a car, especially since many of these beautiful places are only accessible by car or expensive tours.

Car rental companies know this & have raised their rates, especially for last minute bookings (which backpackers tend to do...hehehe).

Fortunately, HTH has secured a great contract with Enterprise, with fixed rates, which means the price stays the same no matter when you book! We made a comparison today, with and without the HTH link, and found amazing savings of 48%!! Best of all, the savings are available on EVERY ISLAND!

Check out the screen shots:

REGULAR LINK ONE DAY RENTAL $90.43
( Kind of blurry, click to enlarge)


HTH LINK ONE DAY RENTAL $43.57 (click to enlarge)


REGULAR ONE WEEK RENTAL $466.43
( Kind of blurry, click to enlarge)


HTH ONE WEEK RENTAL $223.88 ( click to enlarge)

Monday, June 28, 2010

Stand Up Paddle Adventures



I started noticing paddle boarding a couple of years ago at canoes surf break. Well, it has become so popular that I even saw people doing it in Austin, Texas. So it was just a matter of time before Hostel Tours Hawaii started offering stand-up paddle adventures. HTH found an awesome guide, Ryan, who has just started his own company focusing on calm, down wind water paddles in Kahana Bay, Haleiwa, Shark's Cove, & the Leeward Coast. He took us on a great scenic paddle that started in Ka'a'awa & ended up the Kahana River, which in one of O'ahu's last remaining publicly owned Ahupua'a . Ryan pointed out various markers, including the Crouching Lion, WWII bunkers, the Kualoa Valley, & indigenous/endemic plant species used by the Hawaiians.

31 Hawaiian families live in this Ahupua'a, and we got to see them bringing in some fish using traditional methods.


After a brief lesson showing us how to stand up, turn, & stop on the paddle board, we entered the beautiful blue calm waters of Kahana Bay & headed up the windward coast.






Can you spot the turtle?



This is the Huilia Fish Pond, which is a traditional Hawaiian fishing pond still in use in Kahana. In the background, the spectacular Ko'olau Mountains.

Ryan & Cody trying to figure out what part of the awesome scenery in the Windward side to focus on, while still making sure not to run into any coral with their paddle boards.




No doubt my favorite part of the Windward paddle tour; going upstream through overgrowth and the humbling view of the Ko'olau Mountains.






A treat at the end of an awesome trip & a great work out! Stand-up paddling was not as difficult as I thought it would be, & doing it with the Ko'olau mountains as a backdrop gave us a great point of view. Thanks Ryan!


The paddle boards we used: 11' NSP.



Check out our website for more info. on the different paddle tours we offer, including Kahana Bay, Shark's Cove, Haleiwa, Waimea Bay, Leeward Coast & custom paddle/camping adventures!
Hostel Tours Hawaii




Thursday, April 8, 2010

Chum in a Cage


Summer is just around the corner, which means that the northshore swells will disipate. What a perfect time to take a 3-mile boat ride out to get into a cage & see some hungry sharks!



Perhaps one of the best things about submerging in water is the various sensations felt at once: weightlessness, the pressure on your ears, the sound of your breath going in and out of the snorkel & now, the site of sharks swimming around a cage pushed it to another limit.

One shark in particular had a couple of fish hooks attached to its mouth, surely pissing off many a fisherman. This shark should be in the cage, for thievery.


No fear felt until I stuck my head out of the water and saw their fins slicing through the water (insert Jaws music here for a Pavlovian response).
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