Six weeks across Hawaiʻi Island and Oʻahu

You’ll meet your Program Instructors in Hilo and drive to Pahala for orientation. From there we tour Volcanoes National Park, usually hiking the Kīlauea Iki Trail from the crater rim to the crater floor and back. With our local host James we spend a full day building the imu pit, heating the stones and preparing the food, then return early the next morning to uncover it for our feast, followed by a musical performance. The week ends with the drive to the Kona side and our campsite at Hoʻokena.

• Orientation
• Volcanoes
• Culture

From our camp at Hoʻokena we explore the Kona side of the island and head out on a manta ray boat tour to snorkel with the mantas. Next we move to Big Island Farms near Honokaʻa and stay in the farm’s cabanas. A permaculture workshop introduces local farming techniques, a coconut workshop teaches us how to open coconuts and use every part, and a marine biology class looks at the coral reefs around the island, where we also make our own reef-safe sunscreen.

• Snorkeling
• Farming
• Marine science

We harvest ingredients for a farm-to-table vegetarian meal, then move to Waipiʻo Lodge. Two days with Na Kalai Waʻa introduce traditional voyaging canoe observation and cultural practice, from a history walk at Puʻukoholā Heiau and a knot lesson to the history of Mahukona. With Ulu Mau Puanui we learn how Hawaiians sustained rain-fed intensive farming for centuries. In Hilo we take a Hawaiian language introduction and cultural history session with Traven, then start restoring the Hale o Lono fishpond in Keaukaha, clearing debris and invasive plants and dry stacking stone walls.

• Culture
• Farming
• Conservation

A second day at the fishpond covers wall repair, mākāhā (sluice gate) maintenance and limu (seaweed) propagation, ending with a closing ceremony. Then we head up Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, to stargaze from the summit. Morning yoga sessions and time to explore Hilo round out our time on Hawaiʻi Island. We fly to Honolulu, settle into Haleʻiwa and start our surf lessons with HI Surf.

• Conservation
• Stargazing
• Surfing

Two more days of surf lessons in Haleʻiwa build on the basics, and we snorkel at Shark Cove before a free day to explore. In Honolulu we settle in at Sun Farm and spend an evening at the Bishop Museum’s Museum After Dark. Then come two days of service learning with Papahana, learning about habitat restoration and the island’s native and invasive species, and helping with invasive species removal.

• Surfing
• Snorkeling
• Service

We visit Lyon Arboretum and Mānoa Falls, then spend two mornings at the Hawaiʻi Food Bank sorting and boxing food for distribution. One evening we climb an old railway track up the rim of Koko Crater for sunset views over Oʻahu’s eastern coast. We snorkel in Hanauma Bay, inside a volcanic crater on the southeast coast, and take a guided sea kayak tour to the Twin Islands with snorkeling and a marine conservation discussion. We finish with our program wrap and reflections before flying home from Honolulu.

• Service
• Snorkeling
• Kayaking