Voice of Travel

On the contrary, my favorite part of Hawaii was when I was in below freezing temperatures. “But isn’t Hawaii always hot?”, you may ask. Along the ocean you won’t need a jacket very often but on the island of Oahu are some of the biggest mountains in the world.

On top of Mauna Kea is a group of international astronomical observatories and telescopes. A guided tour up steep unpaved roads can get you there for an amazing experience. About halfway back down the mountain is where the real fun begins. Set up shop with a couple of powerful telescopes and you can have incredible views of the night sky.

With the naked eye, the view is unobstructed. No streetlights or porchlights to make the night sky blurred. You can literally see hundreds of stars and even the presence of the cloudy vision our own galaxy, Milky Way, itself.

Dress warmly. Even halfway down the mountain it is still very chilly when you are outside for a prolonged period watching the night sky.

We were extremely happy using Mauna Kea Summit Adventures for the tour and highly recommend them.