Don’t forget the tarantula. 
Sometimes you’ve just gotta say, “What the fuck?” Hopefully you can go and enjoy it. I always liked the saying, of slowing down to the pace of the islands. Hopefully you will. You can really decompress there (well, maybe not in a crowded Waikiki or Honolulu).
Another vote for Google flights. Example: 369 clams.
When planning our flights to and from Hawaii last year, I had good luck with Kayak. We ended up taking Hawaiian Airlines.
We’re in Pahoa, so it’s a drive to get anywhere. We’ve gone to the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory, took a walk down to the tide pools, but didn’t go out in them yet, walked around Pahoa Village, got some good ahi poke at a grocery store deli, ate some sushi, went to Lava Tree State Monument, went up to Kilauea and looked at the caldera, the steam vents, and walked through the lava tube, and yesterday we went on a lava boat tour to see the lava flow into the ocean.
That’s where things went wrong. We were having a great time. It was a rough ride, but we’ve been on rougher rides at Disneyland. On the way back we were going about as fast as we could go, when the boat went over a wave and there was no back to it. We must have dropped about 15 feet. Mrs. L.A.'s glasses were askew on her face, and the guy in front of her lost his. Mrs. L.A. put her glasses back, and I was looking at the crewman retrieving the guy’s glasses from under her seat. When I looked up, I could see that she was in distress. So did the crewman. Her back is injured. She was escorted to the stern of the boat where the ride was smoother, and I went with her. The captain made the rest of the trip back slowly. Mrs. L.A. didn’t want me to take her to the ER, but last night she said she wants to go to the urgent care clinic halfway to Hilo this morning. She says she needs enough oxycodone to get her through Tuesday for the flight home. She says she’ll go for a spine consultation at home. She wants to call the lava tour company to see if they’ll cover any of her medical expenses.
So our planned snorkelling is off.
I am sorry to hear of your mishap. Honolulu has some excellent facilities if you’re coming through here and can’t wait for the mainland. Straub and Queens are two of the best. And I’ve heard good things about Hilo Medical Center there on the Big Island.
We’re not going to Honolulu until Monday, but thanks for the names.
Mrs. L.A. just got up. I asked how her back was and she said, ‘It’s OK. But I hurt everywhere else.’ She said it doesn’t hurt while she’s standing, and yesterday she discovered that taking a couple of laps around the lanai feels good. She said it’s sore when she bends over, but she did just get out of bed. We’ll see how she feels after coffee.
She was having a blast on the boat ride, even the rougher trip back, smiling and laughing… until that last wave.
She’s feeling better. ‘Sore’, as opposed to ‘hurt’. We’re not going to the urgent care clinic.
Good!
Back home. We flew from ITO to HNL Monday, and spent the night at a hotel across from the airport. We took the 0930 shuttle to HNL Tuesday morning for out 1100 flight to SEA. Arrived SEA around 8 PM, and had to cool our jets for about three hours before our next flight. So we’re hanging out at Gate N11, where our boarding passes said we should be. The plane was supposed to start boarding at 2230, and by 2235 no one was there. They changed the gate. We had to go to a C gate. The Boeing 737-900 had 57 passengers aboard, including us. Why couldn’t we get an empty plane on the flights to and from Hawaii? Landed YVR at 2347. At customs, the guy asked where we were going. I said we were coming home from Hawaii. He kept asking us when our next flight was. We said we’re just going home. ‘But when does your flight leave?’ I’m like, ‘We just got in from Hawaii. Now we’re driving home to…’ ‘Oh!’ he said, ‘You’re driving.’ He let us into Canada. Found the car, paid CDN$192 for the parking, and then just a 35-mile drive home. Pulled in front of the house at 0130. Much easier than leaving from/returning to SEA. No worries about traffic, and we saved 200 miles of driving.
So Post #84. That was basically the end of our vacation. Mrs. L.A. was hurting too much for us to do anything. So we watched The Walking Dead for the next two and a half days, hung out on the lanai, and ate ‘at home’. We only went out to eat once, on Tuesday, at a sushi place. Mrs. L.A. wouldn’t stop so I could get a hot dog from a vendor at an intersection we used every time we went out, nor would she stop for Kalua pork tacos. I did snag a couple of SPAM[sup]®[/sup] musubis from a grocery store. I make them better at home. Other than that it was bacon and eggs and toast for breakfast, leftover sushi, we split a shrimp tempura and rice ‘bento’, a bit of ahi poke. and turkey-and-provolone sandwiches. (I did grill the T&P sandwiches once.) Alas, The Missus isn’t a particularly adventurous eater, and she doesn’t eat enough (IMO).
By Sunday, Mrs. L.A.'s back was still sore. IANA medical person, but I ventured a hypothesis: Since her back was ‘sore’ as opposed to ‘hurting’ (i.e., not ‘acute’), perhaps she did not damage her spine. Since her glasses were knocked off, and since she had the wind knocked out of her, I thought maybe her back was not straight upon impact, and she was knocked forward. In that case, it’s probably ‘just’ a muscle injury. A few hours ago she said I may be right. Fingers crossed, it’s not serious. She does seem to be doing better every day, and she hopes to be back at work next week.