Big Island - South Island Coastal Loop Driving Tour

Posted By : Carol_W
Beware that this tour does NOT include Volcanoes Natl Park even though the park is located on the South Loop. One of the side trips the tour recommended was completely inaccurate. There was an option for clockwise and counterclockwise loop. But only the counterclockwise loop seemed to work for us. The sections that worked properly were informative. I assume that some of our issues could have been due to operator error. An easy way to access help would be great.
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Posted On : 2023-12-10

Posted By : P2969XFlisac
This was a fantastic way to see the sites, get lots of background knowledge, know where the bathroom stops are and all the "extras" such as recommended hikes, spots to eat, etc.
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Posted On : 2023-11-30

Posted By : Diane_W
We never could get it to work. Was very disappointed in it. I wish it would have worked. The idea was great just didn't work on my phone
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Posted On : 2022-07-14

Posted By : Candyce_M
This was a great way to experience the island on your own! It was a long day but you have the option of making all the stops or just the ones that interest you most. The only suggestion I would make is that I would have liked the hours of stops included as we had a couple of places that had just closed. This was a bargain and very informative.
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Posted On : 2022-04-29

Posted By : Sharon_G
I enjoyed learning some history and fun tidbits during my drive. I definitely feel my tour of the Big Island was enhanced by using this app.
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Posted On : 2021-11-30

Posted By : imacutiger
Amazing app! We used three of the Shaka Guide tours in Maui, Big Island and Oahu. All great! Much better than a large bud tour.
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Posted On : 2021-05-09

Posted By : john b
Our trip began in Kona the first week of March 2020. The road on the Soth Island is very good with a few areas that have rough tar but no problem. Depending on your final destination or the number of places you want to see or stop for photographs, will consume a day, if you return to your beginning point. The scenery is great of course, with many pull offs to take pictures. There are various beaches to stop at which are very nice. But, be aware that the beach might be sandy but the swimming area can be very rough and rocky. If going to the volcanic crater, call ahead or check web sites because portions of it were closed because of toxic gases. A GREAT stop is in Punalu'u, where the southern most bakery in the U.S. sets waiting for you to indulge in wonderful pasteries of various taste and texture.
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Posted On : 2020-03-26

Posted By : Shakes46
In my opinion this is the best way to tour the island. So much great information provided along the way. Take the tour at whatever pace you wish. Do all or just some of the tour. I'd choose to this over any other guided tour, where you have no control. I hope there is something like this for all our travel destinations.
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Posted On : 2020-03-01

Posted By : Bill B
I don't like bus tours generally Unless it is a small bus or van. But the app is a better choice. I had a little difficulty getting the app set up but I called and one of the staff walked me through with ease. Using the app was easy enough and fun. We took our time, lingered where we were interested and blew by what we were not interested in.
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Posted On : 2020-01-23

Posted By : MomfromMaryville
We aren't big bus tour fans but I don't always have the time to research everything. This is a good alternative and certainly a bargain. Let me explain how it works then I'll give you some tips. You must download the app either from itunes or the app store (this was free). Then in the app, select the tour you want to take, pay for it and download it before you go -- ideally while you are at home and can have your phone plugged in and using your own wi-fi. Once you are in Hawaii you select the tour and say that you want to start the tour and pick your starting point and the direction you want to travel in (most of the tours go in a circle so you can go clockwise or counter, depending on what time you want to reach a certain spot. We had a number of issues with the tours. First, we stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Village which is on a loop road. Many of the tours did have a starting point near us -- and you needed to drive through the starting point to trigger the GPS to play the program. The problem was that the starting point was actually at the midpoint, on the main road between the two ends of loop (think of a u with a line on top). We were on the right side of the loop, so we'd go up and out the first exit and for several of the tours we knew we needed to head south -- to the right. But this wouldn't take us through the loop. Following directions to the starting point and turning left triggered the start but then we were going the wrong way and initially didn't realize it. We'd gotten the bundle and found that if we missed a turn someone had to be looking at the app to see this and turn us around. For a future edition it would be helpful to add commentary after some of the common turns that essentially said, "if you can see this you missed the turn" We traveled about 3 miles before we realized we were on a parallel road and that was why there was no narration. Our vehicle was particularly problematic to get the app to play on the car stereo. It worked best over the vehicle's Bluetooth but if I plugged my phone in to charge it, the charging cable took over the system. You'd think that wouldn't be an issue since it was the same device, just now the information could be relayed through the cord. Unfortunately the rental car USB ports were not snug and the cord was loose so the audio kept turning on and off (as did the charging). This program eats your phone's battery life like I eat popcorn at the movies. On the tours that retrace the same route coming back the audio does not play (that is, if you already drove through point 8 and then you go back through 7 and 6 it won't play those because it thinks you are retracing your steps. When we missed a step because we missed a turn and then decided to go back through it, we couldn't get it to play. I could manually hit play and have it play the information but it wouldn't do it on its own. I had it play some information we'd missed but we kept missing the end of some of the stories because we'd reach another point in the tour and it would play that. I know it sounds like a headache and you are probably wondering why I'd rate it very good. Here's why: The narration and information is very good. It does get you to see things and find things you wouldn't otherwise do. There are ways to avoid some of the problems we had and it is certainly better than being in the middle seat of one of the huge buses and hoping the guide knows their stuff. First, make sure your phone is fully charged. Second, bring a back up charger and cord (or even 2 chargers). Don't rely on your car to charge your phone. Rental cars can be finicky. If you are just using the HVNP tour, don't use the app to get to the starting point of the tour (ours couldn't give us directions -- in fact, for that tour only, it thought we were starting from Tennessee and told us we couldn't get to the park from there (true)). Use a map and the app ahead of time to locate the starting point and the direction you need to be going in. Don't just turn it on and go. Look at the stops listed and decide where you need to be by what time. For instance if you start on the Kona (west) side of the island and are going clockwise on the South Island Loop, this is a 12 hour drive and you'll be reaching South Point and the green sand beach after dark -- or if you want to eat lunch in Hilo, that won't work if you go counterclockwise. Basically you have to be aware of what you want to see and where you want to go and then this provides directions and narration. It is up to you to skip some of the points to stay on track if you want to be at a specific spot at a specific time. Turn the tour off when you stop -- this seems to help battery life. Turn the tour back on BEFORE you turn on the car. That seemed to help with the reconnecting problems it had every time we stopped the car. Make sure that whoever is driving is willing to be patient and let the person running the app turn it on, check the volume and determine if you need to go left or right out of the parking area you are in. Once you pull out in the wrong direction, if you pass a narration point it is tricky to get the app to go back. (What I did find that worked was quitting the app completely and then restarting it.) Stick to the planned route (though restroom breaks along the route didn't cause trouble as long as I left the app on and we continued in the same direction) -- you can skip stops by driving by -- the narration continues although if there is a story that is continued at that stop you won't hear it. Don't expect to finish the whole tour especially the longer one, in one day. If you have more than one tour, don't open and look at a second tour while the first one is running. It doesn't let you run two at once which makes sense, but the Kona and South Loop overlap and at one point I wanted to which tour would work better for us. This resulted in the program freezing. I had to turn off everything including my phone and reboot -- and of course we missed a turn..... If technology isn't your thing, try picking up a portable speaking before you leave home and run your phone through it. This may be significantly easier that getting your phone to pair with an unfamiliar vehicle. Remember it gets dark fast after sunset. If you are using the app and the sun just set, turn off the app, turn on your GPS and start heading back to your hotel or dinner. We had one night where I didn't turn off the app and since the phone wouldn't charge properly using the car's USB, we ran out of power... no GPS, unsure if we should retrace our route or continue on... since it had been a long day, 2 of the other 3 cell phones were completely dead and the 3rd had just enough battery to help us determine to continue the loop -- though we missed our turn off and end up driving an additional 40 minutes out of our way because it was so dark. When deciding which tour you want to do and when, look at the stops, pick the ones you are most interested in and look up hours and days open on the web. We traveled over New Year's and a number of places on the Northern coast were going to be closed then. Other places are closed Sunday. You've got to do at least a little leg work to make this work for you. I think this kind of tour is a great idea and that over time and updates these issues will be fixed. And that's a good thing.
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Posted On : 2020-01-09