Maunakea Stellar Explorer van KONA

Viator describes as ‘Star Gazing’ only. In fact, it included a visit to a coffee farm and a bbq. They were fine, good even, but the expectation of a short excursion was set and not met.

Very good and great trip good experience to and guid was great to learned a lot about astronomy and space and stars

Unfortunately, we couldn’t climb the Mt. Mauna Kea, but spend great time to stargaze from the mountain next to it. John was so familiar with the star history and zodiac story, he sincerely taught us lots of episode related signs. The meal was great and two travel friends are very kind that they made great conversation with us, despite we are only Japanese. If the situation about Mauna Kea is changed, I would like to consider the next tour opportunity.

Lawrence was a great guide; knows Hawaii and the night sky. There was no "tour" of the coffee farm, just a coffee from an urn, no tasting, no staff telling us about the farm and its history. Very disappointing as we are in the coffee business and love to hear from others in the business. The property was on a steep hill and we were not able to walk around. Dinner was good, Lawrence was a good cook. The main event was the night sky and that did not disappoint. We spotted satellites, planets, stars, constellations and so much more. Notwithstanding everything else, i would recommend this tour if you have any interest in the night sky!

Nothing in the description of this tour was accuret. Lets start with the "Kona Coffee Tour and Tasting" we were taken to a coffee farm. NO tour the tasting that we were told would be many types of coffee and other things was 1 half pot if older coffee. The lady at the tasting seem to not want to be there. After being left at this pavilion for a half hour our guide came back from preparing dinner to get us. Our "BBQ Dinner" was reheated on the grill chicken and ribs, black beans from the can and a warm slaw. After dinner then driving for a few hours and after making a couple stops to check for star visibility. We finally pulled over on the side of the road and set up for an hour and a half. Your guide TODD needs to get his star facts correct also. Just because things are bright in the Hawaiian sky doesn't mean they are the brightest in the sky in other parts of the world. The snacks an drinks that were to be provided were a joke. Tour time was suppose to be 6ish hours was over 8.5 of which we spent 5 hours just driving in this van. I could have done this tour myself in my own vehicle in half the time. DO NOT SPEND $200 a person for this tour. There are cheaper options that I assume provide the same outcome.

We were fortunate to be the only ones on this tour. Marcus was our driver, cook and astronomer. We had an interesting tour of a beautiful coffee farm where Marcus made us a delicious barbecue dinner. Then we drove to a location to observe the stars while we watched a long lasting beautiful red sunset. With great enthusiasm, Marcus showed us many astonishing and beautiful celestial delights as the clouds disappeared to show us the beautiful night sky. We learned so much about astronomy which my husband has recently taken up as a hobby.

5hviezdiciek dam soferovi a ostatne je 😥z10hod. vyletu som videla coffee farm ,zapadajuce slnko ktore sa nedalo kvoli stromom odfotit a pozorovanie hviezd z ulice 7hod.som stravila v autobuse po tme nic som nevidela NEODPORUCAM tento vylet ! Ziadna Mauna Kea za 158£😣