Bay Club at Waikoloa, Big Island, Hawaii - 2001

	This is the beach at "A-Bay". There is also access at the far right through the Outrigger Hotel. Lots of shade here at any time of the day. "A-Bay" is a mile from the Bay Club and is served by the club's shuttle once each hour.
One of two pools at the Bay Club. This one has a poolside restaurant. The other is about 150 yards away.
	Beautiful landscaping throughout the Bay Club.
A very large living area in the 800 square foot, 1 bedroom condo. There is a 300 square foot lanai out the sliding door.
	View towards the kitchen. Lanai is to the right.
Some of the entertainment at the Monday night welcome party. These kids are good.
	Petroglyphs (just a few of many) nearby along the "King's Trail".
View from the helicopter in Hawaii Volcanos National Park.

The Bay Club at Waikoloa is beautiful, a great timeshare trade! Check-in went smoothly, even got an upgrade to a top floor unit when Linda said she was very sensitive to noise of people clomping around above her. The Monday night welcome party was fun with free mai-tais and soft drinks. Next day we walked out the King's Trail to see the centuries old petroglyphs, about a quarter mile from the Shell station at King's Village shops.

For the half-price volcano helicopter tour discount, we took the timeshare sales tour. Even though we didn't buy, Rick was low pressure and informative… 1 BR units were $16,900 (or $9600 for every-other-year) fee-simple and $538 maintenance fee, including property taxes. Hilton's internal exchange program, eliminating the uncertainty of RCI, sounded good. He also told us about the International Cruise Exchange that allows you to trade timeshare weeks for cruises (plus $350 pp for cruise food).

On Tuesday we drove to the Hilo airport (105 minutes from the Bay Club north via Waimea) for the Blue Hawaiian Helicopters volcano tour. This is a "must see". From the air we could see the massive lava field, venting crater, some red lava running down the mountain, lava cliffs at the ocean and abandoned streets where towns used to be. Our pilot Dave was very professional and knowledgeable; never once did we feel uncomfortable. Our helicopter held 6 passengers. The lightest couple had the upfront seats next to the pilot, the other two couples were in the back, lightest of each couple next to the windows. Over 250 lbs you pay half price for a 2nd seat. On the drive back, we saw 700' high Akaka Falls (lush and tropical) and the Waipio Valley lookout (better when the sun is higher).

On our last full day we went over to the Outrigger Hotel's beach area at A-Bay. It's open to the public and has lots of shady palm trees and beach chairs. Lunch at their poolside bar was very good and a nice change from the Bay Club. Tropical ambiance and dinner was perfect at Outrigger's open air "Hawaii Calls" restaurant.

The first night we had the early bird special at the nearby Big Island Steakhouse. Before 6:30 pm, if you ask, you get your choice of 4 entrees (fish, rotisserie chicken, 10 oz. top sirloin or terrific ribs-GET THE RIBS!) for $10.95. Other restaurants we liked were Café Pesto and Bamboo. We checked out the convenience store in the King's Village (ultra-expensive) then headed up the hill 6 miles to the Waikoloa Village market for our staples. The new Kona Safeway is a good grocery store too.