ch0ppersrule:
Waikiki is a busy place even during december (people come here to get out of the cold). Big surf on the North Shore also. Hawaii (Big Island) is really nice and the volcano is awesome. It will be really cold there. We stayed at Kilauea Military Camp (KMC) right in the Volcano Park in August and we froze at night. Remember-- Mauna Kea does get snow in the winter. Great places to visit, just depends on what you are planning to do outside the hotel room : ) !!
If you're active/retired, KMC is a perk that must be taken advantage of. It's within the Park boundaries, across from the public Volcano House hotel. The bungalows in front are popular; there are more inside. For larger groups, former barracks are available in back near the main outside road. There's a cafeteria and store; don't know if the bowling alley and theater are still there, it's been 8yrs or so. Nighttime temps can easily drop to the lower 50's or upper 40's during winter. Volcano N.P. is a very very special place for me.
Take the hike to the active lava flow if you can...
FYI, an unusual place to see pure native Hawaiian forest is at the nearby trash transfer station -- I kid you not. It's near Volcano Village, off the main road going up to the Park; I can't remember any landmarks except for the "Transfer Station" sign. Within 20yds behind the "dump", you're basically standing in nearly pristine pre-human native forest. I was taken there, along with others, by Bill Mull who is a well-known nature photographer and is especially known for his pictures of the "happy face" spider. A word of warning -- it's extremely dense forest and you can very very easily get lost; take a dozen steps, turn 180deg, and you're completely lost. Another place to see such native forest is on the looong road up to the Kulani medium security prison, outside of Mountain View. As you near the prison, there'll be muddy side roads into the jungle; 4-wheel drive required otherwise you will get stuck. Again, because of the density of the forest, use extreme care to avoid getting lost if you step off the road. During the Vietnam War, this area was used for classified testing of non-nuclear "special munitions". Since then, it's been cleaned up and generally safe -- well, I've balded some but I think that's because of age.
