Blog - Page 2 of 3 - Arnott's Lodging & Adventures

05Dec 2022 by Doug Arnott

The New Eruption of Mauna Loa

Adventure, affordable, Budget, Conservation, Environment, Environmental, Geology, Hawaii, Hilo, History, Nature, Outdoors, safety, Travel, Traveling, Uncategorized, Volcano, Volcanoes, Volcanology

On the evening of November 27th at 11:30 p.m., we were just getting ready to sleep when social media became alive with news of a lurid glow over Mauna Loa and that an eruption was in progress. This announcement followed months of increased activity after years of mild tremor recorded by sensitive instruments placed at strategic points on the mountain. Of course in a very short time the Internet was flooded with pictures from 360 degrees around the mountain of very strong glow. A quick visit to ever-patient HVO research Webcams on Mauna Loa's NW corner of the Caldera Rim showed the entire Caldera of Moku'aweoweo flooded with very hot fresh Lava, and for a while it seemed like it would spill out the Southwest corner toward a very steep…

08Jun 2021 by Doug Arnott

Doug Arnott Discusses our SUNSET and stargazing Mauna Kea tour

Adventure, affordable, Budget, COVID, Environment, Environmental, Hawaii, Hilo, Outdoors, Travel, Traveling

Aloha guests and future guests. My Blog today is about our Mauna Kea Summit tour and why some companies advertise the use of expensive telescopes while we use a Laser Pointer, and also why our emphasis is on SUNSET and not so much on stargazing. Most people who go up Mauna Kea, have never experienced anything like this amazing adventure, nor have they experienced the clarity of our atmosphere that has you gasping in wonder with your eyes; not even with binoculars.Many realize for the first time that we are part of a highly visible VAST galaxy that looks like a River of closely associated Stars in their Billions: this is what drove ancient Egyptians to build the Pyramids in perfect alignment with this River.If you want to look through a…

21Mar 2021 by Doug Arnott

Doug’s Blog on Visiting the Big Island during COVID

Adventure, affordable, Budget, Business, Camping, Conservation, COVID, distance work, Environment, Environmental, Geology, Hawaii, Hilo, History, Nature, Ocean, Outdoors, safety, Travel, Traveling, Volcano, Volcanoes, Volcanology, Wifi

Aloha All Visitors reading my Blog.The problem for any destination that has a Main Feature is how to draw visitors to come when that feature is not doing its thing.The burning question is whether the destination has other charms for Visitors besides its main feature.Paris without the Eiffel Tower is still amazing Paris, Japan without Mt Fuji is still rich in culture and scenery.Many have visited Italy many times without seeing Rome or the Volcanoes.And so it is with the Big Island, or as our Visitor Bureau likes to call it, "Island of Hawaii".For a start this is a BIG Island with three Huge Mountains: two over 13,000ft above sea level. One is Mauna Kea, which you can drive (4x4) or take a tourto the top, the other is Mauna Loa,…

24Jan 2021 by Doug Arnott

Mr. Arnott’s January Blog

Adventure, affordable, Budget, Business, Camping, COVID, distance work, Environment, Hawaii, Hilo, Nature, Ocean, Outdoors, safety, Travel, Traveling, Wifi

Aloha to those joining my blog..... There is a move afoot on Oahu to encourage mainlanders who want to (individually or with family) come to Hawaii for remote work, to fulfill their dream by offering good rates for longer stays into months for qualified applicants.We recently had an experience with 30 college-age students who would have gone on overseas trips but, because of Covid, had to stay in the US. This group stayed with us for 3 months, from Sept. through Nov. last year and taught us a great deal about longer-term stays, which we have never entertained before. One of the things we had to provide was really fast Internet for them, and after a new contract with Spectrum and about $4000 to a local Tech company, we had…

20Dec 2020 by Doug Arnott

A Blog by Doug Arnott, founder and owner of Arnotts

Adventure, affordable, Budget, Camping, COVID, distance work, Environmental, Hawaii, Hilo, Nature, Ocean, Outdoors, safety, Travel, Traveling, Wifi

Douglass Arnott standing in one of Arnotts guest areas. While 2020 with Covid raging around the world has presented its challenges, we find ourselves approaching Christmas with a deep appreciation for Hilo and the Big Island of Hawaii where we are based.Our small population...only 200,000 on a large island and our sense of Ohana (family) and of Kuleana (ones obligation to others) has seen us through; far better than many other places. Going into 2021 we will probably see hesitancy by our usual clients of Paddling, Hula, Soccer, Rugby, Biking, Adventure Hiking and of course our Au Pair camper groups to travel in numbers, and so we find ourselves pondering who might we reach out to who could utilize our unique Hotel and the vans and buses which used to serve…

25Sep 2020 by Sarah Garcia

Updates Around Arnott’s Lodge

Adventure, Camping, Hawaii, Hilo, Outdoors, Travel, Traveling, Uncategorized

Aloha friends! We hope all of you are staying safe and healthy. These are challenging times for everyone. I think we all have our sights set on that future when things will begin to feel safe and secure again. In preparation for that time, we here at Arnott’s Lodge have been busily beautifying, renovating, and repairing our home. We hope that when the time comes that guests can begin to move about freely again we can provide the safe, clean, secure place that we’ve always provided, but as bright and beautiful as we can make it. Douglass Arnott, owner of Arnott's Lodge, showing our new upgraded WIFI Our staff have worked hard to improve and perfect our surroundings in the recent months. We’ve renovated our outside stairwell, replaced carpeting in…

03Jan 2020 by Doug Arnott

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou from Arnott’s Lodge

Uncategorized

The Christmas Holidays have bought major occupancy back to Hilo hotels, along with the reopening of the Mauna Kea Summit road after a lengthy closure due to cultural differences over construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. As we have provided free transport to the summit of Mauna Kea to cultural practitioners for the past 27 years, we understand their passion over this issue, which is not finished but on hiatus for the winter. photo by Citizens of the World Winter weather in Hawaii usually means night temperatures can drop to the mid 60s F or 17 C with daytime temps still ranging from the mid 70s to 80s F or 23-28 C. This relatively minor change in yearly temperature averages is one of the golden reasons why Hawaii remains such an…

13Jun 2019 by Sarah Garcia

Flying to Hawaii?

Uncategorized

Some exciting changes have been going on with the airline offerings to Hawaii! First and foremost, Southwest Airlines has begun offering flights to Hawaii as of March 17th. Their inaugural flight began with nonstop service from California to Honolulu. If you have ever scoped out flights to Hawaii, you may understand why this is big news. It means that Hawaiian Airlines will have some competition, which in turn means cheaper flights to Hawaii (win!) Southwest is even offering flights to the Big Island! One of their new airport stops is in Kailua-Kona, just a skip across the island from us. Check out their interactive flight map here. https://www.sfgate.com/chris-mcginnis/article/Southwest-Airlines-Hawaii-update-13311130.php#photo-15667712 Don’t get us wrong, we love Hawaiian Airlines. They’ve consistently offered the most options domestically to fly to Hawaii for a long…

10Sep 2018 by Sarah Garcia

Hurricane Season in Hawaii

Adventure, Conservation, Environment, Environmental, Nature, Ocean, Outdoors, Travel, Traveling, Uncategorized

Guess what time of year it is! That's right, it's hurricane season in Hawaii! Every year from the beginning of June to the end of November, Hawaii has its eyes on the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Japan, watching for weather disturbances. The Central Pacific Basin, in which Hawaii squarely sits, is monitored constantly by NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.) Our busiest month for hurricanes is usually August, followed by September. Let's be real: Hawaii is in a blessed spot. Hurricanes rarely strike us directly, and there are some good scientific reasons for this. First, Hawaii is a small target in a big ocean. The Pacific is the largest and deepest ocean on the planet: it covers about 63 million square miles and contains more than half of…

10Sep 2018 by Sarah Garcia

Hawaiian Terrestrial Life

Conservation, Environment, Environmental, History, Nature, Outdoors, Travel, Traveling

Sitting outside on the lanai, enjoying a cool drink and relaxing sea breeze, listening to the crashing waves in the distance...and then you hear it. This small, two-tone animal call. Most visitors to the Island think it is a small bird….but what bird is awake at night? It is actually a tiny, invasive frog endemic to Puerto Rico; the Coqui Frog. They are only one of the many species that somehow managed to find their way to one of the most remote islands in the world. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"] The size of an adult coqui frog[/caption] As you travel around this beautiful island of Hawai’i, the diversity of plants and animals across the island is absolutely amazing! However, there is a darkness to that beauty. Much of what is…