Deirdre Saoirse Moen

Originally published at chair-in-the-sky.com. You can comment here or there.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is almost overwhelmingly vast. I’ve been several times, and these are my tips to help ensure you get the most out of your visit.

If you’re a hiker, there are over 150 miles of trails you can enjoy. If not, there are still several hours worth of driving and other activities.

At present, you can only see lava by helicopter. The current lava flow is actually outside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

1. Don’t forget the basics. Sunscreen, hat, water. Camera. On the sunscreen, even if you’re not hiking, that few minutes out of the car here and there add up over time. ( Read the rest of this entry » )

We were very lucky to visit Mount Arenal on our recent Costa Rica vacations. I didn’t get to see Mount Arenal on my first trip in 2012. On that trip, I only visited the Papagayo region in the northwestern Guanacaste Province.

Mount Arenal isn’t the most active of Costa Rica’s six active volcanoes, but it is one of the most accessible from Costa Rica’s capital of San José. For that reason, almost 70% of Costa Rica’s tourists visit here.

Our vantage point where I took this photo came after a drive through the Arenal Volcano National Park, where we saw white-faced capuchin monkeys and quite a few birds. We didn’t see coati in the park, but we did see some outside.

After our trip to see the volcano, we relaxed in the hot springs nearby, fed by the heat from Mount Arenal. There are many, many hot springs in Costa Rica. We happened to visit the Tabacón hot springs, which was an amazing experience with so many high-quality pools to visit!

We booked our Arenal Volcano day trip through Swiss Travel, Costa Rica’s oldest and most respected tour agency. (Currently, they’re updating their website, so I can’t link to a specific tour.)

My Forthcoming Book: Coffee & Canopy

I’m writing a book about our Costa Rica and Nicaragua vacations. My new book should be out in late spring 2015.

Want Some Ideas for Your Costa Rica Vacations?

I have blogged about some trip ideas for Costa Rica Vacations.

Originally published at deirdre.net. You can comment here or there.