My husband and I had the most fun week on the big island while staying at Joes. First off the house is run by solar energy, and joe has many fun fruit trees he lets you try. It was an ecotourist dream. His house is located in what feels like the middle of the rainforest, and was awesome to here the frogs at night. Its just like a 20min walk to very mermaid tide pools, which we could swim in at low tide! I personally loved the entire big island itself. It wasnt overall touristy, and joe recommended some cool things for us to do. Since we came right during the lava flows, and the park was closed, Joe recommended going a lava boat tour and interpretive hikes instead. It was awesome to see the glow of the fissures each night before bed! The loft bed an amazing view. Even though the lava is flowing right now, id highly recommend to still going to Hawaii! The island is huge and there is many other things to do and see. Hilo was a very hip place to be and only took about 30 to 40 min to get there from his house. Joe was an amazing host (and his sweet dog!) and very quick to respond and answer any questions. We hope we can go again one day. Thank you Joe!