When winter’s frigid grip tightens over most of the mainland—snow piling up, flights being delayed, and daylight fading before dinner—the Big Island of Hawaiʻi tells a totally different picture. In the winter here, the seaside breezes are warm, the sunsets are golden, the landscapes are lush and green, and the days start and end outside….

Picture the sun rising over the clear Pacific Ocean, the pleasant trade breezes brushing against your skin, and then—out of nowhere—a huge humpback whale jumps out of the water just a few yards from the coast, its strong fluke sending water cascading down as it goes back to the deep. Whale watching on the Big…