Aloha! Love Big Island is made by three people: Joey, born and raised on the Big Island; Gerrit, her husband and the founder of this website; and Will McGough, a travel writer who covers the other Hawaiian islands. We have published Big Island travel guides since 2011, and since early 2026 we write them from Volcano, a few minutes from the entrance of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.
On this page: who we are, our mission, and how we work and make money.
Who writes Love Big Island?
Joey
Joey was born and raised on the Big Island and owns a small business here. In early 2026 we moved into her childhood home in Volcano, next to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, after a year on a farm above Hilo. She grew up with the places this website covers, and she is the reason our recommendations skew local: outdoor markets, family-run restaurants, and the poke counter over the resort buffet.
Gerrit
Gerrit grew up in Amsterdam and worked for fifteen years as a professional astronomer before turning to this website full time. He first visited the Big Island with Joey in 2008, could not find current, non-promotional information about the island, and started writing down what he learned on every visit. That collection of notes grew into Love Big Island. Since 2023 he is certified by the Hawaii Tourism Authority as a Hawaiʻi Destination Specialist & Expert. Off the clock he rides his road bike, trains Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and grows chili peppers.
These days, Joey and Gerrit spend their free time exploring the island with their three-year-old and revisiting the places this website covers. When a road closes, a beach access changes, or an eruption starts, we update the relevant guides. Every article on this site shows its last-updated dates in the sidebar.
Will McGough
Will McGough is a travel writer who lived for years on Oʻahu and is now based in Colorado. He graduated from Virginia Tech and has written for Conde Nast Traveler, AFAR, Outside Magazine, Travel Channel, Forbes, and Popular Mechanics, among others, and is the author of Swim, Bike, Bonk: Confessions of a Reluctant Triathlete. He also contributed a lot of knowledge to Love Oʻahu, our sister site. Will wrote our guides to Maui, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu, and still occasionally leads tour groups across the islands. You can also find Will on LinkedIn.
Our mission
The aim of this website is to give you current, useful, and honest information for planning your visit, while emphasizing buying local and traveling responsibly. Hawaiʻi is an intricate place, and our mission is to help keep it that way for current and future generations.
With this in mind, we carefully curate the places, experiences, and businesses we recommend, preferring local vendors and tour operators where possible. We refrain from sending you to “hidden” or “secret” spots: doing so often (unintentionally) damages these places, and visitors get hurt trying to reach them.
As we say in Hawaiʻi: malama ʻaina, care for the land. Leave the secret spots to the locals, and let the many easily accessible wonders of the Big Island win you over.
How we work (and how we make money)
Love Big Island is published by Love Hawaiʻi Guides, Inc., a Hawaiʻi corporation founded in 2018.
We do not run tours and we do not handle bookings. Unlike most travel websites, we prioritize quality over quantity and hand-pick every tour on our tours page. A tour only makes our list if it clears at least one of these bars, and most clear two:
- We have done the tour ourselves and loved it,
- The tour consistently receives excellent reviews from guests, or
- The operator gives back to the community and works to minimize their impact on the environment.
If a tour stops meeting our standards, it comes off the list. You always book directly with the operator. When you book through our site, the operator pays us a commission; the price you pay is the same either way. Recommendations on this site are never paid placements. You can read more about this on our support us page.
How can you support us?
The creation and maintenance of this website is a work of love. We do not accept donations, but there are a few easy ways you can support us.
Suggestions?
As avid travelers ourselves, we rely on the adage that knowledge is power, and we love hearing from our readers. If a price has changed, a trail has closed, or we got something wrong, please get in touch.
Credentials and memberships
Hawaiʻi Destination Specialist and Expert
Gerrit has been certified by the official Hawaii Tourism Authority as a Hawaiʻi Destination Specialist & Expert since 2023.
Love Big Island is also a proud member of the following local organizations, in support of a sustainable development of tourism to the Hawaiian islands:
Hawaiʻi Visitors & Convention Bureau
Sustainable Tourism Association of Hawaiʻi
Find and follow Love Big Island online
If you like our style, you can follow us around the web for the latest Big Island news:
- Follow LoveBigIsland on X,
- See our Hawaiʻi photos on Instagram,
- Become a fan of our Facebook page, or
- Browse our Big Island boards on Pinterest,
- Watch our videos on YouTube, or
- Connect with us on LinkedIn.
Big Island Directory
Find a list of our friends, recommended accommodations and activities, and good places in general, in our Big Island Directory.
With love and from our ʻohana to yours, we wish you a wonderful visit and many returns to our little Big Island.
Aloha mai e,
Joey, Gerrit, and Will