Maui would be the best bet for you guys…..great beaches and maybe you might get to see some whales….

The bad news: the whole island chain is made up of volcanoes.

The good news: most of them are extinct.

Three places for you to look at in Maui County:

The Hana side of Maui: one pricey resort and some mom and pop places. There are just a few sights to see over there. Lots of great beaches on that side. George Harrison has passed on, but you may spot other celebrities who have homes there. Can be accessed by infamous “Road to Hana” or by small commuter plane. And the dormant volcano it’s on hasn’t erupted in hundreds of years!

Lanai: two hotels, a bit pricey. Volcano definitely extinct. Island has one town, a company town, mostly Filipino population. Used to be a pineapple plantation, but now they grow solitude. When Bill Gates wanted a private wedding, he booked every room in both hotels and bought every plane ticket coming into Lanai. Good snorkeling.

Molokai: one fancy hilltop resort–with the island’s only elevator; one funky 1970s hotel with a chef who competed on the show “Top Chef”; one “tentalow village” on the beach.All three large volcanoes are extinct. A largely Native Hawaiian population seeking to contain tourism and development and keep Molokai the way the other islands used to be. A couple of really good swimming beaches, a bit out of the way. Remarkably preserved coral reefs for snorkeling, but you’d better go with a local from Fish ‘n Dive. They know where the sharks live, and if you’re lucky, one of the guides will have the shark as an ancestral guardian spirit!

Well, the most relaxed of the major islands in Hawaii is Kauai. I don’t know much about it, but I don’t think it has any volcanoes. The end of Feb to mid March is a great time to go because that’s when the whales are there!