Laryssa, bee docent, bares her arms to show visitors some busy bees.

Big Island Bees Museum and Tour

Captain Cook, Big Island, Hawaii

With flowers in bloom year 'round, the Big Island of Hawaii is an exhausting place for a bee. A queen bee, who normally lives up to five years in North America, wears out after only two in Hawaii, according to Big Island Bees Museum and Tours -- and they should know. Hawaii's bees work for them -- an estimated 125 million bees pumping out as much as 600,000 pounds of honey every year.

Bee Museum displays its exhibits on old beehives.

At Big Island Bees headquarters, a laid-back-looking place, visitors can walk through a small museum, learn about the history of bees in Hawaii (natives had to climb cliffs to get to natural beehives), and see the unique "apisculptures" of business owner Garnett Puett, who builds beeswax human heads that are later draped in honeycombs by real bees.

An "apisculpture" serves as a bookend for some bee reading material.

The free tour lasts an hour. Visitors watch a video of honey extraction -- vats and centrifuges surrounded by thousands of enraged bees (which is why the process is only viewable on video) -- and then walk to a screened-in area in the bee yard, where they watch a "Bee Docent" disassemble a hive and point out the babies, drones, and overworked queen, all while surrounded by more buzzing, angry bees.

There's also a tasting room and retail shop, where visitors can buy items such as macadamia nut blossom honey and reusable sandwich bags coated in beeswax.