Life is Easy in Sunny Kona

We're back! Most of you already know this, since we are oh - about a month late in posting about the trip. I was beginning to think we never would, but we've been so inspired by our friend's Jill and Morgan blogging about their anniversary trip to the SW (they were smart and brought a computer with them) that we are finally taking action. So we have a ton more pictures than we can fit here, so the links in the page go to more pictures. Or you can view the whole day one web photo album here. I suggest doing both.  

Life is easy in Kona. Even the end of the airplane journey had a relaxed tone, which may have something to do with the free Mai Tai they gave everyone before landing, but nonetheless I have never been to a more casual airport. It doesn't even have walls or gates. You just get off the plane on the tarmac and they open all the doors. Plus it's full of jasmine plants, the kind I've tried and not succeeded to grow in a pot at my office. The other big bonus of flying to a small airport is that our rental car agency was waiting for us with the shuttle, since ours was probably one of maybe 10 flights in a day. Amazingly, the whole arrival and rental car thing was so easy, that we were on our way to town before we were actually even scheduled to land.

We've got a few hours to kill before we can check in. Since Hawaii is 3 hours earlier than Seattle (it's 3pm to us and noon here) lunch is in order. Since Kona is home to the original Kona Brewery, it's a no-brainer as to where we are going to eat. We got a great outdoor spot and enjoyed the boldness of the mongeese and local house sparrows as they deftly steal food from diners. Charlie enjoyed a decadent club sandwich with his Longboard Lager. I felt very proud of ordering the organic Oceanic Wit with the vegan Hippie Stack Sandwich, but honestly I think he enjoyed his food a bit more than I did.

After lunch we tooled around town, enjoying the chance to stroll around and see historic sights, including the first church, King Kamehameha's compound, and Hulihee Palace. I was pleased to see the official start to the Iron Man World Championships as people were already all over town training for the event. And of course we could not pass up the chance to enjoy shave ice, especially not when "Scandinavian Shave Ice" was on offer. The Scandinavian secret is the giant scoop of Macadamia Nut ice cream in the center. Wow.

Soon it was time to do our grocery shopping and check into the condo for the evening. We could not have been more thrilled with Sea Village. That view at the top of the page really is the view from our lanai. No joke. And we had a view of the town, very pretty at night. And we could drink Kona coffee on the deck in the morning and end each day with a sunset cocktail and dip in the pool. Perfect.

So here's the thing about Kona. They aren't kidding about the sunset. Everywhere I've traveled it's always sunset, sunset, sunset and I obligingly go to check it out and then I think, obviously these people have never seen the sun set over the Olympics in Seattle. But it's the real deal in Kona, with a perfect western view of the sea, the sun sets in all it's glory for everyone to view straight on. After seeing this on our first night, we vowed to stay on Seattle time as much as possible, and do everything with the sun for the rest of the trip. Which was no problem really as I woke up at 4:30 in the morning the first few days. And yes, that is a paddleboarder in the sun ray there. Very cool.

 

Loose Itinerary for First Few Days

DAY 1 - Arrive Kailua-Kona, walk around town, see some of the historic sights, get lunch at the brewery, get groceries, head to hotel to check-in for the night. Buy boogie boards?

Day 2 - Birding

Day 3 - Morning at Kahaluu Beach Park, lunch at Ba-Le, coffee plantation tour, birding at Kaloko-Honokohau.

Day 4 - Drive Highway 11 South to State Highway 160, stop to admire Kealakekua Bay, follow City of Refuge Road to Pu'Uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park, snorkel at two step or continue on 160 to Highway 11, stop by the painted church and the free Wakefield Botanical Gardens if it looks nice, fortify at south kona fruit stand if the mood strikes us or at Royal Kona Coffee Visitor Center or any of the many other stands we see. Things will become more scarce the further towards our hotel we get. I'll post more about that area later.

Kailua-Kona

We spend our first 3 nights just south of Kailua-Kona.

This area is the main population center of the island. We probably won't spend a lot of time in this town except when we arrive we will do our shopping here and may have dinner or lunch on occasion. We'll be in a condo, so we'll want to pick up some groceries in town. There's a costco! And safeway of course. And i think a farmer's market.

Here's a cute little map of the centro:


Thoughts about how to spend our first day:
Arrive around noon, get the rental car, get lunch at Kona Brewing Co inside the North Kona Shopping Center on the map. We'll need to do some grocery shopping, then check into hotel.

We will probably want to walk around town a bit. The brewery has a tour at 3pm. The fishermen return to the pier at 4pm.

Doug's comments on Kona town:
Kitschy, but worth walking around and seeing palace, Royal Kona Resort is a good place to grab a mai tai on the deck. Huggo's is good for seafood at sunset.

Guidebook's comments on Kona town:
Try to see Hulihee Palace (free hawaiian concert here on Aug 22, go back?), Moku'aikaua Church, and the Ahu'ena Heiau. See palace and church right.

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This map shows where the Sea Village is at (to the left of the circled one), just south of the town on Ali'i Drive in between a bunch of other resorts: