Captivated By Kona

Three AM wakeup call, but neither of us were complaining since our long awaited trip to Hawaii had finally arrived.  It's been quite a few years since we've been to Hawaii and usually we went to Maui. This time we are going to spend 10 days on the Big Island's Kona Coast with our friends Ed and Jean Morken and Dwight and Lillian Brown.  The flight to L.A. was a short 45 minute trip with a very bumpy landing.  At one moment we were looking out the window wondering how the pilot sees when he's going through all those clouds,  the next thing we knew the ground had come up to meet us.  We weren't the only ones who yelped, as most of the passengers thought like we did, that we were still well in the air going through clouds not landing in all that fog.

When you look at the pictures below you may wonder why I was already off the plane when we landed in Kona and able to take that photo of Denny coming off the plane, it's because First Class passengers exit first!  While we were in L.A. they called my name and told me that there was one seat left in First Class and it was mine if I wanted it.  I really didn't want to sit up there alone, but Denny insisted I take it and enjoy.  He had our friends to visit with so I decided to do it.

 

As it turned out, I'm thinking it was meant to be that they called my name instead of his because I sat next to a man from Hong Kong who was a sports photo journalist and had traveled all over the world.  We had a great conversation about all the countries and golf courses we both have played.  I told him about my travel blog.  He was very complimentary and encouraged me to start sending photos and articles into local newspapers.  I was very inspired by the time we landed in Kona.

We collected our luggage and got our rental car and immediately went to the restaurant a friend from home had recommended.  The restaurant was called "Bite Me."  He suggested we order whatever the "catch of the day" fish sandwich was and a Longboard beer.  It really was a great way to begin our trip, sitting there at the water, looking out at the boats and yachts, eating as he said it would be, a delicious Ahi sandwich and savoring a cold brew. 

Onward to the next "must" stop when you go to Hawaii with other couples and are staying in a condo - Costco.  We had to stock up on our breakfast food, coffee, bagels, cheerios and bananas, not to mention the wine and Pina Colada mix for our evening cocktail hour. Staying in that first night was a good idea in view of having gotten up early and the long travel day. 

The condo is beautiful - we have a two bedroom unit that we are sharing with Lil and Dwight.  Jean and Ed have a condo of their own in a nearby set of villas. The balcony is perfect and overlooks one of the golf courses. There are two championship courses on the Waikoloa resort, (The Kings and the Beach) and the concierge booked tee times for us on each.

The Big Island is very beautiful as is all of Hawaii.  Landing at the Kona airport gives you a not so gracious feeling of darkness, because of the mounds of black lava that remains since the eruption of the Kilauea Volcano from the 1800's, however the Waikoloa area where we're staying is full of sunshine and the weather has been perfect.  The few days we've been here have had temperatures in the low 80's and there always seems to be a slight breeze.  The landscape is gorgeous with plants that grow from everywhere, through brick walls and even through the rocks of lava throughout the island. The volcano continues to erupt today and is one of the main attractions for visitors to explore. It is more easily accessible from Hilo, on the other side of the island.

Our first full day was spent walking around the grounds of the magical Hilton Waikoloa Hotel, which is just down the road from our condo.  It's acres and acres of tropical gardens, lagoons, swimming pools and another area where you can swim with the Dolphins.  We probably won't be doing that but it is fun to watch the kids as they do.  There are a lot of "high-end" shops, artwork and a tram that takes you around the whole property.  There is a lovely flow of Polynesian and Asian culture throughout~ simply stunning statues and waterfalls.

That evening, we had our drink on the balcony before going to dinner and were entertained by a group of goats that came down off the hill onto the golf course and practically in our front yard, hanging out on the lava.  We ate at the Seafood Grill, which is about 15 minutes north of Waikoloa, watched a bright red sun drop into the ocean and called it an early night, resting up, gearing up for our first round of golf.