Kona, HI Day 8 6/10/10

Back to reality.  Our flight left at 1PM, so we just lazed around the condo all morning.  Jim and I had coffee on the lanai, and cut up some left over chicken to feed to our resident feral cats and 3 mongooses (mongeese??)  Then we had to do the luggage shuffle.  Traveling with a bike definitely complicates things!  But it all went pretty smoothly.

The flight from Kona to Seattle was very nice, and passed quickly.  That direct flight makes   a Hawaii vacation very easy!  Definitely the way to go!

FINAL IMPRESSIONS


Best thing topside:  Hard to say.  We didn't do much "touristy".  The condo was great. Very quiet and beautifully decorated.

Best dive:  The first dive on the last day (Manta Ray Bay), by a slim margin over the night dive.  A tiger shark, big pod of dolphins, and a manta are hard to beat!

Worst thing:  Was a great trip.  Nothing bad happened.  I would say the worst was staying in Keauhou the first two days, instead of at the Fairmont.  That made for LONG days.

Next trip. . . . Roatan in August.

Kona, HI Day 7 6/9/10

Fantastic last day diving!!  We did two reef dives, but talk about animal sightings.  On the first dive we saw a 12 foot tiger shark, a pod of around 30 dolphins, AND a manta ray.  Just a fantastic dive.  I had on my 5ml wetsuit + hood so I was toasty warm.  My bottom time was about 1:10.
On the second dive, we saw another manta ray, and reappeared several times.  Very nice reef at both sites, lots of hard coral and plenty of fish.  We've been reading that diving in Kona has deteriorated in the past few years, but what we saw was great.

After we got back to the condo and got showered, we went out for lunch/dinner at Jameson's, which is a seafood restaurant on Alii Drive that is right over the water.  They were serving an "in between" menu because we were too late for lunch, but too early for dinner.  But they had great fresh fish sandwiches!

Then in the early evening we had to take Erin back to the airport for her flight back tonight.  Then the rest of the evening was spent packing up to head back ourselves tomorrow.

Kona, HI Day 6 6/8/10

Today was our off day.  Originally, we were going to spend the day exploring Kiluaea, but we decided that would be too much time spent driving around in the car so we just decided to go to the beach instead.

We were originally going to go to Mauna Kea Beach, but their parking lot was full, so we went back to Hapuna Beach instead.  The water was much calmer than last weekend.  Beautiful beach, the only problem is when it's windy (which it has been everyt ime we've been there), if you're lying on the sand, you get brutally sand blasted.

We spent a couple of hours there, then went back to Kona for lunch at Huggo's again.  In the afternoon after we went back to the condo, the other 3 went to the condo pool so Erin could help Jim with his swimming, and I stayed here to catch up on stuff.

We're just going to barbecue chicken for dinner tonight.  Then tomorrow is our last day of diving.

Kona, HI Day 5 6/7/10

Jim and I got up and went for a run in the early morning along Alii Drive.  That was fun.  It wasn't too hot out yet.

Then the four of us piled in the van and went to tour Greenwell Coffee Farm.  I had decided that I wanted to buy some real Kona coffee, but I figured that if I was going to do that (and pay the $$$$$ for it), I'd really like to buy it from the source.  It was an interesting tour.  We got to taste the raw beans right off the tree, and saw how they dry and process the beans.  Jim and I bought two pounds, one of chocolate macadamia nut, and one of their private reserve.

Then we continued south to tour the Place of Refuge, where ancient Hawaiians who broke societal laws were spared execution if they could make it there.  Talk about a photo opportunity!!  Beautiful, very peaceful place.

We have had very good weather so far.  Typical pattern: Kona is clear in the morning and then clouds up in the afternoon, maybe some light showers.  The Kohala coast has been sunny, warm, and breezy everytime we've been there.

We had lunch at Bubba Gumps' in Kona.  It's definitely a tourist trap, but it's a fantastic location right on the water!

Later we had the main event of the day (trip?): the Manta Ray Night Dive.  It was awesome as always.  2 tanks.  The first tank, twilight dive was in a lava cavern that was shaped like a carousel, and we saw a rare, shy flame angel fish.  Very pretty!

For the night dive, we had 3 mantas show up, and they put on the usual terrific show for us.  During our "tour" of the reef afterwards, we saw 2 eels out hunting.  It was a great dive, but boy were we exhausted when we got back to the condo at nearly 10PM.  Slept GREAT!

Kona, HI Day 4 6/6/10

Today was our first day of diving.  Great day!  Just perfect conditions.  Nice flat calm seas, good visibility, a great outfit with Jack's Diving Locker, and easy clear diving!  Just what I needed after not being terribly enamored with Cozumel.

Both dives were reef dives, with the second one being a lava structure, with swim thrus.  It was very cool.  Saw lots of my Moorish Idols!

We didn't get back to the condo until nearly 3, so we had a late lunch/early dinner at Huggo's again.  I had a hamburger that was really, really good!

Kona, HI Day 3 6/5/10 Ironman 70.3

We left the condo at 4AM (ouch!), and caught the shuttle to Hapuna Beach and got there around 5AM.  The wind was really blowing!  Not a good sign, but at least the sea seemed pretty calm.

The wind died down a little, but it was still a very windy, hot race.  JM did very well, finishing in less than 5:30.  Jim got a flat tire on the bike that cost him at least 30 minutes, so that threw off his race and he decided to slow down and enjoy the rest of it, and not worry about qualifying.

There were a total of about 1300 athletes who did the race.  The host hotel, the Fairmont Orchid, was just gorgeous!  Erin and I had a good time cheering everyone on and I was really glad she was able to join our trip and I had someone to hang out with.

Neither man felt it was worth hanging around til 4PM for the qualifying rolldown so we left the race in the early afternoon.

This race was very well organized.  It certainly showed that they know how to run a triathlon on the Big Island!

After we got back to Keauhou, we went and had pizza and then basically collapsed from exhaustion.  But tomorrow we go diving.  As Jim said, "NOW I'm on vacation!"

Kona, HI Day 2 6/4/10

Well, it's a good thing that Jim and I planned things out well or today really could have been a series of frustrations.  Instead it was a long day where everything went pretty smoothly.

We are staying down in Keauhou, near where the dive shop is located.  However, the triathlon is located up in the Kohala area, 45 minutes drive away.  So we had to decide whether to be inconvenienced for two days by staying in Keauhou, or 5 days by staying at the host hotel the Fairmont.  So we picked Keauhou (which has the added bonus of being MUCH cheaper).

We had to coordinate race check in, bike check in, and mandatory athlete meeting, some of which were in different areas (the swim was at Hapuna Beach).  They had a remote parking lot with shuttle buses that shuttled you to the resort and Hapuna Beach.  It worked out great.

We left the condo at 8:30 AM and got back to it about 4:30, but everything went well, and they are all ready to go!

We had a pasta dinner at the condo and early bedtime to get ready for the big day tomorrow!

Kona, HI Day 1 6/3/10

We had a terrific flight to Kona.  We flew Alaska Air First Class.  We had yummy macadamia nut/pineapple pancakes with fresh fruit, and eggs, and sausage.  Hardly a bump the whole way.  I watched a movie and the 6 hours passed very quickly.

We retrieved our luggage (everything arrived sucessfully!) and Jim and I went to get the minivan while JM and Erin watched the luggage.  We were able to get the van via the kiosk, bypassing the line for the counter, and were in and out in just a few minutes.  It worked great.

The condo is gorgeous!  It's a new complex: Na Hale o' Keauhou.  Very nice two story townhome.

 
We went out to lunch as soon as we got checked in to Huggo's, a nice bar and grill right on the ocean, where you can put your feet in the sand.  We just ate a light snack/dinner at the condo since we ate lunch so late.

A wonderful start to our trip!  Tomorrow is the prep/check in day for the Honu Kona Ironman 70.3 that Jim and JM are doing.  Going to be a long couple of days coming up.. . .