It was a fine morning to be arriving to the bay of Kona, Hawaii. The skies were mostly blue and the temperature was in the mid 70's. No humidity to speak of, which was nice. We went to breakfast as usual, then waited until we were called by decks to go to the US Customs and Border Protection Inspection. All we needed were our passports and room keys, which were scanned upon entering the upper dining room. Then we opened the passports to our picture page, and simply passed by the officials who did not even scan them. On the way out of the dining room, we had a green sticker placed on our room key cards. We would not have been able to get on a tender boat without that green sticker showing we had been cleared. Of course, we were able to bypass getting tender tickets, showing just our room keys to access deck A.
We left the ship around 10am, and we do think most of the tour groups had already gone to shore. There were a lot of excursions offered today and some of them were quite expensive. A coffee farm and bay snorkel must have included a lunch for 7 ¼ hours for $340. Senses of Kona for 4 hours had tastings for $320, while an Atlantis submarine dive for 1 hour was $240. Kona coffee and a cloud forest visit for 4 hours was $210, but the most reasonable tour was a 1 hour glass-bottom boat ride for $90.
The ride to shore was quick since it was less than a mile to the landing pier. There must have been leis given out because the remnants of the flower petals were scattered all over the ground. We really did not have anything in mind except getting a good walk in today after so many days at sea. Turning right, we followed Ali'I Drive, the main street, where all of the shops and eateries are located. Going this direction took us past the Hulihe'e Palace, a vacation home for Hawaiian royalty and the oldest church in all of Hawaii, Moku'aikaua Church, built in 1837. Both were closed today, but that did not stop the folks from walking around the outsides.
Kona's farmers Market has always been a very busy spot not to be missed when here. However, it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. It is the first time we noticed that this extensive market with produce as well as a wide array of souvenirs was all set up in tents. There was not one tent on the property this morning. Just an empty parking lot.
Further up the road, we were able to access the water's edge where we always remember a stretch of sandy beach. There must have been a storm here that removed the sand, because all that was left were rocks of volcanic origin. And lots of black sand crabs. Further up the road was the Kona Inn Shopping Village where there are art galleries, eateries, and numerous souvenirs shops. One of the more amusing shops is the Donkey Balls Store where they sell a variety of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. And although we did not see it, we know there is a Hilo Hattie's there. They are famous for their matching Hawaiian-style clothing for men, women, and kids.
We kept walking until we passed by the old Bubba Gumps', now another restaurant. Making our way to the Royal Kona Resort, we spent some time walking the property and sitting near their outdoor pool area. There seemed to be a good size crowd staying here, although we did hear someone mention that two days ago, the waves were washing over the wall here. Guess we got lucky with the weather today. This was a good place to turn around and head back.
Crossing the street, we walked through the Coconut Grove Marketplace where there is a nice Outback Steakhouse. It did not appear to be opened until later. We had planned on locating pizza for lunch, but when we checked the menu at the Kona Canoe Club, we saw that pizza was not longer on their menu. But a back-up plan was to try the newly-relocated Pancho and Lefty's Mexican Restaurant. Glad we did.
Climbing up a flight of stairs, we entered their patio dining on the second floor facing the ocean. This location was exactly across the way from the old place, but was much larger and nicer. We ordered two draft beers – Longboard, and they were wonderful….ice cold. Then we shared a platter of cheese nachos with carnitas (pulled pork) with chips and salsa on the side. Sure was good. We thought we might add a taco salad, but glad we didn't. We had saved room for a huge slice of mud pie, which came just like Hula Pie, covered with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. The ice cream was solid hard mocha….so good. Anyway we left happy campers.
We had planned on a walk uphill to a CVS, and also perhaps sharing a shaved ice at Scandinavian Shaved Ice, but there was not any room for it. Maybe next time. And we ended up skipping the CVS hike. We did have a nice visit with Tom M. our former host from years ago. It seems he is always surrounded with his clients and we seldom have a chance to talk. Today we did.
From there, we headed back to the tender pier and got on the boat back home. The remainder of the afternoon was spent on photo and report work. Whenever there is an opportunity to collect local information on a port we are visiting, one of us is a pack rat and picks up everything available. Today that opportunity happened along the entire Ali'i Drive. Two great sources of info were the This Week and Big Island brochure as well as the 101 Things To Do on the big island booklet both dated 2024. Scanning through the things to do, I came across some good statistics concerning the humpback whale migration through this area. These behemoths will swim 3000 miles from their feeding grounds in Alaska to mate and deliver their calves. The estimated numbers of humpbacks from 7000 to 10000 are expected to be seen this season in all of the Hawaiian waters. With that news, we began to scan the huge bay we were in and guess what? We saw whale blows in the far distance. Many of them. There appeared to be some adults and several young ones as they came closer to the ship. The young ones seemed to be doing the most breaching and jumping. They were rolling and throwing a pectoral fin as they spun in place. Then we hoped there was nothing below them causing this behavior. Like killer whales or sharks perhaps. The mothers would protect them from that we suspect. We were glued to our veranda taking photos and enjoying the show through binoculars for at least one hour. Eventually the Captain came on the speakers and announced the sightings. Nine hundred pictures later, the sun began to go down on the horizon, and their activity subsided. We were lucky to see a few of the adults diving and showing their tails, although they were not diving deep. And we did not have to take a tour to see the whales as they came to all of us. Another plus was watching the sun go down quickly on the horizon.
This evening they were having a "Glamp Out" activity in the Lido Pool area at 8:30pm. It was advertised as a camping experience with a movie, drink specials, sliders, and s'mores. We chose to go to dinner as usual, and ordered some of the items they were serving there. We both ordered the chicken tenders with a mustard sauce, learning we need to ask for extra sauce next time. One of us had an artichoke heart and risotto salad and the other a Caesar salad. Mains were a Chef Neil burger with fries and the other a sliced pork plate with macaroni salad and rice. Dessert was one upside down pear cake with vanilla ice cream. Good way to end a very busy day in Kona.
Tomorrow we will be in Hilo. Seems like we were just here. We were last fall.
Bill & Mary Ann
