Hawaii 2019 (page 6 of 11)

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Day 6

Mike got in another 5 mile run first thing in the morning, and Greta went for a walk and explored some of the shoreline along Ali’i Drive (crashing waves everywhere). Today was supposed to be our Manta Ray Night but it was cancelled due to high surf. Since our Dive Operator only offers this dive on Tuesdays, she recommended we contact Jack’s Diving Locker for a dive later this week. Jack’s had openings on that night’s dive (bigger boat), but we opted to schedule for Friday night instead, when the surf was supposed to be less wild. We had a light lunch at the condo (left over poke, bread, crackers, cheese) and then headed out.

Mike decided since we weren’t diving today, it might be fun to drive to the northern tip of the island. We first drove into the heart of Kailua-Kona and checked out some galleries and tourist shops. Some of the places were t-shirt trinket shops, some offered paintings & $10,000 tables. Greta wanted to get a turtle for her travel collections and Mike wanted a metal petroglyph to hang in the house. We found a few things close to what we wanted, but not quite.

So we headed north, because it was noted some of the very far north towns had turned to creating small shops & art galleries, in order to survive the economy when the Sugar Cane industry left the island. We stuck drove north on Queen Kaahumanu Highway until it ended in Kawaihae, which had a small harbor. The guidebook said nothing much was in that town, but we saw a sign for a “Wood Sale” and headed that direction. Right in the small strip mall by the harbor was “Harbor Gallery” which featured local artists (aka, not full of “made in China” and not exclusive to super-high-end expensive items). It had so many interesting items, and was quite a little busy shop – especially since it was outside of any tourist area and the harbor appeared to be used mostly for industrial shipping. Greta found her painted ceramic turtle and Mike found his metal turtle. He’d seen one at Volcano National Park, and had regretted not buying it, so it was nice to find it again.

Then we headed north on 270, which eventually just ends at the top of a cliff. The guide book warned of “Vehicular Confusion” and there definitely was a bit of that. There you could park your car and look down on Pololu Valley – where a river cuts down to the ocean. There was also a trail down to a black sand beach so we through we’d try it out. It’s VERY steep. We got walking sticks from another couple coming back up the cliff and that helped. With the recent rain & wind, it was definitely a challenge the whole way down. Neither of us fell, which is good, because emergency help would be a long ways away. We got to the bottom and there was a spectacular view of the ocean as well as the valley behind us. We got some good pictures there before trekking back up. It was a 500-ft climb in elevation but MUCH easier on the way up, as opposed to down. Gravity was your friend on the way up, whereas it’s your enemy on the way down.

We took the same route back, through Kapa’au, where there’s a statue of King Kamehameha. It’s identical to the statue you see in Honolulu because this was the ORIGINAL statue. But when being shipped over to the Islands in the late 1800s, the boat sank and the statue disappeared. Years later, it was found in the Falkland Islands and the captain who’d lost it, bought it back to the islands and it was erected in Kapa’au, which is near Kamehameha’s birthplace. The tiny town of Hawi is there as well, and is also filled with small shops & galleries; if we wouldn’t have found our turtles right away, odds have it we’ d have found something great there.

We were able to see Maui on the way up, because it’s only 30 miles away. We even picked up radio broadcasts from the nearby island (we’d lost most Big Island broadcasts the further north we got). On the way back, we pulled off on “Old Coast Guard” road, to try get a photo of Maui and nearby Kaho’olawe. We got to a dead end where we were near the shore and not only got some hazy photos of the islands (the marine layer was getting thicker), but we also saw a number of whale spouts and a few whale tails. On the drive back, Greta thought she even saw a baby whale breech (jump into the air) but it was a long way away to know for sure. We stopped just north of Kawaihae Harbor, on a small residential street to watch the sunset. No green flash this time, and the clouds blocked the sun at the horizon, but it was still a good stop.

When we got back to Kailua-Kona area, we stopped at Costco to stock up on some more to drink (it sure is nice to have a full-sized fridge). We wanted to stop for dinner but that posed a bit of a challenge as a lot of places here close at 8 pm and most of the rest of them close at 9. Since it was 7:45 pm by that time, and we were tired & muddy from the hike, the nicer places were definitely out for selection. We’d seen a place called “Big Island Grille” that may have been a McDonald’s in a past life a few times, and it always seemed busy. Google had it listed as open until 9 and with something other than counter-only service (as muddy and tired as we were, we still didn’t want to stand in line and eat in a parking lot). This was perfect – casual, not overpriced, and there appeared to be a good number of locals eating there.

Mike got the teriyaki steak with sides of white rice & pineapple slaw. Greta ordered the Kahlua Pork with Cabbage, brown rice & sautéed vegetables. We also had a couple of the Kona Brewing Fire Rock Pale Ales. Everything was GREAT and definitely hit the spot after a long day. Then it was back to the condo to read a bit, do a load of laundry, and fall asleep.

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