EVEN
IN
Our second last day in paradise! The time has flown, we have done a lot but it has been a restful two weeks. Perhaps a little stress, but nothing a Mai Tai could not handle. Today we are having an unscheduled rest day. I had tried to book Nonie and I onto a snorkel cruise but none were available. The cheaper afternoon cruises book up quickly so you need to call at least 48 hours in advance. There were plenty of seats on the expensive morning tours but at almost double ($105) the costs I decided to make do with a lazy day on the lanai. We only have a few days left to enjoy our lanai. The trip snorkel / kayak trip was priced at $125 so we passed on that one also.
They are working on the road outside our condo today. They are using a jack hammer to bust up the lava under the road. It started at about 7:00 AM and continued almost non-stop till 1:00 PM. Since the entire island is made up of lava, we have seen these jack hammers everywhere. If you want to dig a hole or a ditch to lay pipe or anything else, you will need to jackhammer it. There are no basements in paradise. In 6 hours, the road crew managed to dig a ditch no more than 200” in length.
We left the condo about 1:30. Nonie wanted to go back to a small fabric shop that she had found on another outing and I wanted to pick up some additional coffee from the small mill we have visited earlier in the trip. The coffee was excellent and I had already used up one 8 oz. bag. We drove up island to the fabric shop. \
While Nonie
shopped, I went across the street to a coffee place called Bad Ass Coffee. I ordered a latte and took it out to some
small tables that were located outside and watched the world drive by. Some locals sitting next to me took and
interest in the tee shirt I was wearing, an old Peach City Marathon shirt. The
one lady’s eye sight must have been poor, as she mistook Marathon printed on
the shirt for
Nonie came back from the fabric store very happy with her purchases. She will be making new grocery bags with a definite Hawaiian / Tropical theme when she gets back home. The clerk at the store was also impressed by Nonie’s cloth bags. They have been a hit all over the island. Back in the Jeep and off to the coffee place. They recognized us from our previous visit and were surprised to see us. The owner said that no one ever comes back for a return visit. Three bags of dark roast and we were back on the road. I figure that I have about 6 months supply now. It was just after 3:00 PM and the Kailua Krawl was just starting. The Kailua Krawl is the cute and fuzzy knick name for the daily traffic jam, people face leaving and entering Kailua Kona. You cannot avoid it if you decide to drive between 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM. A local politician says it is not a traffic problem, it is a driver problem. Not sure what his re-election chances will be.
It was a slow krawl to our next destination, the Kona International Market. I am still looking for the perfect souvenir. A quick stop there then back to the condo. We dumped off our purchases and headed out for a Mai Tai. We have become big fans of the mighty Mai Tai and it will certainly be our summer drinks this year even though I have never been a big fan of rum.
Home, cleaned out a bit of the fridge for supper and in bed by 9:00 PM, Kona time, 12:00 AM, BC time. We put that off as getting ready to return to BC but I think that it was the Mai Tai talking.
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END
Our last full day in paradise and we
decided to end it with a trip to the beach, a little snorkeling and of
course a little lanai time before we leave for the beach. While surfing the TV, I came across a reality
show that I had never heard of, called Real Housewives of Orange County. It quickly captured Nonie and my
attention. It involved five pampered
wives / divorcees who lived in a walled city.
It was 90215 in real life. Their
children were obscenely spoiled. We did
not get a way till after 10:00 AM and only then because I could tape the
balance of the shows and we could watch it tonight. Pretty sad!
Our destination beach today will be Spencer Beach. We had tried to visit this beach earlier in our trip but it was closed for maintenance. It is a sheltered beach with safe swimming and some okay snorkeling. It took about 40 minutes to reach from Kailua Kona. This was definitely a family beach as kids were everywhere. We quickly set up under a shady tree and relaxed. No big hikes today. The most strenuous thing I wanted to do was turn the pages on a book. After enjoying the view for a while, I donned my snorkel and mask and headed out.
There is a huge reef protecting the bay and I saw hundreds of fish. Once again the water was murky so while the fish were plentiful, you could not really tell what colour they were. I gave up and went back to shore for lunch and more strenuous reading. I tried snorkeling again after a couple of hours but it was no clearer, in fact is seemed much worse. Maybe we should have ponied up for the $100 cruise.
We stayed on the beach till about 5:00 PM. I figured the worse of the Kailua Krawl would be over now. It was and we made good time back to the condo. A quick shower and we hit the road for dinner. I had picked out two locations and we opted for the Beach Club. Mid price range but a great location on the water! I went for the red meat special and Nonie opted for the Spear Fish special. I enjoyed both meals. We finished with a slice of Macadamia Nut pie which is a variation of pecan pie. I brought some leftover pie back to the condo for tomorrow.
Back to the condo for TEA and watch some more of that decadent reality TV show.
Tomorrow we head home. We may not have any water when we get up as they are working on the water line outside the condo tomorrow. We have filled up a few pots of water just in case.
I write this as the last few hours of our stay on the big island comes to an end. I was once again wide awake at 6:00 AM Kona time, 9:00 AM BC time and had a fresh brew of Kona Gold going shortly there after. There were two cruise ships in my front yard this morning. It should be real easy to “Spot the Cruise Ship Passenger” today. The lanai has been my friend most of the week and I plan to spend as much time with her as possible on my last day. I have decided that the lanai is a female as it just seems right.
Photo: Kailuavillage.com
I have enjoyed writing down my thoughts and our deeds of the last two weeks and will look forward to reading them again in a few years when the trip has faded from our memories. I think our patio at home will get more of a workout from me this year.
I had to return my snorkel stuff so I headed out just after 10:00 and planned to do a little last minute souvenir shopping. I picked up some Hawaiian golf balls for the boys, a tee shirt, two cute little tropical fish things and of course a tee shirt for myself that has been dyed with lava dirt and certainly captures the spirit of our trip.
Our flight leaves at 9:45 PM Kona time,
12:45 PM BC time so we will be out to the airport by 6:00 PM at the
latest. We plan to stop at Wal-Mart to
do some last souvenir hunting and to pick up a case of Chocolate covered Macadamia nuts
as gifts. Not looking forward to the
next 24 hours till we arrive in
It has been a different kind of holiday for
Nonie and I. Staying in one place has definite advantages. We bonded quickly with the condo and it
became our home. It feels a little different today. I think it is because we are leaving and
looking ahead to our home in
LA IS NOT PARADISE BUT IT HAS A STARBUCKS
It’s 6:19 AM LA time, 3:19 AM, Kona time
and we have just Starbucked. It is not
Kona but it should keep us going till we get home. This is the suckiest part of travel, the
dreaded return flight. We were able to
fly direct on our outbound flight but coming back, we had to fly through LA
with Delta and connecting to an Air Canada flight to
My blog was first started to capture our retirement life and all its little adventures. But as I have discovered our adventures really began when our last child flew the coop. I documented this trip while Nonie documented our adventures in South America in a journal while I used emails back to family and friends. Stay tuned.
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