Hawaii – Snorkeling Again in Honaunau Bay
This is our last full day in Hawaii and we decided to take another easy day. We decided to go snorkeling one last time. Tom tried to persuade me to hire some snorkeling equipment, especially some sort of flotation device, while we were in Kailua-Kona last night. I would dearly love to do it but I’m too scared. As I’ve said before, I am frightened of water and I know I would panic if I had to be in any water where the bottom was a long way away.
(Click the images for a larger version)
But first of all we had breakfast. Our treat today was banana stuffed French toast. After breakfast we were given a short tour of the coffee farm. John showed us the old coffee barn. It is a tall, wooden building which has been converted into a bedroom. It’s one room contains a rustic queen bed with a mosquito net, a sofa and closet with a toilet. The shower is outside. It is really quite romantic and isolated and with a view of banana trees and an unobstructed view of the night sky. In our room we have no view of the sky at all as we are surrounded by tropical vegetation. The barn was originally used to dry the coffee beans.
John then showed us the coffee plants. The coffee beans are bright red and look like cherries. The skin is easy to peel back. Inside there is a soft pulp surrounding the white coffee bean. It achieves its dark brown color after roasting. Johnsie joined us and she pointed out pineapples, mangoes, starfruit, bananas and many more. If there was more time, we would have loved to explore thoroughly but being conscious that they had work to do we left them to it.
At Honaunau Bay the tide was much higher and a lot of the places on the rocks were taken. Also, to get to them, we had to wade through water. The regulars had already gathered and we sat within earshot of them. It was fascinating to here bits of their conversations. One guy, who had just returned from snorkeling, was relating his tale of spotting an eagle ray nose out an octopus from the coral and eat it.
Tom went in a couple of times and really enjoyed it. He saw lots of brightly colored fish but no turtles or dolphins. When the sun became unbearable we left the rocks and walked the short distance to Keoneele Cove with its sandy beach. It is a very small beach but plenty of room for us and there was just a mother and her small boy there, though later her husband arrived by kayak. I did venture into the sea but did no snorkeling. It was nice to sit in the warm water for a while. We sat there and ate a very meager lunch of the cheese sticks and biscuits left over from the day before yesterday and the banana cake from the beginning of the week.
We spent a good few hours there though just enjoying our last visit here this trip. I wonder whether we will ever make it back here. I hope so.
After a quick shower to wash off the sun block and to get the sand out of from between our toes, we drove
into Kailua-Kona. We took our last walk down Alii Drive and back along the promenade towards the pier. Today there is another cruise ship out in the bay and the passengers were waiting for the boats to take them back to their ship. Nearby is the place where the Ironman Triathlon race will start next week.
Time for something to eat. Tonight we decided to try out the Kona Brewing Company but it was difficult to find without a map. We did spot it but walking to it was a different matter. After wandering round a small strip mall looking for a place to get through, we eventually found a gap and made our way round to the entrance. It was crowded, even though it was only 4 in the afternoon. We did consider sitting outside because the weather was so pleasant but we were put off by the smokers so decided on a table inside. Tom tried out the beer and ordered a pizza. I stayed with the iced tea and, as I wasn’t all that hungry, ordered a pupu, or more commonly known as a starter, for my meal of tomato, mozzarella and basil.
It was time to go back to the farm and start our packing. Our flight is tomorrow lunchtime. We have had a really great time here and I love it. We can highly recommend the Pomaika’i (Lucky) Farm B&B, with Johnsie’s fabulous breakfasts, as a place to stay. Our only negetive commet on the Big Island is that the rest of the food here is not that great. The restaurants have been interesting places to go to but the food has not been outstanding at all. Surely there are some nice restaurants.
November 09 2008 | Further Afield | No Comments »
