Saturday, January 28, 2012

Day 10: Kona to Maui

I’m writing from beautiful Maui today -- our first day here – but let me start at the beginning in Kona:

We wake up a bit earlier than expected due to some text messages from the east coast … I guess that all just comes with the territory of traveling through different time zones haha. Luckily I am the queen of snoozing and minutes later I’m blissfully asleep again until the alarm goes off for real at 7am.

After repacking our stuff and yet another ABC Store-bought breakfast we pay one last visit to Kahalu’u Beach Park, by now my favorite snorkeling spot on Kona. Yesterday some people reported seeing an octopus, but despite all my best efforts it continues to elude me. Bummer!


I’m fortunate enough to spot two different types of eels though. First a zebra moray; the raccoon butterfly fish should be safe, it feeds mostly on crabs.


Next up a much smaller, yet glitzier snowflake moray

The current is much stronger today and it's brought in all kinds of ehhh ... what is this??



Also yet another kind of butterfly fish; the saddleback butterfly fish



Next two species that can look quite similar; box fishes and puffer fishes. We'll start with the unmistakable stripebelly puffer


Then the ambon toby



Followed by a spotted boxfish. They may not look very similar in their pictures, but when you see them darting by it's easy to mistake one for the other.


This saddle wrasse was well represented in all the areas I snorkeled but I had a hard time getting a good picture of it. Just look at those gorgeous fins!


Square-spot goatfish, with their trademark goat beard. They may look plain, but they're quite interesting. The black spot on their side that gives them their name can dissappear completely while they're resting ... weird huh.




Last but not least I spot another of my grouper friends. Can't resist taking another picture.


Time just flies by while I’m in the water and by the time we get on the road to drive to Two Step we realize we’ve already spent too much time at Kahalu’u. Takes a while to find a parking spot again, but a short while later I’m back in the water at Kahalu’u.

We pre-packed most of our luggage in the morning so we just take a quick shower and check out with minutes to spare. Last picture of the open courtyard in the center of our building.



I will miss these little guys resting on the parking lot fence


Big Island has one more National Park site – Kaloko-Honokohau -- and it just happens to be on the way to the airport, or rather we saw it yesterday and planned for it accordingly. Of course, when it comes down to it there’s very little time left for the park, but we are able to just squeeze in a short walk from the marina to the fishpond (it's shorter to park at the marina and walk from there than from the visitor center).

Two turtles are relaxing on the beach. For some reason their shells look white – maybe it’s dried salt water residue?

Another place of worship with recent offerings


One more for good measure:



Btw, isn't this the best road to the airport?

We resume our drive to the airport and find ourselves in the longest rental car return line ever (the car behind us is half in the street), but they quickly move some of the cars forward so we can at least get onto the lot. Phew, I was a bit worried there.
Check in is a breeze, literally because Kona too, is an open air airport and the tradewinds are blowing. After security we sit down at the little eatery where I finally get to try Loco Moco, a local dish consisting of egg over rice with some kind of meat (in my case, hamburger) and brown gravy. Sounds positively disgusting, but actually quite tasty.

Our plane has arrived!


This is the shortest flight I’ve ever been on, just 30 minutes, and we never even reach cruising altitude. Nice views of Big Island and Maui on the way, but I’m so tired my eyes don’t want to stay open and I try to nap – unsuccessfully.

View of Molokini near the tip of the wing. It has some of the best visibility in all of the islands and I can't wait until I get to snorkel there myself later this week.

Alamo has spoiled us for Hawaiian rental car service; we’re using Hertz today and it’s just not the same. First we have to wait a while for the shuttle so when it does show up everyone gets crammed in there and some people even get left behind. Then it’s a mad rush to the counter once we get dropped off and even though we are one of the first ones off the bus it’s still quite a while before we get a car. No choice this time either, we’re assigned slot 11 (gray Nissan Ultima) and that’s that. Not what we'd have picked for ourselves, but there's lots of leg room and enough trunk space to store all our luggage AND a cover so I really can't complain.
We’re staying with a local couple here and our lovely hostess Gloria gives us a quick tour of where we’ll be staying, plus some great info about the area. At her suggestion we drive to one of the Kam beaches to watch the sunset.




We're barely awake at this point so we stop by Tripadvisor #1 rated 808 Bistro for dinner. Oops, there's not a lot of options on the menu and a lot of “fancy food” ... tricky predicament for a picky eater like me, but even I can find a salad I like (the 808 salad with pine seeds, dried crans and papaya seed dressing) and we end up having a fabulous meal.

Somehow we wind up at an ABC store again to pick up some water and then we’re all set.

Mileage for today:


1 comments:

r.volmer said...

Good morning,
I start wondering what's more interesting, what's on the island or what's in the sea. Hawaii is really a wonderful place!
How can you tell the difference between an eel and a snake?
The wrasse are among my favourite fish. Not only it's spectacular fins, but it has lovely colours as well.
The little lizzards are cute.
I studied the picture a long time but could't find a turtle.
Love and kisses

Joeve

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