Kona Village Paradise

December 6 - 11, 2006

At the Friday night luau

We missed our October Eastcape trip this year so we decided to look for a new vacation spot for Catherine's birthday.  Since it was later in the year and we wanted a beach with good weather I started looking into Hawaii.  Luckily my friend Lisa told me about a place she had been that sounded perfect - Kona Village on the Big Island of Hawaii.  After looking at their web-site I decided this was the spot and booked the trip.

We caught our Hawaiian Air flight out of Seattle on a cold and rainy Seattle morning and 6 hours later landed in Maui for a short stop before our hop to Kona.  The island hop was very cool as they flew directly over the top of Haleakala and tilted the jet so that everyone had a good view down the throat of the volcano.   After landing in Kona we got our rental car and headed into town to get some water and supplies before turning north to find the Village.

We got a bit lost on the way there and passed the turn-off ending up in Kohala before calling to find out where we were at and where we didn't turn.  Of course the one thing I didn't print out was the directions because I assumed there would be a sign of some sort pointing the way.  We arrived just at sunset and were given leis and juice at the office as the host tried to describe the lay of the land to us when we were pretty much just hungry and tired.  We then got picked up by one of the many golf carts, retrieved our luggage, and took a ride to our Hale by the pond.  The entire village was lit by tiki torches along the wide paths and birds were song was issuing from every direction.   We got settled into our room and then took a walk to the dining room where we were treated to a 4 course meal that was spectacular.  What a way to start the trip.

Our Hale on the Pond

We spent the week in Pond Tahitian #3, a hale by the main pond area.   Each hale near the pond is very private with trees and plants surrounding them so that you can't really see any other hale from yours.  The only view we had was out to the pond.  The front lanai stayed shady all day long so it was a good place to chill out a bit if the wind was too much on the beach.

Our hale	View from the lanai
Hanging out on the lanai
Interior of the Hale

Don't Leave the Village

That first day we started with our usual routine, Catherine went to do yoga and I went to fish the beach.  After a few hours we met up and headed to the dining area for breakfast.  I was walking the rocks by the restaurant and saw a sea turtle nosed up right to the rocks.  I got excited and went to get Catherine and we watched the turtle from who had moved a bit further away by that time.  That was the closest I had ever seen a sea turtle, I could have reached out and touched him. 

After breakfast we ran quickly into town for some caffeinated supplies (RockStar for Catherine, Starbuck's Double Shots for Tim), returned to snorkel, hung on the beach, snorkeled more, ate lunch, explored a bit, hung on the beach, showered, read on the lanai and then went to dinner.  The snorkeling was pretty good that first day but there had been a lot of wind and high swell so the water was somewhat clouded.  We talked to the waiter at dinner who told us of another good snorkel area down below the town of Kona.  He described it with a lot of enthusiasm so we decided to check it out the next morning. 

We drove into Kona, getting caught in traffic, found Alli drive and headed south.  We passed a few crowded public beaches and finally got to the snorkel zoo, a mob of people, full street parking, full parking lots, etc..  We took one look and drove back repeating "don't leave the village" over and over.  After that we really didn't except for one fishing excursion I took.

The Village

There really is no need to leave the village.  We got back that morning and jumped into the water to the best snorkeling we ever had and the amazing thing was that it kept getting better as the week went on.  The village had everything you needed - beach, great food, shade if you wanted it, sun if you wanted that, world class snorkeling, kayaks, lava fields, ancient petroglyphs, ponds, pools, a store,...  You get the idea. 

The food deserves its own section really, it was amazing.  Breakfast was fresh fruit, eggs how you liked them, or other options like a Japanese breakfast bento or pancakes.  Lunch was a huge buffet spread that was full of fresh salad fixings, fresh fruit, ahi and ono sashimi, crab, shrimp, grilled fish and meats, and an entire desert table full of pies and cakes.   Dinner was a 1 1/2 hour four course affair with a new menu and specials each evening.  We had ahi, sea bass, lobster, mahi-mahi, shrimp, etc... each night.  The desert menu at dinner was even better than lunch with specials like the Cinnamon/Chocolate Mayan Temple or the Hawaiian Chocolate Macadamia Nut Torte.    

Restaurant and beach hut	Main pool
Shipwreck bar and pool	The actual shipwreck
The Petroglyph trail	Turtle petroglyph

Turtles, turtles, and more turtles

After my initial excitement of the swimming sea turtle the first day I figured that was it for turtles until we took a walk down the beach later in the afternoon.  Walking along the sand and lava rock Catherine jumped back as she noticed that one of the "rocks" up on the beach wasn't a rock at all but a sea turtle resting on the beach.  There were four turtles there and we sat down to watch them for about 20 minutes.  Others just walked by like it was nothing.  While watching another turtle swam up and onto the beach while a beached turtle went back for a swim.  We finally headed back and found turtles everywhere on the beach, no wonder it was no big deal for people who had been here a day or two.  It was hard not to step on a turtle in the afternoon, they were literally all over the beaches taking in the afternoon sun.

Big turtle Catherine almost stepped on	Swimming sea turtle
One of many turtle warning signs	Turtles basking in the sun

The Beach

Most of our days were spent on the beach at the Village, hanging out on a chair or heading in to snorkel.  Kahuwai Bay is very sheltered and even when the wind was bad there were small waves in the corner of the bay which made swimming or kayaking very pleasant.  On calm days you could kayak or swim all the way to the outer reef. 

The beach on Kahuwai Bay (note the turtles)
Hanging out on the beach
Catherine modeling new swimwear	My typical view while relaxing

Sunsets, Yoga, and Tikis

The sunsets in the evening were spectacular and Catherine did late afternoon yoga while I took photos from the lava point which had the best sunset view in the village.

Sunset yoga, tiki at the point	Sunset from the point
Morning yoga	Main tiki by the pool

Lava Beach

Our last morning we took a walk down to the other side of the village where there was a large lava flow with hales on the lava.  It was hot over there with all the black lava and very few trees, we were glad to be on the pond.  The views of the ocean though were pretty amazing as were the spinner dolphins we saw off shore a few hundred yards. 

The lava "beach"	Lava flow from Mauna Lua in the distance
Spinner dolphins offshore	Natural arch

Fly Fishing

I did fish every morning while Catherine did yoga and managed to find a guide, Don Memmers, on the island and went out with him one day to the fish ponds above H-harbor.  The Kona Coast is known for its great offshore marlin, ahi, and mahi-mahi fishing but the shore fishing is pretty unknown.   It wasn't Eastcape or San Diego beach fishing but I managed to catch fish every morning I went out.  The only "guide" to the area is a web-page put up by Michael Bolte at http://www.ucolick.org/~bolte/hawaii.html  I found this page very useful to know what to expect fish-wise and to find some spots to look at.  

On our third day the water was perfect and I went snorkeling away from the rocks a bit onto a deep flat just out from the main swimming beach and found a school of big bonefish led by an easy 10 lbs. fish being followed by a group of 6-8 lbs. fish.  This got me excited and the next few days I tried to hit that area hard for the first 40 minutes of light but never got a grab from a bonefish.  What I did catch though were several Bluefin Trevally, many Coronetfish, several species of snappers, a Lizardfish, and a Needlefish.  I had one Great Trevally on, or at least assume that is what tore off with my line and finally broke off, and had another one charge the fly and spook away at the last second at the ponds. 

There are also Milkfish in the ponds at the village and I spent an hour or so one afternoon trying to get them to take an improvised grass fly with no luck at all.  Several came up and looked but no one ate.  I'm not sure what I'd have done with a 10-20 lbs. milkfish in the small pond if they had taken.  Reportedly there are jacks there too but I never saw them or I'd have been casting to them.

Gear was pretty simple - an 8-weight with a Rio Tropics quad-tip line using the clear tip all the time.  I got all fish on a blue/white Clousers or a chartreuse Clousers.   Sorry no fish pictures, the surf was a bit much to carry my camera too. 

We'll be Back

Everyone we talked to it seemed had been to Kona Village multiple times.  The people across from us at the luau on Friday night (from Pt. Reyes no less) had been going for 27 years so they had the record.  We understood why, this was vacation paradise.  I got more relaxed in a few days there than I had anywhere else we've traveled and we too will return to Kona Village in the future.