Return to The Village

Kona Village – February 2010

Sunset from the beach hale

Catherine and I were in need of some time alone, some time away from work, and preferably some tropical time so we decided to return to The Big Island and Kona Village Resort after having such a good time there a few years ago. Last time we decided to “never leave the village” after having left The Village only to find over-crowded beaches and too much touristy shops so this time we booked a shuttle to and from The Village so we wouldn’t even be tempted to leave and since the espresso maker was working this time I wouldn’t even need to run to Starbucks.

Day 1 - Travel Seattle to Maui to Kona to the Village

We had about the easiest travel possible, a reasonable 10:30 a.m. departure from SeaTac so no early morning getting up and to the airport. We had two seats together in a Boeing 767 so no one beside us. OK, the flight took about 45 minutes longer than expected due to flying straight into the jet stream but we made it on time, and easily caught our Boeing 717 to Kona. At the airport our bags were out in minutes, we found our shuttle and were on our way. We arrived at Kona Village by 4:30, unpacked, took a swim and hot-tub and then settled in for a great dinner outdoors on the patio. We even got upgraded from a regular pond hale to a two room one overlooking the farthest inland pond and the luau stage so we had entertainment while we unpacked. Our Pond Marquesa 1 hale turned out to be perfect, the lanai overlooked the pond so I could see the milkfish (awa), and trevally (popio, ’omilu, and a few ulua) swim into casting range, grab my fly rod and go down to cast.


Our hale, a Pond Marquesan	Pond view from the lanai

Milkfish in the pond	Wrting web-site from the lanai each evening

Day 2 – Fishing, fitness, snorkeling, relaxing, paddle boarding, and relaxing more

Of course we awoke on Seattle time when it was still dark out and the birds hadn’t even started up too much. That was alright since I had planned to hit the beach early then hit the fitness center while Catherine did yoga and we’d reconnect for breakfast. I got skunked on the beach but the tide was way out. I did see a few parrot fish in the rocks and found some bait moving about but no trevally to be had. By 7:15 the beach was getting more people so I hit the gym. Today is my usual weight day so I did a workout along with one other die-hard, showered up, and headed to the beach hale where Catherine was wrapping up her yoga practice. We had breakfast while watching humpback whales (koholã) in the distance and also watching a few people paddle boarding along the shore. Ever since watching Laird (do I even need a last name here?) & Eddie Vedder doing this on Iconoclasts and seeing the pictures of Conway and Michelle Bowman catching fish on their paddle-boards off San Diego I’ve have wanted to try it out so I headed to the Beach Shack and set up an orientation class at 1:00.


Paddle boarding in the bay	The Beach Shack & Outriggers

Then it was time for snorkeling, mainly to find out where the heck the fish were all hiding out. It was pretty spectacular snorkeling, I was in schools of needle fish and goat fish, saw many different types of trigger fish, saw angels, butterfly fish, saw huge parrot fish, etc… No bonefish or trevally at all though which could explain the lack of catching in the morning. By now the wind had picked up so I met Catherine at the pool where we swam a bit, read a bit, swam a bit more until the lunch buffet opened up and we feasted on salad, sashimi, scallops, and mussels.


Angel fish	Goat Fish, these things act a lot like bonefish

Sergeant Majors, buttefly and one really big fish	Very colorful trigger fish

Snorkeling

By 1:00 the wind was howling and there were whitecaps on the bay. The other two who had signed up for the class bailed but I decided to just go for it. I did a brief shore into on how to hold the paddle, how to switch side, and finally how to get up on the board. It all seemed pretty easy until I got in the choppy water with the wind blowing about 15-20 knots. The plan became paddle out kneeling into the wind, turn and then stand and ride the board back in. First try I fell in about 15 seconds after standing, got back on and tried again. After about four good falls I finally got my balance and was able to stay standing and even turn and parallel the shore when getting close to the rocks. On our last time out we went out to almost the wave break and rode back in starting on a small (ok, seemed kinda big to me) wave. By 3:30 the wind had died and I went out again no problem so I’m looking forward to calm seas in the morning. Afterwards we took a walk around the resort grounds checking out some of the various tikis.

The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming, reading, hot tubing and then repeating. We headed back to the hale and I cast to the milkfish in the pond a bit. I had a few perfect presentations but the things would not eat my algae fly. The fly obviously looked like weed though as I did catch some tilapia on it, my first tilapia on a fly. After all this, we walked up to Hale Moana for dinner out on the terrace.


Dining at Hale Moana, not a bad view	The dinner entertainment

Day 3 – Paddling, humpbacks, running in lava fields, and threat of tsunamis

Our second day started out pretty much the same as the first, awakened by birds at 5:30 a.m. and I hit the beach at 6:00 for an hour. Catherine did yoga while I took advantage of the calm seas and got back on the paddle board when the Beach Shack opened up at 7:30. I fell in once today on a thinner board but even got that one down and was paddling all around the bay. The humpbacks were out in the morning fully breaching on the horizon. I’d stop and sit cross legged on the board to watch the whales, Catherine was doing the same in the beach hale as part of her yoga practice. After paddle boarding about 45 minutes my legs needed a break so I swapped it out for a kayak and headed further out in it. The high point of the paddle was a sea turtle I came up on and he submerged and swam right under the boat.


Catherine practicing yoga in the beach hale

We regrouped for breakfast then headed back to the hale to gear up for the beach. I took a few minutes to cast to the milkfish which were milling about and got great presentations but no takes. A grounds keeper told me that the trevally hang out in our portion of the pond too so I was hoping they would show up. We headed back to chairs by the pool for the rest of the morning. Catherine headed in the pool while I went snorkeling along the rocks but visibility was not as good today as yesterday. I headed back to the pool to read a bit then decided to try a swim in the bay out to the floating dock and back. I suck as a swimmer so this was pretty challenging without fins or a wet suit but I made it. By now it was time for more lunch buffet.


Poolside at the Shipwreck pool	Catherine swimming while I read

After lunch it was back to the pool. I was reading and dozing and after a while we decided we needed to move. Catherine wanted to go for a walk so I decided to take a run, it was 2.7 miles to the highway and that seemed do-able. What I hadn’t thought about was the fact that the road would wind through a lave field and it was mid-afternoon and about 83 degrees out. I made it to the highway and was very glad to turn back even though it meant more lava fields, at least I could see the ocean and feel the breeze in my face and it was all downhill. After a liter of water I headed back to the pool and ocean to cool off. By this time there were turtles back on the beach.

We heard news of the earthquake in Japan and the beach people started spreading the rumor of a possible tsunami later tonight or tomorrow. Just what I needed, to be evacuated from paradise once again. Luckily I had a few bars and 3G on the iPhone and found the rumors of the tsunami to be greatly exaggerated; even the 6’ tidal wave predicted to hit Okinawa did not materialize. At the hale I did finally see the trevally in the pond and got a few casts to them managing to spook the heck out of them with a Clousers.

We dined at the much nicer Hale Somoa tonight, enjoying ahi/crab rolls for appetizers, salad, and a Opah mole for Catherine and Butterfish for me along with some good wine. Afterwards we walked up the shore and lava fields in the nearly full moon to the end of the property.

Day 4 – Tsunami for real, toughing out evacuation at The Four Seasons

Saturday dawned cloudy but very calm. I headed to the beach early and found bait and fish on the move for the first time. I finally began catching fish, some type of sea bass were hitting and I was eyeing the calm seas anticipating a morning of paddle boarding and kayaking. Catherine appeared on the beach calling for me, she had just been handed a note that we were now under a tsunami warning due to a quake in Chile and that we had until 8:15 to pack an overnight bag, grab breakfast, and meet to be evacuated up the hill. We had our breakfast buffet, sat outside to watch them move the boats offshore, watched more whales, and finally joined the crowd at the staging area. We took a golf cart up to the luau area where we boarded school busses and headed out the evacuation spot which we assumed was some high school gym up the mountain.


Moving boats offshore	The evacuation staging area

On the golf cart to the bus	... and finally, on the bus

Little did we know the evacuation spot was only 2.7 miles up the hill (where I ran yesterday) where they dropped us off at the golf club for The Four Seasons. This was really roughing it - we had a beautiful setting, a buffet, drinks, live music, an amazing pool overlooking the ocean. I was expecting a high school gym that would be hot, crowded and uncomfortable, instead we went from one great resort to a higher priced resort. Catherine and I grabbed a few chairs and headed to the pool where we set up camp for the day. We swam, we watched whales, we got updates via the iPhone and we all sat waiting and watching the ocean to see a huge wave blast the shore way below us. The 11:30 target time came and went and the lunch buffet started so we grabbed lunch and watched some more. Noon came, the “wave” had evidently hit Hilo on the other side of the island. 12:30 passed, still no big wave and the whales were still happily jumping. By 1:00 we got a note saying they just had to signal the all-clear and we’d go back. At 1:15 it still hadn’t happened so back in the pool we went. We also got to watch Dave Price from the CBS Early Show have to get called to work, doing a broadcast via an iMac at the pool, the poor guy can’t even go on vacation. This guy had three cell phones and his Mac with Skype all going at the same time, it made me tired watching him and he did the same basic report a half dozen times via one phone or another. At 2:00 they finally gave us the all clear and we were getting ready to back. All in all the best evacuation we’ve experienced and we’ve got a few under our belts.


The lawn at the Four Seasons	The pool overlooking the ocean - our base

Catherine in the infinity pool	Getting my traps worked on by the pool

By 2:30 we were back at The Village and they announced a buffet dinner for everyone instead of the usual dinner. We headed to the pool for a bit and I fished the pond for trevally again, having several follows and one aggressive strike that somehow missed by what must have been a 10 lbs. fish. Later in the day Catherine did yoga while I hung at the pool and then I joined her for a Thai massage in the beach hale which was pretty unbelievable, followed by sitting side by side watching the best sunset of the trip. After the sun went down we went back to clean up for dinner only to see the full moon rise over the pond, pretty magical way to end the day. The buffet dinner was spectacular of course accompanied again by good entertainment. All in all, a pretty great day in spite of the tsunami and the only real effect of the tsunami we noticed was a weird tide - the water was going up and down very fast so the next day getting out on the rocks to fish as a bit tenuous at best.


By the tiki at sunset	Almost down	Enjoying the glow of the sunset together

Day 5 – More snorkeling and paddling, high winds, best desert ever, and night swimming

We awoke to the full moon setting over the ocean this morning and fairly calm seas. Catherine did her morning yoga practice while I fished an hour getting more weird rockfish then at 7:30 I decided it was time to paddle. They hadn’t opened the Beach Shack yet so I went snorkeling first for 30 minutes and saw my first moray eel of the trip. I went back to get the camera but of course he was gone. Still, pretty good snorkeling the entire time with lots of fish. At 8:00 they opened up the shack so I spent the next hour on the paddle board and did well, no spills today and by this time there was a good swell coming in and some chop. I went out further than before and was able to turn much better and relax more, I’m not ready to cross the islands with Laird yet but I am seriously considering a paddle board for fishing Puget Sound.

We met up for breakfast at 9:00, Catherine had a great practice and also watched many whales breach again that I missed snorkeling. By the time we were done with breakfast the wind had picked up to 20-25 knots so we hunkered down at the pool to read. The pool was full of gunk from the wind so not really swimmable. I went to the pond and had another trevally chase and swirl on the fly but again never felt an actual take. Back at the pool the wind had picked up more and by brunch it was blowing 25-30 knots. We enjoyed the Sunday brunch buffet then decided to take a walk to the Four Seasons Beach Shack. We kept to the trails out of Kona Village, crossed to The Four Seasons and then had to go on the beach. There, with the wind now hitting 35-40 knots we were promptly sand-blasted by the dunes and had to run for it back to cover. Several showers later we were still washing sand out of our hair and ears and it hurt, we got the spa’s micro dermal abrasion treatment for free basically. We continued our walk to the other end of the property to the lava cliffs where the wind and spray were out of control, we were getting wet 50 yards from the edge of the cliff. With the wind howling most guests had retreated to the ponds or their hales. Lots of people were fishing for tilapia while I continued my trevally quest, more follows but no takes, these pond flats trevally are tough.


Wind on the beach	Out on the lava fields

The new path through the lava field	Lots of fisherman on the windy day

We dined at Hale Somoa again for out last evening meal and the wind let down just in time for us to eat outside, at the edge of the beach and watch the sunset through the appetizer and salad courses. This was the best meal of the trip far and away. Catherine and I both had the seared ahi in a curry sauce with Waimia tomatoes, Maui onions, and linguine. We probably need to have a mercury detox from all the ahi we ate on this trip but it was amazing. For my last desert I had the flourless chocolate cake and it was the best desert I have ever had. It may have been the two glasses of wine, the amazing sunset, or just the lovely dinner with Catherine but that cake was almost better than sex. Afterwards we walked back to another full moon rise, switched into our swim wear and enjoyed the pool and hot tub completely to ourselves for an hour in the moonlight. Not sure why we didn’t start swimming at night sooner.


Sunset from Hale Somoa dining area	Moonrise over the ponds

Day 6 – Packing, last swim, and finally a trevally on the fly

We had a wild night of wind all night long and I awoke several times, once to rescue our swim suits which had blown off their chairs on the lanai. There would be no ocean activities for our last morning, the beach was milky, the wind was howling, and all paddle gear was under lock and key. We went to get coffee and tea and watch the moon set then went back to start packing. Once it got daylight Catherine went to do yoga at the hale and I went for a 5k run which was tough in the wind. I ran up the lava field trail and at times the wind was so fierce it was hard to breath. Post run I fished a bit and had one big trevally follow the fly 20’ without committing then went for a walk to see the petroglyphs and find out what the heck an imu was. After seeing the imu, which was the luau pig oven, I ran into Catherine doing yoga at the big lawn by the petroglyphs, evidently she was getting sand blasted again out on the beach and had to move.

We joined up at 9:00 for our last breakfast, I’ll miss my full Japanese bento breakfast box when I get home. We hit the store, got a few t-shirts then went back to finish packing before swimming. I still had the fly rod together and Catherine had more left to pack so when I saw the trevally come back within range so I ran down, made about 2 casts and finally hooked up with one of the popio in the pack. I couldn’t believe it, bottom of the ninth and two outs and I get a home run. The fish had a few good runs, luckily did not get around the island and soon I had him to the shore with Catherine manning the camera. That was the icing on the cake for the trip even if it was one of the smaller trevally in the pond instead of the bigger ulua or prettier ’omilu.


Fish on!	Finally, a trevally to hand

We finished packing and headed to the pool where we had a 40 minute swim. Needing to get in the ocean one last time I went in and swam out to the dock and back even in the wind and waves, it had to be done. A few minutes in the hot tub and we were off to shower, stow swim wear, change and then have lunch before the shuttle was coming to pick us up. We feasted as usual but it had to last 10 hours until we got home. We then made offerings to the tiki with our leis, checked out and got shell leis for safe voyage and sat down to wait a few minutes.


Making offerings to the tiki		The happy (and tan) couple waiting for the shuttle

The shuttle arrived and off we went to re-enter the real world at the airport. The hop to Maui was a bit bumpy but short so I thought we’d have plenty of time to get a coffee and some food for the flight after getting our seats sorted out, we still had none. Unfortunately no one was at the gate until shortly before boarding began and the flight was full so seats were hard to come by. We ended up doing OK, sitting apart but in the bulkhead row so here I sit in 11A bouncing around in turbulence looking at an extra long and late flight due to winds, how can we have a headwind both ways?

Still, this was one of the best trips we have taken. We had good together time and good time doing our own thing. We had amazing meals every day and pretty much lived outdoors for six days aside from sleeping at night. Every day we swam, walked or ran, and just had time to veg out or read a good book. I first read Blue Latitudes: Boldly going where Captain Cook has gone before by Horowitz which was so good that Catherine immediately picked it up when I finished. I also read Hotel Honolulu by Theroux, a bit seedy but full of good characters. I wish I’d been able to get my hands on a copy of The Curse of Lono by Thompson but didn’t want to spend the $200 on it and wasn’t thinking ahead of time to get it from the library – next time and there will be a next time.