Big Island: Kona for a Day

The entire day 3 of the Big Island vacation was allocated as Kona Day. We wanted to visit the coffee plantation, which we did, and to sign up for a manta ray adventure. Unfortunately, the manta ray adventure that was available on this day was the last spot for the day at 11 pm. We had to make a decision. Will we sign up for this even at a very late hour not do it at all? The consensus among the four of us was to go ahead and do it now since we might not be able to return to the Big Island any time soon. We could spend the rest of the day walking around the waterfront in Kona, shopping, eating, and more walking until the time for the manta ray adventure.

After the coffee plantation tour, we were actually planning on driving to the Captain Cook monument, which will not take us to long to reach, however, upon research we found out that in order to reach it one has to hike down 4 miles. No one was in the mood for a long hike today, so we abandoned that plan. Instead we headed off to a local grocery store called KTA for some poke. Next door is a shaved ice place, perfect spot to get a taste of this local delicacy.




This little dude loves poke.









Since we had plenty of time to kill, we did walk around the waterfront browsing and shopping, entering churches, watching the ocean, eating and taking photos.



















Happy Hour found us at Kona Brewing Company.







For dinner, we stopped at an Indian restaurant for a substantial meal.







After dinner, it got dark and the stores started to close and we're a ways off to 11 pm. We thought we'd drive to the place and see if there are cancellations, we might be able to move up our schedule. There were'nt, so we were forced to stay put, stay inside the car and get some shut eye and wait for 11 pm.

Eleven pm came and we set out to get suited up for the adventure. All's going so well first. Then we got on the boat and when the boat cut off the engine not far from where we started, I got the all anxious and weird. My hydrophobia kicked in big time and I got chills up and down my spine and I practically became a child who doesn't want to do what she doesn't want to do. It wasn't my perfect moment. But I'm happy to share that my 3 companions had the best time of their life. Not going into the water did not rob me of an experience, because the manta rays were so huge and so plenty that they were visible from where I was on the boat and they were all circling the boat.

Here's a video clip my husband took with his GoPro.

OUR WORLD TUESDAY