Pete's Blog

This day has come along very quickly, makes me wonder if time passes by faster in Hawaii. We went for a walk after breakfast.

Kathy could not resist trying out a hammock in front of the hotel.We have no plans after we leave our place on a little while, but will get to the airport at around 9:00 and wait for our flight which gets into Seattle around 6:30 Friday morning.

We left our place around 11:00 just as the housekeepers arrived to clean it up.  We drove down the highway toward Kona and stopped at Kukio Beach.

 

This where Tania and Travis tied the knot almost 10 years ago.

We had lunch looking out over the bay along with some moochers.

 

 

Around the point is a rocky beach where Kathy likes to look for shells.  It was also a good place to watch the waves break on the rocks.

We then carried on past Kona and stopped at a farm where Kathy saw this deal for bananas and avocados.

 

 

Back toward Kona, we stopped to have a look at a Keauhou Resort and have a walk around and their grounds.

We stopped at one of our favorite places in Kona for a light dinner, then made our way to the airport after filling up the car.

Our swim this morning was more of a quick dip.  The water was very murky and it was hard to see much of anything, sort of like swimming in a thick fog.  The water was nice and warm and we did enjoy stretching out in the sun for a while.

Kathy has some good gecko photos.  These guys are pretty common, there are some brown ones but most are green like these:

We went for a nice walk in the sun, down to the beach along the shore and back through the Fairmont Orchid Hotel.

 This is the beach where we swim in the morning.  Not many people in the water and we could see how murky it is. These birds, called francolins remind us of partridges.

This one seemed quite used to people, or maybe just liked me.  (I’m pretty sure it was looking for a handout)

 This fellow was putting a new roof on this Hawaiian boathouse.

Kathy got some good pictures of a couple of Nene, Hawaii state bird.

The Fairmont Orchid, appropriately, has a lot of these flowers in the halls and lobbies.

This boat was nice to look at and smell, gingerbread, chocolate and icing.

Lots of pretty spots and colourful plants.

We were out for a last dinner at Mauna Lani.  We went next door to Tommy Bahama’s.  It’s nice to be able to get out of the kitchen once on a while!  Just about time for an intake adjustment, maybe after the Christmas season.

Not sure when tomorrow’s post will happen since we’ll be out of WiFi after we leave here in the morning.

Kathy made us a wonderful breakfast today.  We were able to open a few cards out on the lanai before heading to the beach for our morning swim.

This holiday has gone by quickly, just like the last 40 years.

Very calm today although the water was a bit murky.  We spent about 2 hours at the beach, about half in the water and half sunning.

 One of at least three types of sea urchins we see around here.  This is a Crown-of-Thorns starfish, only one I’ve seen this year.  They can get up to almost a meter across, eat coral and can be damaging to a reef if there are a lot of them.   A lot of the fish like to hide out in little nooks and crannies.

After a shower it was off to the shops for a bit of looking around before lunch.

Here are a couple of pictures of our place.

Inside the front door looking up to the main level.

 Downstairs there are two bedrooms, a laundry room, a little office area and the garage.

This one of the bedrooms and its ensuite:

 

 This is the other bedroom, its ensuite and its walk in closet:

These bedrooms look OK but they are pretty small compared to the master bedroom and its ensuite.  You might get the idea that we have maybe more room than the two of us really need.

Around 2:30 we drove a couple of minutes to a park beside the hotel and walked along a trail to be beach in front of Puako, a little place beside Mauna Lani.  It has a couple of kilometre long beach with lots of pools in the lava and the a few bits of sand.  We did see a lot of turtles along the way, I counted at least 25 and did not take pictures of all of them.

 We talked to this lady and her little dog, Daphne who reminded us a lot of Jean’s dog, Billy Kathy had noticed that our place has solar panels on the roof.  There are an assortment of devices in the garage that we do not have at home.

It is about 4:45 and we are off to the hotel for a celebratory evening.  It is about a 25 minute walk each way.  There may or may not be pictures after a while.

We ended up with a nice spot at the lounge to watch the sunset, share a couple of appetizers and listen to a good musician.

Same routine as the last few mornings.  We like it.

 We were wondering about the health of the coral.  It looks good to us, and there seems to be lots of fish around. Our pre lunch walk was along the road past one of the golf courses here.  We don’t see very many people golfing.  They are lovely courses and priced to suit.

 When we got to the Kings Trail Kathy went one way toward Waikoloa and I went the other.  This trail has been around for a long time and goes for miles and miles.  On the left is the first hole of the South Course.  I brought 6 lost balls that were close to the trail home with me, and left a bunch more. I drove over to meet Kathy at a little shopping area and we had a bite of lunch there.

At around 5:30 we walked next door to the shops to see the show that happens every Monday and Thursday.

Kathy has been enjoying playing with her photos.

 Some the usual fish were around as well.

 We were back around 10:15 for a shower and a coffee.  A walk before lunch is our plan.

We enjoyed a really lovely evening with Ann and Frank at the Luana Lounge.  They live not too far from Mauna Lani and were nice enough to drive down for a visit.  We last saw them about this time last year when we got together at the same place.  Some people are really easy to be with because they are so friendly and interesting and that describes them perfectly.  We shared some stories about what we’ve been up to, shared some good food, a few drinks and listened to a talented musician before walking back to our place.

We were down to the beach a little earlier today, it is the calmest day we’ve had.  The water was lovely and there were lots of fish as usual.

We had time for a walk to the Fairmont Orchid before lunch.  This looking out through a lounge, over the Christmas tree to one of their pools and the ocean.

 There are a bunch of trees in the lobby decorated by local groups and businesses, much like the ones in a Bay Centre at home.Good view of Mauna Kea today.  We’ve seen it with lots of snow this time of year.Here’s a picture taken a couple years ago from almost the same place.

We decided on one more walk – a stroll actually to possibly have a drink at the beach bar.  The Fairmont Orchid has lovely grounds on the way to the beach.

 We were lucky to get a place to sit right by the beach. We see the same moochers as at home.

 It was such a good place that we stayed for dinner and watched the sunset.   Great place for happy hour (or two).

We are missing Colin and Margaret’s 50th and final Beetle Party this evening and are a little sad not to be there, (just a l

We are settling into a routine: breakfast then down to the beach for a swim, back to our place around 11:00.  Not very many people here at 9:00.

there were lots of fish as usual.

Kathy brought her camera today and may have some pictures to add.

Around 2:30 we left for a walk, almost like yesterday but in the other direction. Saw some of the same things – turtles.

This guy was headed back to the water, they are not what one would call frisky but as they say, slow and steady.

We carried on around the hotels along the beach, along beside the fish ponds and along a path that crosses a lava field.  There some interesting formations like this lava tube.  Ancient Hawaiians used them for shelters.

There are quite a few feral cats on the island, they are usually very timid but this guy walked right by us like he was on a mission.

Back to our place around 4:30, a good walk, and now for some lanai time.