We started out day with a little fresh fruit and coffee and watched the sun rise from Cliff House. We decided to spend the majority of our day on the sunny side of the island, and we packed and prepared for the beach, taking with us the leftover pizza and macadamia nuts. We got an early start and left the house before 9AM. We stopped at the Waipi'o Valley Lookout in order to view the valley floor before heading back through Honoka'a and then Waimea, where we tried to stop for a cup of coffee unsuccessfully. Most of the town was closed, it being Sunday. We headed towards Kailua, detouring to check out a cinder cone at Waikoloa. The cone was surreal with a big round lava vent in one side. When we arrived in Kailua, we parked and got a cup of good Kona coffee and walked the city boardwalk. It's very touristy, but it's a nice little town. The sun was intense even for the sunny side of the island. We watched some huge waves at the rocky shoreline in town. And then headed back and had a beer in a mexican cantina before hopping back in the car and heading for the beach. The first beach we went to was a bit north, off milepost 74 on Hwy 190 and was at the Mauna Lani Resort. The beach was in a very protected cove and you had to walk a mile from the parking lot through a lava field filled with lava tubes once used as homes by the early Hawai'ians. We also came across a group of beautiful fish ponds that are still being maintained....it was truly a little oasis. There were no waves at this beach, due to the protective harbor, but you could rent snorkel gear for really cheap ($10 total for both of us, for an hour), and there is a reef just off the shore. Susan flipped out over snorkeling. She loved it and we spent well over an hour in the water and only got out because the current shifted and the water became too cold for us. We saw countless types of fish of all colors, lots of different coral, and sea urchins too. After the nature walk back to the car, we were shocked that it was already after 3PM. Time can fly when you're in the water. We wanted to have a drink at the Mauna Lani hotel, but it was closed for renovation, so instead, we headed up to Mauna Kea Beach, hoping to catch some of the big waves we had seen earlier in the day. Mauna Kea was a resort and golf community, protected by security, but they will give you a pass to use the public beach. The beach here was really nice, similar to Hapuna, but a bit more upscale. Unfortunately, the waves from this morning were gone and the ocean was very mellow. We still played in the water for a little bit, dried off in the sun, and then used the showers before returning to the car.
We headed into the town of Kawaihae and straight to Seafood Bar, a real tiki bar that we had read about the night before. Seafood Bar did not disappoint. The served fresh fruit Mai Tais and we had a couple of Pu Pu's, a California Roll Tempura and an excellent fried squid, which consisted of the body of the squid instead of the usual tentacles. We stayed there and watched the sunset, admiring the thatched roof of the bar, the mango wood construction and the various tiki lamps. The staff was really nice and the bar was full of locals.
We saw the Blue Dragon, where Gary was playing, on our way out of town. We were too tired to stay, but drove through the parking lot in order to take a closer look. At the far end of the lot, there was a small farmer's market selling fresh fruit and beautiful orchids. As we were leaving the lot, we saw Gary getting out of his car but kept going so that we wouldn't have to give any excuses as to why we couldn't come in and stay for a bit....the truth was, one more drink would have sent us over the edge and we wanted to get back to Cliff House in order to enjoy our last night there. We stopped in Waimea on the return trip at a grocery store called Maika'i. It was a lot like Fred Meyer. We picked up a couple of Poke because Susan wanted to try them...they were delicious. We put the poke on top of a Hawai'ian cracker with a bit of cream cheese...it was a lot like sashimi. We also picked up a bunch of rum because it was so cheap. We got a bottle of Trader Vic's Gold, two bottles of Trader Vic's Dark, and a bottle of Meyer's Platinum, saving almost $30....our total bill was under $60.
When we returned to the Cliff House, it was dark and we could see a pair of cat eyes in the bushes. As we were laughing at the cat hiding out, I saw a giant Hawai'ian toad cross the driveway in front of us. I got out of the car and found him in the grass. Susan came over and we looked at him for a couple of minutes before he hopped back across the driveway and through the fence into the pasture. Susan made us drinks and we saw a really weird bug on our deck...it looked like the top of a flowering blade of grass. We then took our drinks down to the lawn chairs in the grass, turned out all of the house lights and watched the stars. We both saw shooting stars. It's so dark here, I've never seen so many stars. You could see the milky way with no effort at all. We finished our drinks and went to bed....our last night on Big Island.
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