Kona - October 27th, 2013

We slept for a little over 10 hours, which had us waking up at the wholly inappropriate (for a Sunday) hour of 7:30. So, despite being extremely well rested, we got an early start on the day. And my cold was mostly over! No Day-Quil Zombie Branden in Hawaii! Things were looking up.

For breakfast I scrambled up some eggs, cream cheese, chicken-apple sausage, and onions, topped with avocado and mozzarella. We didn't have cooking spray or butter, but somehow I didn't burn it permanently onto the pan. A side of orange-mango juice and Kona coffee rounded out the breakfast. Quite a delicious way to start the day, if I do say so myself.

We retook our "Lol, Colorado clothes" picture from the day before because the first one was pretty badly washed out. We met our neighbors again, but this time I was with-it enough to exchange names. Hi and Judy, a friendly retired couple. Apparently they come here and stay in Castle Kona Reef every year. Apparently the ground-floor units are the nicest, because they were all wiped out by the tsunami from a few years ago (the same one that hit Japan) and had to be remodeled. I had to explain why we were dressed in Colorado chic again... They probably think the snow has addled our brains.

We got back into Island clothes and went for a walk on the "beach" outside our patio. It had ZERO sand, just bare black volcanic rock leading to the ocean. There were cool little tide pools in the rocks filled with tiny shell-fish, hermit crabs, and other ocean cuties. I was remembering the Oregon coast from my childhood: "Never turn your back to The Ocean." That was something I was taught while living there, but despite many verbal warnings I still nearly drowned when a sudden wave took me out to sea. The wave's lesson stuck with me a bit better than my parents' lesson did, so 20+ years later I was still wary. So while Elly scuttled around snapping photos, I kept an eye on the waves.

The water wasn't even brushing our sandals initially, but I saw a larger wave coming. I warned Elly, and we both braced for impact. Elly clutched the camera tight to her body, both hands enveloping it to protect it from spray. The wave hit really low, just over ankle deep, but as it crashed against the surrounding rock it was throwing spray well over head height. And, of course, despite Elly's vigilant protection, it totally wiped out the camera. The screen flashed a countdown timer and some psychedelic colors, then gasped its last.

That put us in a slightly bad mood, but we would not be deterred from enjoying paradise! We slathered on sunscreen and left the house in Lucy Cruise with several shopping goals in mind: 1) Replacement Canon PowerShot. 2) Fresh local fruit. 3) Ahi tuna for a lunch recipe. 4) A sundress for Elly, and an "authentic" Hawaiian shirt for me. The camera was easily (and somewhat inexpensively) replaced. It is a slightly better model (more megapixels, and terra-flops, and gewgaws) than the one we lost to the sea. The only fault is that it only came in blue, and Elly preferred black; people don't notice you taking their picture with a black camera, which helps with candid shots.

From Target we went to the Kona International Marketplace. It contained a tiny, japanese grocery, where we bought a pineapple, some papayas, another avocado, a bag of small tomatoes, and a red pepper. We also bought a couple of delicious asian beverages. Elly had lychee-coconut (it had floaty chunks in) and I had a milk-tea. As we sipped our beverages we wandered the market. It seemed like most of the stores were clothing, or gifts, or antiques. We found a clothes store we liked and bought Elly a pretty blue-green-brown sundress with metallic-silver patterns, and I got a blue Hawaiian shirt that Elly accuses of being exactly like all my other shirts. She's right, of course, but I love blue, what can I say?

All our objectives accomplished, except for fish. We went to KTA Superstore, a local grocery that our guidebook recommended. There we picked up the tuna, basil, and a few other essential lasties that had been neglected up to that point. We also got chocolate-toffee macadamia nuts, which were AMAZING. We will definitely be picking up a bunch more as gifts, and probably keeping some for ourselves.

An interesting quirk of Hawaii: everywhere charges for grocery bags, and many places give a rebate for using reusable bags. So we picked up a couple reusable bags. It feels just like home! Now we just have to forget them every time we go anywhere, lol.

Back home to begin lunch preparation. Today's lunch: Grilled ahi with papaya-basil sauce. We bought a bottle of pineapple wine (not pineapple flavored... made from 100% pineapples!) which we used in the sauce. The wine was combined with papaya, shallots, mushrooms, cream, and butter. After reducing the sauce until thick it was supposed to be blendered, but it turns out our blender was broken. We made due by just chopping it to mush. We grilled the tuna then served it on a bed of pineapple rings, and topped it with the sauce. The lunch was then served with glasses of the aforementioned pineapple wine. Quite delicious!

After lunch we cleaned up the mess that had accumulated in the 24 hours since we moved in and wrote our first blog post (yesterday's).

Then... onto the main event! We had scheduled a night snorkeling with manta rays. Meetup was at 5:00, but Elly and I got there about 20 minutes early. So did the other couple that was scheduled for that night, which meant we got to leave a bit early (and ultimately, to swim a bit longer). The other couple (whose names I forget!) were from Ontario. More friendly Canadians!

Everyone loaded up onto the boat, and after a short orientation we set sail! Er... set motor. Whatever a speed boat does. Once we got out of the harbor, the boat went "wiki-wiki" (Hawaiian for fast!) to the reef where we would be having our swim. I think this MIGHT be the first time I've ever been on a boat. Sitting at the front of the boat, with ocean spray in my face and wind in my hair... it was incredible. Elly kept chuckling at the giant grin plastered on my face.

We got out to the reef where several other boats where "anchored", and received some more orientation while we awaited nightfall. I say "anchored", because you don't anchor to the reef, because of the damage you could do to the habitat there by dropping anchor. Instead there are several underwater buoys that are permanently chained to the bottom that a boat can anchor to, by sending a diver down to tie the boat to (about 30 feet down). Other boats (often from competing companies) will then tie themselves to those boats. Despite all being in business against each other, the various boats all work together in a friendly way, calling out to each other by first name and asking about the conditions. It reminded me of the coyote and sheepdog cartoons, except in reverse; friendly after they clock into the job, but at each other's throats when they're on land.

Anyway, we got dressed up in our swim-ninja suits and slid into the water. The four of us bobbed on our stomachs with our masks under water, and gripped the sides of a modified surf-board. The board had a tube frame around the outside and holes drilled into it that were mounted with 8 ultra-bright led flashlights facing down into the water. This downward-facing light (which included UV spectrum) would summon plankton, which would in turn summon mantas. Below us in the water were scuba divers, who had upward facing "campfire" lamps they would sit around, which summoned more plankton, which summoned more mantas.

It was quite an experience. The light show summoned and illuminated snowy clouds of plankton, which summoned massive manta rays that did rolls and summersaults inches from us. In fact, Elly was brushed against by mantas several times: at one point, a manta somersaulted so close by that his long, skinny tail brushed against her goggles; on the following twirl his mouth fin nudged her goggles as well. Then, two manta rays almost ran into each other; one came very very close to bumping Elly's face and the other ran right into her. She kinda freaked. It was incredible! For some reason they didn't seem as interested in bumping and grinding on me. There were also many large schools of smaller fish that would feed on the plankton whenever the mantas weren't hogging it all. Its kind of hard to describe. It was amazing. Elly and I returned from the trip abuzz, but I can't capture the experience in my description here.

If you're ever in Hawaii, I highly recommend this trip. We went with Coral Reef Adventures, and they were GREAT. They were very attentive to us newbies, and they were very fun, but also very professional.

On the return trip we chatted with our Canadian friends about the trip, and about ourselves. It turns out that he was a D&D nerd back in the day, so we had some amusing common ground.

After a quick rinse and a change of clothes, Elly and I left the condo on foot to get a bite to eat. After wandering a bit we settled on a tiny, kind of crazy place called Kanaka Kava. They were highly reviewed in the guide book we're reading; I don't think we would have tried it otherwise. Kanaka is basically a short bar, with a couple of nearby tables, and the entire restaurant revolves around the kava bowl. Kava is a beverage made from a Hawaiian root of the same name, and it is a mild muscle relaxant. It was also touted as having other powers, such as "opening the mind". I think we probably would have declined to try it, but the guide book recommended it, so we figure it can't be TOO severe. And anyway, we're on vacation, right?

Kava is a suspension: the powered root is mixed in water, but it doesn't dissolve. It is served out of a large bowl, which is stirred to get the suspension evenly distributed, then ladled into coconut shells. You are then supposed to chug the drink quickly before the suspension settles, and on an empty stomach for best effect. Elly and I each had a shell-full. The taste was weird, and a little unpleasant, and it immediately numbed our lips and tongue. The numbing faded quickly, but Elly decided that she'd had enough. I had a second shell in the hopes of feeling a bit more of a kick, but I don't think anything other than my tongue was significantly more relaxed than when I came in. Then again, we came here after bobbing on our stomachs in the ocean for an hour, so maybe we were about as relaxed as you can get.

Kava may have been so-so, but the food there was incredible! I had the fish plate, with sides of Kalua pork and Squid luau. Elly had the same, but instead of squid she had breadfruit. All the food was absolutely wonderful! If you ever go, definitely don't skip the pork; its probably the best pork I've ever had. I doused mine in some of the homemade chili-water, but Elly ate hers as-served. We both enjoyed our meals quite a bit.

On the return walk home I stopped at "Huggo's On the Rocks" for a Mai Tai. Huggo's is a bar right on the edge of the water that has fine sand instead of an actual floor. We got there right at last call (10:00pm... And I thought Durango rolled up its streets early!), but still in enough time to enjoy a drink and the last Johnny Cash cover song from the live band. I definitely want to go there a bit earlier next time, that place seems pretty awesome.

Back at the condo I spent a little time crouched on the rocks watching the waves roll in. The lava-rock beach was now coated in about 3 layers of fine white sand. Apparently that beach has a completely different personality depending on what time of day you go out there. Along with the sand was lots of palm-sized hunks of white rock in organic-looking shapes that I assume is/was coral. I grabbed a couple of the more interesting looking pieces as souvenirs.

Elly crashed out pretty much immediately, but I stayed up long enough to write this post.

Photos
https://plus.google.com/photos/105719328153023565846/albums/5939763222745067393?authkey=CNLMiOi1z-zwbg