Big Island Blogging...Whales Tales, or Tails?

The humpback whales has the best deal in the travel world...spend your summers in Alaska, then travel to the warm waters of Hawaii for the winter. Although Maui is considered their prime resort residence, they are frequently seen off the Kona and Kohala coast of the Big Island.

All of the units at Kona Makai have at least a partial view of the ocean. Our unit is in one of the buildings closest to the water, on the third floor and with a good view of passiing boats, dolphins and whales. Yesterday morning, the call went out from a couple of balconies..."Whales"! residents grab binoculars and train their eyes on the water. Bill has his tripod set up to go anytime...digital camera, 500 mm lens and a "doubler"...that makes 1000 mm and a good view of passing humpbacks. Although you can't tell from these pics, there were 2 big ones...

The dark area on the right side of the photos is a palm tree!

Big Island Blogging...Sunset Social Hour

In Hawaii the setting sun is a time when most of the action stops and friends and strangers alike gather the celebrate the end of another lovely day. At Kona Makai it is definitely a social hour, discussing the day's activities, grilling fish or steaks, and greeting new folks who have just arrived from the cold weather of the mainland.

The Kona coast has many wonderful places to stay, but this has become our favorite over the many years we have been traveling to Hawaii. Many of the folks here are either permanent residents, or spend the winter months away from the cold. The grounds are beautifully landscaped with so many varieties of tropical plants it could almost qualify as a botanical garden.

The question of the day is always "will there be a green flash?" When the atmosphere is perfect, the light of the sun, as it slips below the horizon, shines through the water and there is a flash of green light.

There was no flash last night, but Bill will keep trying to capture one to share with all our friends.

Big Island Blogging...How We Work!

Working in paradise! Well, not all the time! We have our office set up down to a science since we started staying at Kona Makai several years ago. We used to share Bill's lap-top, but now that I have my own, we only share the printer. This is a real "cozy" arrangement, but it works.



I have been gathering ideas for future posts on this blog. Yesterday was a hike to our favorite beach, last night was the "sunset social hour" and coming soon will be a rescipe for "Fresca de Lulo". So I hope you will come back for more!

Big Island Blogging

Aloha from the "Big Island" of Hawaii! We arrived on Friday afternoon and began with our usual routine of hamburgers at Drysdales, followed by a quick visit to the KTA (grocery store) for a papaya and lime (the next day's breakfast). this is a pattern we have followed for many years and gets our Hawaiian holiday off to a good start.

The view from our condo...morning.

Saturday morning it was time to visit my favorite market...the Keauhou Farmers Market. Unlike some other markets in the area, this one sells only 100% Hawaiian products and it is such fun to talk to the farmers and bakers and listen to the music of a local trio palying ukuleles and singing favorite Hawaiian songs.

For $5.00 we bought a "Dancing Lady" orchid to brighten our already sunny lanai (balcony). then we filled our shopping bags with local fruits...tangerines with wrinkly skins, green apple banans that will need a couple of days to ripen, avocados (so ripe the grower gave them to me...perfect for guacamole), papayas, limes and lulos (more about them on a future post). And of course my favorite Kona coffee..."Kona Lisa". Please note (if you can see it on the label) that "Kona Lisa" wears a haku lei on her head and holds a cup of coffee in her hand. You can order this wonderful coffee shipped to the mainland from Ron and Mary Lake ... http://www.konalisacoffee.com/

In the next few days I hope to add more posts about our current adventures in paradise. We have been doing this for over 25 years and there is always something new to experience and share.

If you add your e-mail address to the Subscribe box, you will get an announcement when there is a new post. Coming up next...what is a lulo and what do you do with it?

Aloha and Mahalo!