As previously mentioned we had a busy schedule arranged on the Big Island well in advance. We arrived last Sunday, did the helicopter and volcano tour on Monday, and had a two-tank boat dive scheduled for Tuesday morning followed by a luau on the hotel grounds Tuesday night. Wednesday afternoon and night were scheduled for another boat dive – this time the Manta Ray night dive, highly recommended (by me!) as a not-to-be-missed experience of a lifetime! Tonight we have a trip planned to the observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea for an evening of world class star watching, and on Saturday we fly back to Oahu. A few more nights aboard Raven tidying up loose ends, and then back to Tucson on the 11th.
Yesterday, Thursday, was our only free day (for recuperation) except that we arranged to meet Kathie and Don Manning, parents of our daughter-in-law Peggy Parker, as our vacation plans just happened to coincide.
Kathie and Don are staying in a hale (a Polynesian-style bungalow, pronounced ha-lay) right on the water’s edge at an inviting resort named Kona Village. They have been returning there year after year and as they showed us around it was obvious they have a very understandable sense of proprietary pride in their choice. Kona Village offers some 150 or so of these individual hales scattered over an 80 acre property. Some front the ocean, others the lava reef, and still others the scenic gardens and lagoons. No phone, no TV, cellphones and laptops highly frowned upon (although internet is available). The entire resort is very different in atmosphere from the big hotel style of the Fairmont Orchid.
We joined the Mannings for a delicious buffet lunch on the resort’s outdoor lanai, highlighted (in my opinion) by unlimited sashimi with soy and wasabi sauce and pickled ginger; then left them to enjoy an enviable afternoon of hammock-swinging, napping and reading.