Kona, Hawaii

Hula is so entertaining when done by a man wearing a grass skirt

and coconuts...way to go Alan!

This little blue chapel was the location of

John Wayne's wedding.

After attempting trying to capture the

dolphins on filmI finally succeeded!

Surf paddling is big in the islands. This surfer is gliding past

an ancient hut belonging to King Kamehemeha

Karen enjoying the sites in her sandbuggy.

Inside the Painted Church, St. Benedicts Catholic Church

Outside the Painted Church St Benedicts Catholic Church

Day Six: Kailua Kona-Partly cloudy 80’ Kona, a word that means leeward in Hawaiian (also dry side of the island) and stretches along the west coast of the Big Island and is famous of course for its coffee. The Big Island is also the oldest and first inhabited of the islands. Kona is also known for historical landmarks, scuba diving, sport fishing and much more. Kona’s famous coffee is grown on a narrow strip of land on the mountain slopes above the picturesque harbor town of Kailua. The very first coffer trees, a variety of Arabic that originated in Ethiopia, were planted 175 years ago and thrived in the rich volcanic soil of the north and south districts of Kona. Kona coffee beans are known world wide for their superb quality and flavor.

Today we were going to go on a Land and Sea tour so we hurried to breakfast for our usual omelets. We had to tender in to shore but that wasn’t any problem. Our tour bus picked us up at 7:30 and soon we were on our way to see the green side of the Big Island. Our tour guide was a real historian and shared things I had read in my informative book on Hawaii. He also included some cute jokes such as when Mark Twain came to Hawaii and learned that Tutu meant grandmother. Thus, when his grandmother came to Hawaii she was known as ‘Tutu Twain’ (choo-choo train)...ha, ha. One of the interesting sights we went to that I enjoyed was the St. Benedict’s Catholic Church known as the Painted Church. When it was built Hawaiians didn’t know how to read so Biblical stories were painted on the inside walls. Palm trees were painted on the columns of the church reaching up to the ceiling. It’s a small little church on a hilltop secluded. There’s a cemetery outside it. There were several different kinds of trees growing around it like mango, breadfruit, and coconuts. Our guide entertained us with some puns along the way like Volcanic smog is known as Vof and there are 7 weeks of this stuff hanging around at times. Do you know what you call a Hawaiian bathroom? A lavatory…ha, ha. And we all know that Hawaii is made by a ‘Ring of Fire’…Johnny Cash’s song…ha, ha. The Parker Ranch in Hawaii is home to the Black Angus beef that Safeway’s Angus Pride is famous for. King Kamehameha was referred to as the Lonely One. All kings and queens were born on the Big Island of Hawaii and all history began there. Sal was a true historian of the island and made for a great tour guide! We stopped at the St. Benedict’s Painted Church. This quaint little white church sitting on a top of a hill is nicknamed the Painted Church, as the natives couldn’t read so paintings depicting Bible stories were painted on the walls inside the church. There’s a small cemetery outside the church with breadfruit trees lining the entrance to it. One of our stops was to a local Kona Coffee shop where I purchased real 100% Kona Coffee. Our tour was complete after stopping for a couple of hours to spend at the Pu'uhonua O Honaunau Refuge Center. In ancient times natives who made it here were safe from harm.

After our tour on land we were dropped off to board a glass-bottom boat. As we left the bus the guide directed our attention to the small grass hut we would see to the right as we left the bus. This hut belonged to the famous King Kamehameha. I was able to take a picture of it after we got off the boat part of our tour. We chose to sit on the bottom deck of the boat where it was shaded. The boat was arranged with seats and a wrap-around bar on the bottom deck, it was quite comfortable and easy to eat the lunch that was provided. Kimo, our guide on the boat gave us the rules on the boat: 1-stay on the boat, 2-toilets are referred to as marine heads, 3-no smoking, and 4-the boat is a cell phone free zone. We had sandwiches, chips and brownies for lunch along with our choice of drinks. It was quite satisfying. As we sailed off I got my camera ready to capture dolphins we might see. We were told that the number of people killed by sharks in the past year was only 6 compared to 300 killed by toasters worldwide and 400 by coconuts. He pointed out sea urchins from the glass bottom boat and educated us by saying 75% of their DNA is the same as human beings. The Picasso Trigger Fish is the state fish of Hawaii. He also informed us that Manta Reys do belly rolls to eat plankton in the evenings and at night he would sometimes bring tourists to watch as he shined lights on the reys. The guide pointed out the little blue chapel along the shore where John Wayne got married. While we were on the water we got to see lots of spinner dolphins. I was able to snap pictures of them, I was clicking away on my camera but it paid off with a picture of two swimming in the water. There were about five or six of them that kept swimming back and forth by our boat. It wasn’t easy trying to shoot them, as one never knew when or where in the water they would appear. During the last half hour of our boat trip a local Hawaiian lady entertained us with several different types of hula. I kept running up and snapping pictures as she performed the different hulas and using various rhythmic instruments. She changed her outfit to the ancient dress and finally to the shimmering gold hula skirts. She told us how Hollywood would use the shimmering gold hula skirts as the tan raffia ones wouldn’t show up on screen very well. At the end of her show she had several men come up to entertain us. They wore coconut shells and grass skirts. Alan was one of the men chosen. I got some great shots of him to prove it. They were so comical. When the show was over I asked the dancer if I could take a picture of Alan with her and she graciously said yes. Now Alan can show his boss what he was doing to recuperate from his heart attack. When the boat docked it was extremely hot and all I wanted was a cold drink. I didn’t want to walk anywhere so we caught a ride back on the tender. There at the front of the line were containers filled with cool, refreshing water! We didn’t have to wait long before a tender came and took us back to the ship. It felt so good as we stepped on board where it was air-conditioned! It was around 1:30 by the time we got back.

The show at the Stardust Theater that evening was called ‘On the Radio’. The NCLA Production cast showcased favorite AM radio tunes in this production. Directly after the show there was a special finale presentation by the Officers, Staff, and Crew of the Pride of Aloha. Later that night NCL’s version of the risqué group known as Chip N Dales called ‘Ship n Males’ was presented but I chose not to go to it. I remember the one I went to several years ago on another cruise line and I turned as red as a cherry!