Kona, HI - Day 9
Thursday, April 1
Andi and I woke up early this morning to enjoy a date together. First one in over a year! Janie agreed to stay back at the condo with Tory and Aden.
There aren’t many hikes on the west side of the Big Island and the ones that are here are often longer distances without much shade cover. This morning, Andi and I were excited to get out in nature and do something that we wouldn’t be able to do with the kids along.
We decided to hike the 4-mile Captain Cook trail this morning located in South Kona. In 1878, Captain James Cook was the first Westerner to land his ship on the Big Island of Hawaii in this very spot. Almost a year later, he was killed not far from there. His countrymen erected a monument commemorating his life and exploration in Kealakekua Bay, but it is only accessible by kayak or by a steep trail down the cliffside. Walking down the 2-mile trail isn’t the difficult part; it’s hiking back up again that’s strenuous!
Andi and I set out at 8:00am and already the sun was hot. The trail had some shade cover at the beginning as it weaved through some trees, but it quickly opened up to wide, open views of Kealakekua Bay. We saw a pack of wild goats on the side of the trail about half-way down.
This area of the bay offers some of the best snorkeling on the Big Island so most visitors either hike or kayak here to swim around with the fish. Sometimes there’s also spinner dolphins residing here. We didn’t snorkel this morning, but it was a beautiful place to sit and enjoy the view.
Shortly thereafter, Andi and I began to make our ascent back to the road at the top. By now, it was 9:00am and the sun was blazing down on us. Of course, we barely had any water left in our packs. It was a challenge hiking up 1,300 feet but it also felt amazing to work up a sweat being active outdoors together.
After our hike, we stopped by Randy’s Huli Chicken on the way back to the condo. This place had a line of customers already at 10:30am. It smelled amazing! We ordered a whole rotisserie chicken and smoked pork to take back home for lunch & Andi also ordered two bbq pork sliders to re-fuel his body on the drive home. I couldn’t believe he could eat something that heavy that after a hot & sweaty hike — blech!
Back at the condo, we assembled a green salad to pair with the rotisserie chicken meat. It was delicious. Then, the kids and I did school on the outdoor patio. We also completed the remainder of the Kaloka -Honokohau National Historic Park Junior Ranger packet that we picked up last week during our visit there.
On the way to the beach that afternoon, we stopped by Kaloka-Honokohau National Historic Park nearby to return the kids’ Junior Ranger packets and collect their badges. It was neat for Janie to see the kids take the Junior Ranger pledge. After earning countless badges, Tory is starting to lose interest in this educational program, but Aden is hitting his stride. He completed the booklet all by himself and was very proud to receive his badge in honor of his hard work.
From there, we hopped over to O’oma Beach again to watch the sunset. This beach felt completely different this afternoon. For starters, it was high tide and the waves were ripping. None of the calm tide pools we’d lounged around in just a few days ago were visible. There were also considerably less people here today making it a quiet, relaxing place to wrap up the day.
I’m so impressed how well Janie has adapted to the time change. She is up for adventuring all day long without a complain. Back at the condo tonight, we ate leftover rotisserie chicken & pork and watched another episode of Heartland together. All of us were in bed by 9:00pm.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Kona before we head to our next condo in Waikoloa.
