We Have Arrived in Kona

Well we finally arrived, albeit a little late, as we sat in Vancouver for a few extra minutes waiting for a connecting Westjet to arrive with 5 Kona bound passengers. As most of you know, once you miss your gate departure time then you are at the mercy of the local air traffic control to slip you in to a vacant runway spot. So, needless to say we left late and arrived a bit late. For the most part flight was okay, a few bumpy sections where they slowed down to make it a bit more comfortable.

We are staying at the Aston Kona by the Sea Resort. Our condo is large and absolutely beautiful. It is a 2bedroom/2bath unit with lots of room and the views are amazing. This morning we saw a large school of spinner dolphins playing and swimming by the bay in front.

Here are a couple pictures from our balcony. 

Each morning Expedia has an orientation breakfast where they explain the island and a lot of activities in detail. It was a really well done presentation and was definitely not a sales job, as they provided us with a lot of good tips to see the Big Island attractions in a few short days.

Leaving Kaikua-Kona we headed north towards Kohala coast. The first part is all lava, miles and miles and miles of lava. Some still natural, some that has been dug up and spread around for construction………. but trust us there is enough to last a lifetime. The Big Island of Hawaii has 11 climate zones of the 13 measured climate zones in the world. So, it is has very diverse scenery, flora and fauna.

However after about an hour of driving you reach Kohala and it is as, the locals call it “Up Country”. Here the climate gets greener and wetter, there are cattle ranches and small rain forests. At the end of the road is the Pololu Valley and lookout which is a very lush tropical rain forest area. Pictures never do the actual views or scenery justice.

When we finally got back we headed down to the pool for a swim around 4:00 pm and we saw a pod of humpback whales swimming by and they were very active. We think it was a family with some young ones as they were flapping their flukes and leaping out of the water, it was very cool.

The final picture is sunset from our lanai. Aloha from Hawaii.