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Published: February 16th 2014
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I stayed in Kona for 4 days, and it was great. Kona is the ritzier, more developed, more touristic part of the Big Island of Hawaii. A lot of older American folks are there enjoying vacations, a quarter or half the year, retirement, or have permanently relocated. All are basically here to enjoy life by unwinding, soaking up the great weather, natural environment, and friendly people (funny how these often go together!). It's not exactly a landmark destination for a backpacker, as there aren't many fellow backpackers there, most being priced out of this market. Fortunately, I had my own crew, assembled from the
Vipassana meditation retreat that I started my Hawaiian experience with. One was kind enough to host us all in the condo that she had access to. We made the most of it.
One of the bad things about the Big Island overall is that it's tough to find a nice sand beach, as most of the coastline is pretty rocky. Kona is no exception. We found a secluded beach called Makalawena, a beautiful crescent white sand beach with some snorkeling and sometimes waves (but not at this time). To get there required a 30 min hike over an
"a'a" trail (this is the sound you make when walking on it barefoot, due to the sharp lava rocks).
After frying ourselves in the sun, we headed to a 10m cliff jump south of Kona. It was fun hanging out with some of the native kids here, and nice to see that children still get together to do fun activities where no one is looking at a screen.
The next day my friend and I took a few bodyboards and tried to locate Banyans beach, which I had first heard of when playing one of the Kelly Slater surfer video games. This local spot wasn't well-marked, and we drove by it a few times before finding it. This day it was the only place on the Kona coast with any semblance of a break. A few locals were out there surfing, so we figured it was fine to head in. It was treacherously rocky and shallow headed out, but I had already navigated a few such coastlines successfully, so was confident I could handle it. However, things started to get painful, and a quick look around revealed that we were in a minefield of sea urchins (
wada in
The famous Kona Donkey Ball
I.e. Chocolate-covered macadamia Hawaiian). It was pretty difficult to place precise footing, due to the waves, so I just kept heading out, hoping to avoid them. I caught a wave, but my foot was aching, so I headed in to check it out. Sure enough, I had a few urchin spines in my toes. Meanwhile, we saw a local exit in a side area that was presumably safer than the direct approach we took.
Upshot:
Always ask the locals! I went back to the condo, and removed the spines that I could, but some were too far in. I took it easy, preparing for my ayahuasca trip that evening, which I
wrote about previously. The next day I bummed around Kona until my evening appointment with the Manta Rays, on a snorkeling excursion. This was a weird, but cool experience. Basically, we headed out on a boat for about 5 minutes to a location where they rig up some bright lights, which apparently attract a lot of plankton, which serves as a buffet for the rays who then come and feast. Meanwhile, you don't get to swim around the area, but are designated an area on the line to wait, floating, until the rays
come nearby. This ends up working well, as they approach within inches of you, and you even need to dodge them at times. You aren't supposed to touch them, as supposedly it strips their mucosal lining, making them susceptible to infection. I think we floated there for about an hour, and had 4 rays dancing around us most of the time.
The next day I headed to the living history coffee plantation near Captain Cook, South of Kona. This was a cool guided tour of a Japanese coffee farm that started around 1900 or so, as did a lot of the farms in the Kona coffee belt. Kona coffee is pretty good stuff, but it's pricey. That took a lot of the day, due to the slowness of public transportation, so when I got back I had to just get ready for my flight that evening over to Honolulu.
All-in-all, Kona is a nice get away, but is kind of a typical tropical vacation hangout that's full of old Americans.
Puna/Pahoa has a lot more interesting culture and fun younger people.
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