Saturday, December 01, 2007
We're back! It's COLD here. 23°, according to my Beagle. And it might snow tomorrow. Now thinking about Christmas seems appropriate.
Posted at 10:35:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I have notes for the days I'm behind on, and I'll try to catch up v. soon, while I still remember. (My fingers are too cold to type properly right now! Our house still isn't completely warmed up.)
Friday, November 30, 2007
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
The Herb is a perfect last day list writing location. The Long Hot Walk there took 40 minutes. It was long! And hot! (And fun!) Then, our old favorite spot under the ironwood tree: perfect temperature, beautiful, and not windy (!). There was a sea turtle (#90) snoozing on the beach, and the sunset walking back was spectacular.
After we packed, we had our final dinner, at O's. Perfect. Pot stickers and pear gorg salad. Straw & hay for Dean (perfect last dish, simple and really good). Our last food in Hawaii was the coconut cream cake. I made a note to myself to list the reasons why it's the perfect dessert, but I never wrote down the reasons, so I guess I'll have to wait 'til next time to enumerate. Good thing next time is soon.
We visited our Na Hale o Storage before driving to the airport, to set up the items we left behind, including our special lava rock (it can't leave Hawaii!) that we usually hide with the weights. It gets its own little box, from Persimmon. When we returned the Jeep, Dean reported that we'd driven 1,500 miles.
Restaurant/Food Superlatives:
Posted at 11:57:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Most wonderful - ?
Most Mind-Bendingly Delicious - Kenichi
Most Satisfying - O's
Best Service - Pahu I`a
Most Romantic - Pahu I`a
Best Meat - Merriman's
Best Vegetarian - O's
Most Aesthetically Pleasing - Pahu I`a
Most Surprisingly Good - Roadhouse Cafe and Hula Bean
Best New Discovery - Pahu I`a breakfast, South Kona Fruit Stand's cafe, and Dara's
Most Disappointing Meal - U-Top-It and Merriman's
Most Should Feel Shame - Merriman's Market Cafe
Most Annoying - Tommy Bahama
Places We Expected to Be Good That Were Puh - U-Top-It
Places We Expected to Be Puh That Were Good - Roadhouse Cafe, Lava Java, International Marketplace stands
Places We Expected to Be Puh That Were Puh - Merriman's Market Cafe and Tommy Bahama
Best Entertainment by Geckos - Coffee Shack and Aloha Angel Cafe
Best Drink - Cafe Pesto's paradise passion w/li hing mui salt
Best Place for a Quick & Satisfying Bite - Killer Taco
Most Refreshing - South Kona Fruit Stand smoothie, Keauhou Farmers' Market juices, Hui beer, and lulo popsicle!
Best Fruit - strawberry papayas w/lime (D) and yellow dragonfruit (L)
Best Place To Get Exotic Fruit - Keauhou Farmers' Market
Yummiest Overall Foods - Daylight Donuts' malasadas, black cod at Kenichi, uni at Kenichi, O's coconut cream cake, and O's potstickers
Thing We Craved the Most When We Were Back in Connecticut - Henry Weinhard's brand root beer
Things To Do in March:
Posted at 11:55:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
- Dive Pine Trees (multiple sections are possible)
- Dive Black Sand Beach south of Tree Beach (book says it's scuba-able)
- Dive Ke`ei more
- Snorkel Ghost Beach
- Check out new beach near Kua (see 4th edition of book)
- Visit sea horses at NELHA
- Try Dragon "vintage" (aged) coffee (recommended by Candy Co. lady)
- Eat at Batik
- Eat at Ke`ei Cafe
- Have lunch at Blue Sky Cafe (recommended by BID) (if we want to try a new lunch joint)
- Eat at Teshima restaurant (?)
- Get more Kohala Divers small mauvehound t-shirts
- Get coffee and chai at Tea & Coffee Co., Kona Mountain, and Kope place in Hawi
- Get malasadas at Daylight Donuts at 6AM
- See Queens Shops progress
- Go to Keauhou Farmers' Market Saturday mornings!
Things Not To Do in March:
- Jeff Jones Experience
- Visit Kua
- Eat at U-Top-It
- Go on a manta/black water dive
- Get coffee press at O's or Pahu I`a
- Get snakefruit or abiu
[Photo strip: 1) malasadas from Daylight Donuts, 2) Farmers' Market fruit including (clockwise from top left) limes and gigantic round Meyer lemon; apple bananas; lulo, a fig, and mangosteen; atemoya; and, on tiny plate in center: mameyita, aka "lemon drop mangosteen" and yellow momban (see November 11th entry); 3) giant plate of Farmers' Market fruit for breakfast (clockwise from top center): abiu (yellow thing cut in half), sliced up starfruit, yellow pitaya (cut in half), broken up atemoya, sliced up lulo, and an apple banana.]
Snorkel Sports, Ranked:
Posted at 11:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
1. Fishaholic
2. Ke-awa-iki (x2)
3. Beezer's Buddha Point
4. Tree Beach (Laura only)
Shore Dive Sports, Ranked
1. Ke`ei (x2)
2. Sug
3. Puako (whale & church)
4. 4 Mile (x3)
5. Puako (end)
6. Honaunau (x2)
7. Old Airport
8. Alua
We went on 15 dives (shore + boat) on this trip.
Shave Ice/Ice Cream Joints, Ranked
1. Kawaihae Shopping Center place
2. Fishaholic stand
3. Kope place in Hawi
5. Daylight Donuts (#5 ranking for ice cream only, not malasadas!)
5. Ueshima (tie)
7. Hula Bean
Expensive Restaurants, Ranked:
1. Pahu I`a, 2. Pahu I`a breakfast, 3. Imari, 4. Merriman's
Mid-Range Restaurants, Ranked:
1. Kenichi, 2. O's, 3. Dara's, 4. Cafe Pesto, 5. Royal Thai Cafe, 6. Merriman's Market Cafe, 7. Tommy Bahama
Casual Hosted Restaurants, Ranked:
1. Aloha Angel, 2. Coffee Shack, 3. U-Top-It
Casual Non-Hosted Restaurants, Ranked:
1. South Kona Fruit Stand cafe
tied: Killer Taco, Ba-Le, Roadhouse Cafe, Hula Bean, Lava Java, International Marketplace stands
8: Peaberry & Galette
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Last night I dreamt that there was a freshly-fallen blanket of snow on the top of Mauna Kea (there hasn't been any snow up there during this trip) and this morning it looks like it's true! I took a photo from our lanai. There was a big storm yesterday when we were in Kona (thunder, lightning, flash floods, landslides) so maybe it snowed on Mauna during the storm.
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Ralph should = Nate. Dean 100% agrees!
We met the Iki lady going through the gate as we were completing our Long Hot March (with my little flashlight) coming back from Iki tonight. She was nice! We told her how much we appreciate Iki (& I told her it's my favorite beach) and thanked her for allowing access. As usual, no one was there. I went on a big walk on the huge empty beach, watching the ocean draw away and then roll back in, frothy white against the black sand.
We had a short snorkel, and I found a textile cone, which I showed Dean and told him not to touch because the guy inside can sting you and the venom is incredibly poisonous! (It can be fatal.) He asked if it was okay to touch the shell itself, so he could brush some sand off it to get a better photo, and I said that would be okay as long as he didn't pick it up or touch the opening. He was extremely careful and I felt like such an expert. :-) Textile cones are very pretty--it was coooool seeing one.
Iki was unusually calm today... I was able to stay so still with my weight belt on, looking at things up close.
And we discovered that Iki is really scuba-y looking in the deep parts! There's tons of nice old coral. We could see it far down below, and both free-dove down a bunch of times, really deep, to get a better look. (I was all out of breath from repeatedly checking out the deeper dropoffs by the time Dean recorded the video below.) We'd never explored that area before. I bet the coral is really pristine. It would be impossible to carry scuba gear to Iki, though! 
Even though this photo is all smeary (because the underwater camera was wet), I love it. Coming in from our last snorkel of 2007. Black and black, wet sand. Mermaidish.
And here's one final, just of Iki, because it's so beautiful.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Na Hale o Storage!!
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Also, visited Big again (despite having said goodbye to them yesterday) to try on BCDs, and Jack's, and the Croc store (again for about the fiftieth time). I chatted with Sara while Dean was looking at gear, and found out lots about her. Dean was astonished by my detailed report afterward! :-) I really like Sara.
We had dinner at Kenichi one last time. Love LOVE Kenichi. Ideal Kenichi meal (which is what I ordered, natch): seafood sunomomo, saikyo miso black cod (broiled, served with Kenichi sweet miso), and uni x 2!! Mmmmmmmmm. Four huge uni sushis! Dean made me do it.
Uni + cod = the only time I can ever remember wishing Dean wasn't a vegetarian, because I so wanted to say, "Try this!"
I think I figured out the "hot & dry" thing. He was comparing Kona to Hilo.
The DJ on Lava 105 started playing an Elvis song instead of a Christmas song and I got all excited, but he only played it for 30 seconds and then whump. It was a mistake. Aaah!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I think the remainder of my entries are going to be pretty substance-less, but that's okay, because we didn't do that much worth reporting about for our last few days before leaving. We mostly alternated between slacking and going on reconnaissance missions, since we were busy planning to come back again soon!!
Tuesday we lounged around at the Hilton Waikoloa, making lists in my blog notebook and drinking a matcha green tea smoothie (!), and went snorkeling at Beezer's Buddha Point pretty late in the day. I had fun getting washed away, and floating. A surfing turtle was doing the same, and I watched him take gulps of air at the surface. I also sketched some fish that were riding the foamy surge near a turbulent rocky spot, letting themselves be swept along in the bubbles over and over again, and then used the picture to identify them in my fish book later. They were whitespotted surgeonfish, but the ones I saw had really yellow markings! (Not white!) The viz wasn't that great since the sun was going down, and we didn't really get any good pictures, but it was a good snorkel. Beezer's Buddha Point is such a wild, rough, beautifully desolate spot, it's hard to believe that it's only a short climb over lava from the Hilton megaresort.
We had dinner at Dara's, the new Thai place at Mauna Lani, and it was really nice, and different! We had the best table, with a zillion beautiful silk cushions to snuggle up against. Dean ordered spring rolls and pad see ewe with tofu, and I had tempura soft shell crab and pineapple fried rice. I never order fried rice, but I just felt like it for some reason! It came served inside half a pineapple and was fantastic--nothing like Chinese restaurant fried rice, and exactly like what I was craving. (The soft shell crab was way too huge, though!) Their lemonade was also great. Dean massively wants to go back.
Monday, November 26, 2007
On the way to Waikoloa Highlands Center, I stopped at Mauna Kea Coffee Co. for a Kona. Good coffee! A little thin, but no bitterness. It was a fun solo Jeep outing, but I've had to resort to an easy listening station now because everything else is overrun with Christmas music. Aaagh.
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
BTW, verdict: Hawaiian Lavosh (lilokoi butter flav, at least) is addictive. It's really good. (Dean thinks so, too.) It tastes sort of like butter cookies, but is really thin and crispy.
We returned our scuba gear to Big Island Divers and said bye to everyone, and also asked them for lunch restaurant recommendations. Norm rhapsodized about a calamari place (we had never seen him so animated about anything!) which we vaguely remember him telling us about once before. He sure loves that calamari!! Other suggestions included the nearby Blue Sky Cafe and Island Lava Java, which is where we ended up going. It was surprisingly good! We had sandwiches and an excellent vanilla milkshake (I really liked it, although I am not usually a big vanilla milkshake fan). I didn't try their coffee, since I'd already had one at the MKCC.
Then we checked out the nice beach park we discovered on Wednesday near Tree Beach, and once again it was nearly empty, for no reason that we could discern. I made up some Brigadoon-esque theories, but Dean had no idea what I was talking about. We decided to call it Ghost Beach since it's like a ghost town. It was nice and feety and relaxing. I ran back to the Jeep to get the camera when the sun started to set, and couldn't believe how close it was.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dive Slate From Final Puako:
- lay in wait for garden eels -- could see eye!! [this was so cool! absolute stillness, scarcely breathing... hoping they'd be brave and would come back out of their holes close enough for us to see]
- a lot like Ke`ei
- brown & camel feather duster!
- connected to [COT] guy... look how he's all fuzzy (purple)
- feet at tips are different (clear and smooth, not yellow and suctiony)
- fuzzy purple retracts between spines
- tiny purple uni-like spines between big green spines
- orange/golden cup coral in cave
- tons of crowns
- med. JJ eel
- same kind of nudi as on JJ dive, but smaller
- almost like a boat dive
The underwater camera started getting all wonky and wouldn't work once we got underwater, so none of the photos Dean tried to take at depth came out. (Unfortunately, because there were some really interesting crown-of-thorns ones!) The two photos he took of me with the same camera topside turned out okay, though! Here's the second one, with me all geared up and ready to climb in. I'm doing a shaka, but it doesn't show up very well because of the background. (And I'm wearing little braids, sticking out on either side of my cap!) It was a really nice final dive, with a lot of interesting garden eel and COT interaction/study.
After the dive, we got shave ice at the Kawaihae Shopping Center place, with mac nut ice cream on the bottom (even though the shave ice lady tried to challenge my preference for having it on the bottom, as opposed to in the center). I got a good Kona coffee for $1. at the Kawaihae Market & Deli! (Hawaiian Isles Kona Coffee Co.)
We had dinner at Pahu I`a:
Me:
duck, duck, duck
vanilla-orange mac nut crusted mahimahi (the mahimahi was very good and succulent)
salty crunchy dark chocolate praline w/Kona coffee ice cream (how could I not order it, with a name like "salty crunchy dark chocolate" anything??)
Dean:
Hawaiian baby beet surfing goat cheese salad
veg. quartet
toasted macadamia nut praline soufflé
I also got a Kona coffee press... the presentation was superlative (beautiful press, raw sugar, dark chocolate morsels...), but there was too much bitterness present for a 
. For $15, I wouldn't order it again!! Pahu I`a's Kona coffee press used to be my favorite thing ever... I'm not sure if it's changed or I have. :-/ (But I sure don't remember it being that expensive in the past.) Sorry, Pahu.
