Hawaii 2022, Part 3

After we bid the Hanley's a sad farewell, we packed up our stuff and moved back to the Beach Villas but this time to a new rental place, one that was much smaller that would work for us and my parents. After dropping our luggage, we headed to the Waimea Farmer's Market. The highlight, and really the main reason we wanted to go, was to try the 4-for-$10 grilled abalone! We made a beeline for that stand, and my mom liked it so much we ended up going back to get a second order. We learned from the lady at the stand that there's an abalone farm on the island so I filed it away as something to do next time we are in town. After lunch, the kids went to the pool and Scott and I headed into Kona to meet with one of his old college buddies at the Kona Dog Beach. This was a new-to-us beach next to the marina. It was a very locals-type beach with really calm waters. I'm not sure I need to go back again but if you need a place to hang out near the airport, this could be an option.

On Sunday, we headed to Mahukona Beach Park, which is an abandoned sugar mill factory that supposedly has great snorkeling, easy water access and was a recommendation from the owners of the place we were staying at. Evie was the only kid brave enough to go try it out and the report was that it was easy to go in (no sand!) but the current was strong and snorkeling was really only ok. We did see a lot of locals there swimming so maybe we caught it on a bad day. Afterwards, we stopped by the nearby town of Hawi to have lunch at Bamboo restaurant, and then back to the house to relax.

Stairs to get to the water

Kathy, Edmond, Scott and Evie going out

Lunch at Bamboo

Grabbing coffee at Kohala Coffee before going home.

Dad wearing a scarf!! In 85 degree weather!

The rest of the week was a blur of work and play. Scott and I worked west coast hours which meant getting up before the sun rose. The nice part though was we finished up by about 2-3 in the afternoon, when there's still plenty of time to enjoy the fun to be had on the island. We took off every afternoon either to hang out at the pool or to play in the sand in one of the nearby beaches or to walk across the street for some shopping or treats. We were able to make it to Mauna Kea (finally got a pass!) and went back to Kua Bay too because Evie wanted to learn how to build fancy sand castles from a local who's an expert. And, one afternoon while at A-Bay, Kathy harvested some sea urchins. Pretty fun to try super fresh sea urchins, even if they were a bit on the small side.

Hanging out at Mauna Kea

Cute little sherpa beach girl

I spy a rainbow!

One afternoon we walked to Queens to try pineapple dole whip. YUM!!

Hanging out at the condo.

Evie and Nora helping build sand castles at Kua Bay

We didn't stay to finish the castle but Evie had a lot of fun helping.

Sunset from A-Bay

Sea urchins!

My parents claimed these were the best starfruit they have had outside asia.

On Saturday night, we went out for one last nice meal in Hawaii. This time, we tried Merriman's, which is a farm-to-table restaurant up in Waimea. We warned the girls that it was a nicer place and that they would have to behave in the restaurant, and they did great. It was a set menu and the portions were so large that I couldn't finish my food and had to bring leftovers home. I have to tell you that my lamb chops were a tasty breakfast the next day!

All dressed up for dinner

My kanpachi and ahi poke appetizer was huge!

Nora's beef tenderloin

Lamb chops over lamb stew. Tasty!!

Nora loving her chocolate dessert

On our last full day, we finally got to try out Makalawena Beach, a beach I've had on my list of places to check out for almost 10 years! On our very first trip to Big Island back in 2013, we tried to hike out to this remote beach that required us to first drive through an unmarked road through the lava fields. Well, we took the wrong "road" and ended up getting our car stuck and had to wait for hours to get a tow truck to help us. I've always wanted to make it to that beach and good ole Hawaii must have realized too many tourists were getting stranded in the lava field because there is now a "real" road there now. It's not a paved road, but at least it's a clear road through the lava fields. Since we didn't have a 4-wheel drive car to make it through the lava road, we chose to hike the 1.5 miles instead and was rewarded with a beeee-uuuu-teee-ful white sand beach that we had practically to ourselves. When we got there at about 9am, there was only 2 other people on the beach. When we left around 12:30, there was probably about 20 people altogether. The info I had read mentioned it wasn't a great snorkeling spot so I opted not to bring gear with me but Scott did and he said that it was probably the best, or second best, snorkeling he's had on the island. I'm so bummed I missed out but relaxing on the beach was still a fine way to spend the morning! 

Afterwards, we picked up my parents from the condo to grab dinner before dropping them off at the airport. We opted for Umeke's for dinner, and there happen to be a little art fair outside we were able to walk around while waiting for our seat. When we finally got seated, it started to rain! Nora thought it was great fun to wear a poncho while eating, but that coupled with really really really slow service and not that great food made for a disappointing last meal in Hawaii. 

We took a shortcut trail to get started. It went up this steep hill.

Hiking in the sun.

Beautiful views

The beach!! 

Lovely lovely lovely

I knew I spotted this beach from the plane when we flew in!

Scott swimming in some of the nearby pools

Art fair in Kona

Eating poke in the rain

I'm so sad that our trip is over, but we had a wonderful, fantastic time. We love all the big island because there's so much to see and do (although you do have to drive!), and we were very happy to have been able to share in our adventures with family on this trip. The very best part really was being able to hang out with everyone. The kids, especially, loved being with their cousins and couldn't stop lamenting how much they missed Ian and Owen after they left. Hopefully, we'll all get to go again very soon!