Today was a "no driving" day. We stopped at the concierge desk to get a shuttle schedule. The plan: Walk All'i drive into Kailua Kona (about 5 miles) right along the water and past a series of beach parks, houses and condos. Nothing like walking to really see the area. Most of the way was breezy but by the time we got into town, I had the "red face" look. A lemonade, English muffin and glass of water and I was read to go again.
The main street along a bay has a low sea wall on one side of the road and shops along the other. John bought a hat and the clerk's daughter is a CPA in Springfield.
A BIG Princess Cruise ship is in port and filled the main street with many Australians. Kailua Pier (where Ironman swim ends) was center of activity where vans picked them up for trips to Ross Dress for Less, Wal-mart and K-mart. Waiting for the trolley, we sat on a wall with an Australian woman who told us the cruise was a 35 day trip to Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti. She didn't have much good to say abou Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti (dirty, she said). "Tahiti-- sounds exotic, doesn't it?" She said the best part of Tahiti is the view of the island as the ship leaves. Definitely a character. Not sure why she was on a cruise to locations she didn't like.
Those poor Australians were lined up for about three or four blocks with their shopping bags to take the launches (50ish at a time) back to the ship. They said the LONG line was getting into U.S. through Homeland Security at their first Hawaaian port. Sorry, Australians. We could think of several ways they could have speeded that up.
We got on the trolley back and had a scenic ride through the rest of the route and back to the shopping center (for $1). We had a nice talk on the trolley with a couple from Portland. We were laughing about Astoria as a destination resort and cruise ships. They go there for the regatta every year with friends and we gave them some Astoria travel advice. (They didn't know about Home Bakery?)
Then back here to the condo and more plotting for Tues-Thurs. I just committed (mastercard) to a kayak/snorkel trip to Capt Cook Monument for Wed. I've kayaked before, but the snorkeling will be new for me. John had hoped to surf, but I'm not sure that's going to happen this trip.
Now I'm caught up on blogging!
We had dinner by Chef John at the condo and I cleaned up and we still had time for an evening swim. This place has three pools - one is adults only and is open until 10. We had it to ourselves and then two sisters and their husbands arrived. Turns out they are from Portland and Salem so we shared stories. They are here with Gma and Gpa for two weeks. (Afterwards, Gma and Gpa stay another two weeks - likely to recover.) The kids are girl, 2, and boy, 18 mos, and are so excited to be with each other that the sleep and eat cycle is all off.
They said Gma and Gpa basically want kid time so they took off yesterday on their own for a meal in town that involved some bar-hopping. Their place fronts the golf course, too, so we shared stories about what we'd seen on the evening paseo. (The guy riding across the fairway on a bicycle was the weirdest.) While in the pool and spa, it started raining HARD. Warm rain was fun, tho, so we waited to see if it would let up a little (didn't) and then gave up and went back to listen to the rain at the condo.
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