April 18 - 21 - West Coast of the Big Island (Hawaii)

Staying  at Horizon Guest House in Honaunau

We will be flying out of Oahu for the big island (Hawaii) at 10:20 and arriving at Kona airport a whopping 43 minutes later (longest of our inter-island flights). This is the western shore of the island. After many hours of surfing (the web), we finally found a place that looked intriguing and beautiful although a bit out of the way. Nevertheless, it looks like the best place to unwind after Waikiki. It’s almost an hour south of the airport and it sits at 1100 feet up the slope of Mauna Loa with a great view of the ocean. It is called the Horizon Guest House. It’s a little far south and 10 miles from the nearest restaurant but we couldn’t resist choosing this place based on what we read and saw on the internet. I talked to the owner Clem on the phone one evening and with only 1 room available, I immediately reserved. Stay tuned on this one. I am not sure we will have internet access there but if there is, you should see some great pictures. Apparently, the sunset is just a warm up shop until the stars come out. In case you didn’t know the Big Island is a primary spot for celestial viewing. Mauna Kea is probably the best place on earth to put a telescope as there are at least a dozen of the world largest telescopes there. We are not allowed up there with our rental car but the Horizon Guest House might be the second best place to view the skies.

Plans for this side of the Island of Hawaii:

--> Relaxing
--> Beaching (snorkeling)
--> Star gazing
--> Nature (did I mention relaxing?)

Here's what we really did

Wednesday April 18

Today we packed up and went to the airport to fly to Hawaii (the Big Island). Hawaiian Airlines say they have the best on time record than any US airlines. If today is an example, it's no wonder why. Our flight actually took off at 10:20. In the air by scheduled departure not just left the gate. Barely 30 minutes later we were landing on Hawaii. Was looking forward to having a Sebring convertible for more room in the trunk but National only had Mustangs left. Same grey Mustang as Oahu (without the leather seats). Check in time was 2pm at the Horizon Guest House. We happened to hit the buttons on the gate at 2:00. That really wasn't planned but despite the overcast skies, the Horizon is quite the place. Pictures don't do it justice. We went for a swim in the infinity pool and the hot tub. Here are a few pictures but they don't do this place justice.

Thursday April 19

Today was a great with snorkeling then the beach. The snorkeling was the best I have ever done. Lot's of fish and two turtles. Here are pictures I took of the Place of Refuge. We then went to a beach (We can't seem to remember any names of places here as they all seem to start with H and have a lot of letters) and finally went shopping for food to prepare on the BBQ. There are many animals where we are staying and as of today, there are 2 more click here to see them. The weather is not looking that great for the next several days here on Hawaii. They are getting lots of rain on the Hilo side which is we will be in 2 days. It looks like the weather back home may be warmer. Were crossing our fingers for a big change in the forecast.

Friday April 20 (7am HST)

Today is our last full day on the west side of Hawai'i. We are going to drive up the coast looking for some good weather as the following 3 days on the east coast don't look promising weather wise. Also, we are staying at 4000' altitude so the highs are not expected to be  more than 70 degrees. Of course, we could always drive 30 minutes and get into the 80's. We are about to have breakfast here at the Horizon. It's very quiet as there are only 4 rooms and on the first night we were the only ones staying here. One little disappointment is that every evening it's been cloudy so no stars as expected. Let's hope that tonight will clear up. The sun is now trying to burn off the mist and it seems to be working. I see that the weather in Montreal is getting better and is looking good for the weekend. Everytime I go away in April, the weather seems to always be good. About 6 years ago, I went to the DR in April and Montreal had a high of 30 degrees. Blow some of that over for our next 3 days.

Friday April 20 (10:30 HST)

We drove up the Kona coast right to the Pololu Valley. We hiked down to the black sand beach there. It was quite the hike back up the trail. The guide book said that if you made i back up in 15 minutes it was a good achievement. We did it in 12 (I reviewed the video) which means we didn't stop once on the way up. We were a different color when we got to the top.  A young guy at the beginning of our hike after looking at us said it will take you about 20 minutes to go down and 35 minutes to get back up. It took 17 to get down before I stopped to take pictures. It was a great ride topped of by another great sunset in Kona just before supper. Here is the postcard for the day and here is the sunset.

Here is a pathetic story. Now that we are all older and have more time to travel (not enough time yet), it's sometimes hard to keep track of how many days you have used up and how many days you have left in your vacation. Sometimes age does help. Here is how I keep track. These are the pills I take every morning. It shows me exactly how many days left (including our travel day back). There are easier ways but I told it was a pathetic story.

Tomorrow, we relunctantly have to leave our great guest house but only after visit the newborn goats. Then we are off to the rain. Our next place is only 90 minutes away from here so we will be taking our time and sopping
along the way. Since the weather was not good today on the way to Volcano Village we didn't take many pictures. So instead here is a picture of the goats before we left the Horizon. Clem Classen was a great host and very good breakfast chef. He took us down to see the baby goats. Here is a picture.

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