Magic And Memories Privacy Policy |
big
island 2003 - page two |
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Mahai'ula
Beach at Kekaha Kai State Park
Getting here
is an adventure but, as you'll see, worth it. The road in to the
beach is only 1+1/2 miles from Queen K highway but it takes about 20 minutes to drive 'cause
yaz gotta drive reeeeeally slooooowly. In some spots you wonder if
maybe you should just Fogedaboudit!
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First View of Beach from Path
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Mahai'ula Beach
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Beach from Opposite End
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Honu Tanning
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Honu Swimming
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Magoon House
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View from Magoon House
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Magoon House from Afar
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The Magoon Family, rumored to be part Hawaiian, owned all this area at
one time. They sold the land to a Japanese investor who intended
to create a resort here. The state however, refused permission and
instead bought the land back from the investor creating Kekaha State
Park.
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I
suspect the Magoons were a fishing family as there are large basins,
many out buildings, a windmill, natural fresh water pools, a couple of
large boat winches etc.
This pic on the left is a grotto in the rock which has three hooks into
the rock at the top. Likely they hung fish there to dry. |
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Assorted
Pics That Didn't Fit Anywhere Else :-)))
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Did
you have any idea Banana Trees where so obscene? |
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C'est Moi at
Jameson's for Lunch
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Jameson's at Magic
Sands
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Kona Surf** From
Kanaloa
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Edward's Restaurant
at Kanaloa
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**Kona Surf, built in 1971, was once "the" Hotel on the Kona
Coast. With 535 Rooms, it was bought in '86 by a Japanese company
which shut it down in June 2000, citing $3Million in annual operating
losses as the reason. It has stood
vacant ever since. It has now finally been bought by Sheraton with a re-opening date of June 2004. The estimates
of restoring this property run as high as
$40 Million. I hope it
happens as it's a truly gorgeous spot, once home to
many Manta Rays who
would come to feel there each night. |
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Sea Cliff
Resort (next door to KM)
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WK on our Balcony
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Whose White Legs are Those???
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WK Blocking Water
View
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Holly Blocking Water
View
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Donuts + Whip Cream
for Brekky ?
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Eggs + Bacon - Healthier !
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A Shopping Excursion - see
below !!
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So . . . it's Wednesday April 30th. I'm frustrated with WK as he's
wearing these
ratty old shorts as a bathing suit so I threaten to throw them out if he
doesn't go shopping and get a new one. So about
1:30 he heads out shopping. Note here - previous to this 'shopping
excursion' we have a bottle
each of Vodka, Scotch, and Spiced Rum, plus some MaiTai Mix and a
Woodbridge Cabernet. So - about 3:30 he arrives home with . . . .
. . . . . . a pair of sandals,
four Fila golf shirts, a pair of dress shorts and shirt, some
mushrooms
and enuf liquor to sink a battle ship and NO bathing suit!!
We have more liquor here than we do at home! Please don't ask if
we drank it
all 'cause if we did, I will NOT want to remember the headaches.
Moral of Story --> DO NOT send WK shopping.
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Kailua Bay from Royal Kona Resort
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Across Kailua Bay to Waterfront Row
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The
pics following are of a totally neat saltwater pool built by someone who
owned the land in this area many moons ago. It fills by the action
of the sea. In high surf times, one will often find fish swimming
in it. We were there at high surf time and the game is to
stand on the outer (oceanside) rim, wait for the surf to crash and knock
you into the pool! It's located a short walk south from KM at the
first shore access sign. |
Kids in the pool plus . . .
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One Older Guy . . .
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The Kind of Surf
that Day
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Kids Waiting For
Surf + Older Guy
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After Surf Arrived -
Everyone in da Pool !
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Flower Arrangement
at Royal Kona Resort
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LINKS & info |
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Please
Note:
All external links open in a separate window. Please use the
" X "
in the top right corner of the new window to close it
and return to this page.
As well, some of the linked sites go off line or change
locations.
I simply cannot be here daily checking if they all work. If you
find one that is broken and it's of particular interest to you, I
suggest you place your mouse over the link and look in the bottom right
corner of your browser, That *should* give you the link
address.
Write it down & then *Google* it.
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The
Weather
Forecast for Kona and Hilo may often note the term 'upslope
showers'. You may think, as did I, this means it's going to rain
every afternoon! Not so ~ these showers hit the hills up higher,
thus away from the beach/shoreline. It may get a bit cloudy in
the afternoons but it's always warm and rarely rains. The only rain we had was one
night - very heavy - while we were off in La-La Land. By morning
everything was fresh and clean and mostly dried up. |
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The
forums on Konaweb are a great place to obtain info on all manner of activities and events on
the Big Island. Frequented by both Island residents and
oft-visitors, they generously answer any questions you may have. As
well, Konaweb has a very handy Restaurant Reviews section which includes
some excellent but not commonly known great places.
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Tourist
Guidebooks can be found all over the place and often contain discount
coupons for various activities such as Luau's. Here are the online
site links: Big Island Gold
- This
Week Magazine - Beach
& Activity Guide - 101
Things To Do - Big
Island Visitor + Pleasant
Hawaii. The Hawaii
Visitors Guide also has some useful information. BI Visitor has
the TV schedules for the month. Most of the guide books have maps, some better
than others. TGI
Maps are also helpful to get an idea of where places are. In most
cases the online versions are larger than those in the various guide books thus easier to read. I'd suggest
you choose a couple that look best to you & print them out. Then
you can mark the various spots of interest to you, on them & take them
with you.
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The penultimate
guide to the Big Island is the book The Big Island
Revealed. The website has some of the info in the book plus
fantastic shots of the volcanoes. Also has aerial views of many
resorts. Published by Wizard Publications it's $9.45US at Costco in
Kona but can be ordered at Chapters/Indigo books ($22.95 CAD). I
have the book so . . . when you get to the log-in/password screen what
might you want to do ? It won't give you all the info
in the book but it surely helps with accommodation info which you generally
want before you go. :-)))
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The
small local paper is West
Hawaii Today. Also available are the Honolulu
Star Bulletin and the Honolulu
Advertiser, plus USA Today, etc. |
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Go
Hawaii has a list of web
cams of various spots on the Big Island. |
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Snorkel
Bob's, in addition to hawking snorkel gear, has some useful info on
spots to snorkel on the Kona Coast. Here are another couple of links
to snorkel info pages - JaneyZee's
& Webbit.
There is a great deal of lava rock on the sea floor so do be sure to
either buy or rent reef boots. It will make getting in and out of
the water much more comfortable and keep your tootsies safe from
Urchins. Kona Boys in Captain Cook (808-328-1234) is a great place
to rent kayaks for doing the Captain Cook Monument snorkel. They'll
even put the kayak on your rental car for you. They don't have a
website yet. |
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Finding
accommodations is pretty easy however when you've never been there,
knowing where each place is located isn't so easy. The maps and aerial
views mentioned above help a great deal. Personally I preferred to
rent directly from an owner rather than thru a rental company - and there
are several of them! Vacation
Rental by Owner is a good place to start as they are listed by area
and generally have lots of pics. Dancing thru that site will give
you a feel for the various possibilities. Once I had some 'targets'
I did a Google search with just the name - for instance Kona Makai - and
came up with lots of choices. You can do likewise with any place of
interest. If you want to use the broad brush technique, just Google
"Kona Vacation Rental" and you'll get pages and pages with all
the management companies plus individual owner sites. Here is the link
for our condo and this is the link to the KM
condo association which has other Kona Makai rentals.
A word on Kona Makai - BIR doesn't really say much about it however Bill
and I did a fair amount of 'snooping' at other spots along Alii.
Our opinion is that, for the $$'s it's the best value and the most
well-maintained place. We would definitely not hesitate to stay
there again. |
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The
3 grocery stores in Kona are KTA, Safeway and Sack 'n Save. Where
you can, buy your produce at one of the farmer's markets. It's
cheaper and a lot fresher. The farmer's markets also sell lots of
flowers, crafts & other good stuff.
KTA is in the Kona Coast Shopping Center on Palani between Alii and Queen
K.
Sack 'n Save is in the Shopping Center (Lanihau I think) across the street
from KTA and
Safeway is in the Crossroads Shopping Centre on Henry above Queen K.
(Queen K = Queen Ka'ahumanu and is the major highway, the one you'll take
once you leave the airport.) You'll also find Walmart here.
To get to Costco, take Queen K towards the airport, watch for Hina Lani
St. and turn right. Costco has the cheapest gas & liquor so if
your a member, you can stop there on your way in from the airport if your
that organized!
Makalapua Center, on Makala off Queen K, is home to K-Mart and Macy's. |
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Cell
phones - we were never able to get ours to work within the island.
We had a roam number from Telus Mobility (we're from Canada folks) but
couldn't get it to function properly. The telephone company is Verizon.
Before we go next time, we'll contact them and see if we can figure this
challenge out. If you should become successful in this endeavor, I'd
appreciate you letting us know the tricks! |
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This site
monitors the lava flows from Kilauea ~ pictures too. |
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The form required to obtain a Wedding Licence can be downloaded here. |
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Check this link out if surfing
lessons are of interest. |
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The "Clam Bake on the Beach" at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is
supposed to be outstanding. It's on my list for the next
visit. It is Buffet style, all you can eat and includes lobster and
other very well prepared seafood, salads, chowder, prime rib.
Saturday evenings only starting at 6PM. Cost is about $60.00 per
person. They add the gratuity into the check so watch for that unless you
like tipping twice. It is served on the beach beside the beach bar,
with tiki torches and a small Hawaiian band unless weather dictates
otherwise. Reservations are required & I would make them early, like a
week in advance. |
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Visit here
for Hawaii transit site. There is bus transportation from Kona to
Hilo. |
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Hawaiian language,
words, phrases & pronunciations can be found here. |
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That's
about all I can think of. If you have questions, please feel free to
e-mail. I'm happy to help if I can.
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If
your not inclined to D-I-Y contact our wonderful Travel Agent ~~
Stefani Hilton-Dueck (need to add her contact info) and she'll get things together for you. |
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Privacy Policy
Terms Of Use
Last UpDated 04/12/06
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