Oh, another rocking tender ride! We are first in line for the tender, really first in line. Rose, the Captain’s Club hostess sends us down to get on the tender, and the security guard won’t let us come down, tells us to wait in line upstairs. That’s how first in line we were. Ends up we get on – and get the jump seats right in the doorway – best seats on the boat. But, oh my, we thought Maui was bad – this is really rocking and rolling. It takes over 15 minutes to load us up because the tender is rocking so much it is virtually impossible to get people on here. Glad today’s our last tender adventure.
Once ashore, we amble over to the Courtyard Marriot, right of the dock and pick up our car. Then we head out on our northern loop tour of Kona and Kohala.
As we leave Kona and head up into the mountains, we take a side trip up Kaloko road to get scenic vistas looking all over Kona. The 7 mile trip up the winding little road takes about 15 minutes and we are rewarded with….nothing really. There are no good vantage points to see out over the coast, nor is the weather really right for it either – it’s very hazy and not good for picture taking at all. If you look really closely a the picture on the right, you can see our ship way out in the distance.
Oh well, that was a bust. The only bright spot is that Alice gets us down the hill quicker with a short cut. For once Alice works out well without me arguing with her.
Without further ado, we head up toward Waimea and the Kohala Volcano. It is about 40 miles to Waimea, and the road goes through rainforest, past a golf course and then right though a huge lava flow. The road is literally cut right through the lava. You can see lava tubes and channels on both sides of the road. Really cool.
A few miles later, we pass by Holoholoku hill, which is where the infantry practiced for the assault on Iwo Jima. (It looks more impressive in person.)
We pass through Waimea, a cute little town, sort of sleepy, at the base of the Kohala Volcano. We had planned to stop here for supplies for lunch, but then decided to just eat out today at the Hawi BBQ Chuck wagon. Food Truck! So, we drive on and up into Kohala along the spine of the volcano (local lore says the volcano is sleeping, so don’t honk your horn, you might wake it up). The road is great, winding up the side of the volcano, and finally over the top where there are pines that line each side of the road. They must have been planted because they are the only trees around – everything else past the pines is farmland or lava, so it gives this odd effect of driving through a forest – but it’s only one row deep.
You can see Maui from up here – well at least the top of the volcano. We can see it just peeking over the clouds as we come down the side of Kohala. We are heading to the Pololu lookout, and after a few turns, end up on a road that I called the “mini road to Hana”. It’s got all the same qualities, twists, turns, sharp blind curves, one lane bridges and nothing but lava rock and grassland on either side.
We find our destination – sort of easy because it is literally the end of the road – and wander out to see the views.
It is gorgeous, lots of coastline and rainforest, and it is windy over here. Wow, the true meaning of windward. There is a trail that apparently takes you down to a beach, but we aren’t game. We’re just here for the views. So we snap our pictures and head out.
We detour down to Keokea Beach Park really for the bathrooms, but end up with an unexpected treat of lava rocks and crashing surf. Nice accidental perk.
We are heading toward Hawi now, a really small little wilderness outpost. On the way we stop by the King Kamehameha statue – which is the original statue, lost at sea when the ship carrying it sunk, it was found years later in pieces and put back together to stand here in Kapauau (which I believe was or is close to the King’s birthplace).
Into Hawi we go, which is a blink and you miss it sort of town. We find a parking spot right next to the chuck wagon, but unfortunately they aren’t open yet. The sign says 11:30 – and it’s 11:20, so we go and explore the town, which is made up of restaurants, art galleries and souvenir shops. We actually duck into the organic farmer’s market store where they have great produce we wish we could buy and eat – but also a really nice looking shirt that we end up buying for Ed. The girl in the shop also has on the same top that I bought last year in Chiang Mai. She got it on the internet, but how wild is that?
We wander down the street, perusing menus, and are greeted outside The Local Dish restaurant by the owner. He tells us about his specials and how everything is hand made in the restaurant, and locally sourced. Sounds good, but we’re going to the chuck wagon! Well, ok, so maybe not. By 11:40, they still aren’t open and we can’t really waste any more time waiting, so The Local Dish it is.
And a very good choice indeed. Pricey – but then again we are in the Middle of Nowhere, Hawaii – but excellent food. We shared a Bahn mi pork sandwich which was chock full of pork (and chicken) with an excellent aioli and home made pickles and an Ono sandwich which was fresh caught and cooked perfectly. Packaged all together in a very cozy little café environment with a lovely chatty owner – and it was a great alternative to the chuck wagon.
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