22 Jan 2021
For the past few years now, I’ve been heading down to Hawai’i over the winter months to get away from the cold and do some diving. The humpback whales return to Hawai’i in the winter was well, so coming down in January/February means that my dive boat doubles as a whale-watching trip 🙂
This year was a bit trickier with Covid restrictions, though the State of Hawai’i has a helpful website to assist in navigating all the requirements, as each island has its own set of guidelines.
To visit the Big Island, I had to have a negative Covid test within 72 hours of the last leg of my flight. I screwed this one up and my first test was a few hours over as I forgot about the time change between here and Seattle (where my flight to Hawai’i was leaving from), so I had to get a second test. Fortunately, both came back negative. After uploading the results to the Hawai’i Safe Travels site, as well as filling out a health questionnaire and providing my local contact information, I received a QR code that I would need to show at the airport upon arrival. A few people on my plane did not have their code and were shunted off to another area; at least one was quarantined.
Getting through the screening area at the airport was pretty slick: Show your QR code and ID, get your temperature checked, head over to another area to get swabbed again- if they don’t call you within 2 hours (the tests were all rapid-result), you’re good to go! No quarantine necessary!
Unfortunately, I was a little gun-shy in booking accommodations in Hawai’i, just in case my test came back positive, so the condo I was hoping to book was taken by the time I got my results. I found another, but it cost a bit more than the first. Still, it had everything I wanted- a guaranteed place to park my car (parking in Kona can get a bit tight), a kitchen (fridge, microwave, stove) and a washer/dryer (to dry any gear before repacking my bags, also came in handy for drying my towel between dives!).
We stayed at the Kona Plaza the last time we were in Hawai’i- I like its central location and it has all the amenities I was looking for- so I was glad to find another unit available for this trip. That balcony in the middle is part of my condo!
The door on the left goes to the bedroom, and the balcony wraps around to the right side.
The main lanai, perfect place for hanging gear out to dry 🙂
Inside- standing in the living room, kitchen through the left, down the hall to the bedroom and bath (around the corner, along with the washer/dryer):
Nothing huge, nothing fancy, but totally functional for how I travel!