Kohala Cancellations - Oh The Places We've Been!

21 Jan 2024

Yesterday, my dive boat was pretty sure they wouldn’t be going out today, but I never got a call or email cancellation, so I optimistically drove up to the harbor only to find Moonshine, the boat, docked and not at all ready to dive 🙁

When I checked the Kona boat schedule last night, there were a few open spots on an afternoon/manta dive, so I quickly snagged one of those while watching the sun rise over the Kohala harbor:

All the surfers pulling in were absolutely stoked with the waves:

I’ve only surfed once, so I’m not up on my surfer-lingo, but I told all the surfers who said hi to me that I hoped they would catch good waves 🙂

Photos don’t quite capture just how big the waves were today (especially compared to yesterday)- it’s probably a good thing we didn’t go out.

The haze in the air is a combination of surf spray and rain- it’s been sprinkling on and off all morning.

Unfortunately, the afternoon boat I booked also cancelled and I’m still within my no-fly window, so I’m trapped in this region until lunchtime. I debated catching nap (don’t judge, I’m on vacation!) and then driving over to the Hilo side, since I haven’t really explored the eastern coast, but honestly, I just wasn’t feeling it.

So I drove down to Kona. I miss having easy access to tasty food and snacks, and even if I’m not buying anything, I rather like being able to walk up and down Ali’i Drive. Waikoloa is nice and all, and it does have sidewalks that the residents here put to good use, but there’s not much in the way of food or life or things to do/see…

Staying up here makes sense from a diving standpoint- it’s at a low enough altitude and it’s between Kona and Kohala so the drive to either harbor isn’t too horribly long, but I don’t know that I’d stay here again (though there aren’t a lot of affordable options in the area so…)

Anyway, back to Kona- I got some delicious gelato (Kona Coffee and Mauka Trail (Coffee+Chocolate base with chocolate chunks and macadamia nuts))

and watched the waves crash along the coast

Traffic along Ali’i seemed heavier than usual, even for a weekend, and then I discovered the cause:

On one of my first trips to Hawai’i, I stumbled across this market- several dozen tent/stalls with local vendors selling handmade goods!

I haven’t seen it since Covid, but I’m glad it’s back! I picked up a shave ice (from a new spot, definitely not as good as my original Scandinavian Shave Ice) to eat while I waited for another order of my chicken tikka masala