We are in such a hurry to leave that we forget to say goodbye to the Stuarts! There's a full day ahead before we check into our last lodging for the holiday - a B&B on a coffee farm.It's not even noon and the sun is blazing when we reach the Puukohola Heiau. The woman at the entrance office gives us a map and cranks up the VCR for us to watch a show giving us the background to the place. We are the only visitors. At the end of the show, she gives us each a fragrant flower. And that's what HB has sticking out of her ear in the photo.
We are disappointed to find that the big platform is closed to visitors. The stones here were apparently transported hand to hand from Pololu Valley about 20 miles north. Kamehameha killed his arch rival Keoua here - the poor guy thought he was coming for some peace talks, but got slaughtered instead. We leave, not really appreciating the place. We drive to Spencer Beach to look for a cache. But try as we might, we can't find the jam jar. We call it quits and go on to our next target: Hapuna Beach.
This is a beach beach - powdery sand and turquoise blue ocean. It's ranked as one of the world's best beaches by Conde Nast Traveler. At the north end is Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, which sees a lot of Japanese traffic. There is a lifeguard post - he's the lucky one who gets the shade. The rest of us have to just take the heat. We park our mat a few metres from the shoreline and strip. Then it's off to the ocean.The waves are big but gentle. Some swimmers, even the oldies, have boogie boards to float on. There are some fish, but I don't want to look silly in snorkelling gear when it's obviously not a snorkelling beach. We soak in the sea and sun for about half an hour before we hunt for a nearby cache. Flush with success, we head for cache #3.
Strangely, it's an archaeological site that shares land with another posh resort - the Waikoloa Beach Marriott. We just park at the hotel carpark and hit a trail that is opposite the hotel. The trees are strange and thorny here, but at least they keep the sun out. We pose goofily in front of some fake petroglyphs (they must be fake if the public is allowed to make rubbings). It takes us about half an hour to reach the genuine stuff. They are far superior to the ones we saw in HVNP. The carvings cover an extensive area that is cordoned off by wooden rails. The cache is hidden nearby - I can't say hidden because it is just placed at the foot of a tree with very little attempt to cover it. As we leave the area, I spot a tree trunk defaced with the word "Singapore" - oh dear.
Lunch-time! We stop at Waikaloa Village to sample Merriman's Cafe. The food is good and more refined than some we have tasted. We enjoy the watermelon gazpacho and share a sandwich, which alas, has some bugs crawling over the greens (like most of the eateries on BI, organic is in). And then we check out the shops. This is where the Guccis and Coaches are sold. But we find Crazy Shirts here and buy more tees and a pair of shorts. If not for geocaching, we may actually spend the whole afternoon here!
Finally, we get to get rid of the corals we collected near South Point. A virtual cache called Grafiti requires us to form our GC name with corals at a particular site and upload the picture onto the webpage to claim a find. We pull over at a turn-off on the highway. Oops, not enough corals. Never mind, we swipe some from coral graffiti that in our opinion don't look so good. We decorate it with Charlotte's leis, now dried to a crisp in the car. Ta-da!
My goodness, it is a steep uphill climb to the B&B and for a while, I fret that the car may not have the power to take the gradient. We wrongly turn off at a dog "university" - more a boarding house/school - but we get back on the right track.
Mango Sunset sits on a slope high above the sea - about 1,500 ft up? There is no one to greet us when we arrive. No note. No open door. Strange. Finally a woman appears, with a baby in her arms. Marsha looks a little lost and baby is slipping out of her grasp. We wait for her husband, Hans, to arrive. We are shown to our room, which is next to the bathroom that all other rooms share, save for one. Crummy. HB is not comfortable - the room isn't spotless although the fixtures look new. I guess people bring in sand from the beach when they come here. And bugs do fly in if windows are left open. There's a resident cat - it's always trying to sneak into the house. The pluses: There's a full-blown PC for our use and the airport is only minutes away. We drop our stuff and go geocaching once more.
We find 2 more caches on the road from our B& B to Waimea and then turn down to Kona for dinner. It's a struggle to find parking - unlike the last time when we could just park at the hotel and walk. We aren't really sure what to eat, but there is a new Japanese restaurant in town. Fujimama's looks promising. We stop at the ABC store for touristy snacks to take home before we get to the restaurant.
Oh dear, the aircon is out. We are sticky in the heat although fans are working overtime. We sip saketinis - mine is called Hello Kitty - while waiting for food to arrive. Service is a little slow, but when the food comes, we are pleased 'cos it is yummy. The sashimi platter looks good, the grilled veggies are nicely done. We are simply in awe of the snake tattoo curled around our waitress' forearm. She asks us to guess how long it took to get it done. HB comes closest - the waitress sat for 6-1/2 hours for the snake!
Back at the B&B, we have to take turns to use the bathroom. After HB, someone else walks into it although I have my things hanging up in the loo. Sigh... HB plonks herself down in front of the PC and the resident cat plonks itself down between the top of the chair's back and HB's shoulders. HB stays there till 11.30pm at least! We have to get up early tomorrow for our last big adventure - kayaking to Captain Cook's Monument across Kealakekua Bay!
Geocache count for the day: 5
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