(Kaloko-Honokohau posted on January 4th. 2009 from San Jose)

We slept in today.  L’ is a bit under the weather so while she went back to sleep, I wandered the hotel grounds looking at the Hawaiian ruins.  They’re not that spectacular, but I entertain myslef and also write up Day 5’s trip log.  L’ calls me when she’s up and then I return to the room to gather our stuff and head out.

It was warm, but overcast. Opting for a slightly less packed day, we head up the coast to just south of the airport and visit Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park. This one is hardly visited and our car is only the second one in the parking lot (we assume the first is for the National Park Ranger on staff). We pick up a pamphlet and map, L’ chats up the ranger as she normally does, and we head out.

We wander to the beach and learn about how the native Hawaiians made “fish traps”. The island lacks fresh water and arable land. To live off seafood, the natives used shallow pools near the ocean to grow and eat fish. The pools would fill up during high tide and then the fish would be stuck there in low tide. They also used pools of water to raise fish- an old time fish farm. 

We started walking along the beach and rested for a few minutes. I laid down on the sand and took a nice short nap while L’ finished part of my sandwich from earlier in the day. We continued on along the beach until we found the trail that heads back away from the ocean and towards the visitor center. Here’s where our relaxing day had a bit more exercise than planned.

There are two parallel paths back to the visitor center:  the first one that we took over the lava rocks and a second one further down that goes along a paved trail. Since we had already traversed the lava on our hike to the active flow on Day 2, I figured this would be a piece of cake (since it’s not raining and it’s daylight). We went for a bit along the “trail” and at some point we must have wandered off the trail and now were just going over the lava rocks. It’s a bit hard to describe, but this greatly slows down the pace as you need to make sure you step carefully, don’t twist your ankle, and don’t fall on the jagged rocks. 

After we go a bit and it’s clear we’re not on the trail, L’ suggests we turn back. I reply that it looks like we’re about halfway (since we can see the visitor center) so we press on. Of course, then the rocks get even trickier to traverse and instead of taking a ten minute walk along a paved trail, we end up taking about an hour until we finally reach the short path to the visitor center. This is one time when I suggest the crazier choice (in retrospect). My loyal readers will know that L’ normally suggests what mere mortals consider the crazier option. Just to set the scale, even she thought our trail was crazy.

Back at the visitor center, we return to our clown car and head back to the hotel for showers. Our dinner quest was another challenge of the day. 

Finding places to eat around Kona is difficult. We read about an Italian place down in Captain Cook (about twenty minutes south) that was recommended in Lonely Planet. We find it with no problem only to learn that they are closed for the week. I’m amazed that given what the economy is like, a business in a tourist town would close during one of the busiest weeks of the year. We head back and stop a little up the road at another recommended place. It’s open, but has over an hour wait. We’re already hungry and L’ recommends we stop at the neighborhood pizza type place in the strip mall a mile from the hotel. The food is mediocre but at least we’re no longer hungry. Then it’s back to the hotel for a well deserved umbrella drink and then some sleep.
 

Jump to the Day 7 photos.