Turtles in our Condo Bay

Today is our last full day in the condo on the Kona side--we were going to drive north again, but decided instead to go down to the little beach by us and wade in the sea.  Helen wandered up the up the beach to look at tidepools while I waded out into the shallow waters and stood in the soft surf.   As I stood there, i caught a head popping up our of the water about 25 feet away from me, and guessed it was a swimming turtle since I could see a dark shape moving under the water too.

I got out of the water to leave the turtle in peace and joined Helen for tidepool exploration.  She had seen several small fish as well as some small water snakes. The water is crystal clear (below), and you can see deep into the pools.

Here are a few of the fish pictures I captured looking down from above on the rocks into the pools, spotting many of the same species of fish:

We returned to the sandy portion of the little beach, and once again say a turtle swimming.  he never came completely out of the water, but he came in close to shore allowing me to capture "parts" of him--a flipper, a back, etc.:

Pearls & Rays by the Bay

We wanted to dine again at Don the Beachcomber, but found out they were only open Th-Fri-Sat, so we are glad we had the opportunity when we did last Friday night with Holly, Lary, and Shane.  It will be a special memory.  So, we still went north to Hilo Hattie's, but Helen and I decided to try Rays by the Bay at the nearby Sheraton later.

At Hilo Hattie's I decided to do the Pick-a-Pearl stand, which I had passed by for several years.  I chose the ugliest oyster I could find, and the lovely sales lady opened the oyster and out popped two beautiful pinkish pearls.  Well, I couldn't stop myself--I had them set into some sterling plumeria leaves (above).  She gave me a free oyster pick and this time my oyster had only one, but larger.  I didn't have that one set and am bringing it home.  Helen also chose and oyster, and she too got a pearl, but didn't have it set.

We then headed south, and had a lovely dinner at Rays by the Bay of a shared Pupu tray plus dessert. The waves were high, although not as high is the last two days. The ocean is very close, nearly as close as at Don the Beachcombers, so here is a view from our table of the crashing surf:

Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens

The Amy Greenwell Botanical Gardens is south of our condo near Captain Cook, and is a unique ethnobotanical garden which contains only plants that were indigenous or endemic to the Hawaiian Islands prior to the arrival of Captain Cook.  Many of these plants are endangered (some indigenous plants unique to Hawaii have already gone extinct due to development activities).  These gardens preserve and help re-establish the native flora in the islands.  While the blossoms are not as exotic as the tropical garden we visited earlier in the trip, they are just as lovely:

Not only was there lovely flora, be we also encountered a few fauna, including this one about the size of a silver dollar:

Flowers around the Condo

This golden chain tree is right by our stairwell, and welcomes back each time we return from a trip.  It is a lovely tree.  Of course, all of the hibiscus are blooming in all of their varied colors:

Non-hibiscus flowers are everywhere as well:

Amid the flowers, are beautiful birds, like the saffron finch and the little zebra dove (8 inches):

Dinner and Goodbye to Lary, Holly, and Shane

Friday night, April 4, Holly, Lary, Shane, Helen, and I dined at the Royal Kona, in Don the Beachcomber's dining area.  The food was wonderful, and the waitpersons were terrific, and very friendly and informative.  Our table was immediately next to the tile wall between us and the sea--I have never dined so close to the pounding ocean before--what a treat!  A special bonus treat was having a bird fishing off a rock just below our table--he was looking for needlefish, and we saw him catch some, gulping them down.  I think he was a black crowned night heron, as he looked much like this internet picture below.  He would really stretch tall and peer over the rock edge when he was "hunting" or would hunch more when waiting for the right wave to come in.  he didn't like to get splashed or wet, so he would step back from the edge now and then to avoid the surf.

This was the last night in Hawaii for Holly, Lary and Shane.  The next morning, departure day, Helen and I walked across to their condo to say good bye.  The surf was really crashing as we sat out on their surfside lanai:

We hugged (cried), and left them to  their final departure packing, then watched them get ready to leave from our own balcony:

Way too short a visit, but a great vacation--they zip-lined, explored, and shopped, plus tipped us off to some great dining places!  Don the Beachcomber's is a definite repeat, and the Poke Shack is a must try.

Manta Rays

Thursday night, April 3, we took a glass bottomed boat excursion on the Spirit of Kona.  We were five people amid a total of about 15, so the boat was not crowded, and we easily had a good seat around the glass view ports.  We traveled south to a point just off the Sheraton Hotel where plankton upwell, and there the lights hovered over the sea bottom as we waited--first, however, two bottle nosed dolphin came streaking under our boat a couple of times.   Then, after about ten minutes, here came the first manta.  It did belly rolls under our view ports, providing up close views of its giant maw through which it streamed water to filter out the plankton.  

Manta rays along the Kona coast are one of the eagle rays belonging to the genus Manta. Theie wingspan reaches 18 ft, abd the ones swimming under our boat were larger than ten feet across. They have triangular pectoral fins and a huge forward-facing mouth. They are not stinging rays.

These pelagic species tend to be resident to the area and hug the oastal areas. They are filter feeders and eat large quantities of zooplankton, which they swallow with their open mouths as they swim. Gestation lasts over a year, producing live pups.

The following picture was one of mine, and you can see the large mouth with the intricate "filter" setup within:

Holly used her phone to video one session (ultimately two mantas were doing loops beneath us):

This was a very special experience, and the creatures are beautiful.

Historical Sites & Mongoose

Wednesday morning (before the visit to the Hilton) and Thursday morning were trips to watch wildlife and explore the history of the Islands at US Historical Parks.  The first park was located south of the Kona airport, and we plan to return early in a morning when it is cooler to take the hike down to the ancient fish ponds, but it has wonderful trails across a lava flow.  The following two pictures originated there:

 

It was very hot, so we could not explore this site as well as we wished, but we will return as it is very interesting, and the trails lead down to the ocean.

The next historical place we went to was the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau City of refuge on the southern Kona coast.  We went early Thursday, and were the first visitors to this lovely, tranquil place.  If you were unfortunate enough to commit an act that was kapu, earning a death sentence (usually instantaneous), then you could save yourself by fleeing to this place and taking refuge for a few hours or few days, then you would not be killed.  The giant stone wall was built around 1550, and remnants of these giant stone walls remain (no mortar was used, but they are tall, thick, and solid).  Native canoe making is exhibited, as are many examples of long-ago life of Hawaiians.

A few pictures (in addition to the one at the top):

We also saw plenty of wildlife, starting with a school of yellow fish in the bay adjacent to the site:

Shore birds were prevalent (but no honu--turtles--were basking on the little beach):

Also, we saw the same little yellow birds as at our condo, but these birds allowed us to take some closeups:

The interior ponds also held fish, and a few were close enough to photograph:

Before we started out on this historical journey, we pulled into the shopping center above our condo to a place that mongooses are known to frequent.  Here we say several, including a mother mongoose who first brought our one offspring, then went back and brought out another.  I could only capture a picture of two of them, but the family numbered three:

These little weasel like creatures looked plump and healthy.