Our cruise experience--Kona

[annecolorgreen]

Unfortunately, I typed this up last night and my computer froze and I lost it :(. Trying again.

 

Our first stop in Kona after getting our car at the King Kam hotel from thrifty was the Place of Refuge and Two Step for snorkeling. As they were literally side by side, my friend and I hit the historical site while our husbands went snorkeling first. The Place of Refuge was fairly interesting and we did get to see a turtle on the shoreline there but the snorkeling next door was AWESOME! Very clear water and easy access...we saw every variety of yellow fish on the island along with some sea urchins including a red pencil variety. My husband saw a sea cucumber and I loved the rainbow colored fish!

 

Next, we did a drive-thru at the Painted Church. It was pretty but not worthy of a lot of time IMO. My favorite spot was next: the Kona Historical Society Living History Coffee Farm. Our guide Pearl was SO informative. We picked "cherries" and she showed us how to seperate out the seeds and beans the way it used to be done. She also showed us lots more vegetation including the mac nuts that were everywhere! We sampled some wonderful coffee and then moved on to the Surfin' Ass Donkey Balls store. The clerk was SO helpful and the samples were yummy. She told me where to look for my #1 souvenir--a tote bag made from a Kona coffee bag. She mentioned the Plantation (in the direction we had just left) and Blue Sky Coffee Farm (in the direction we were heading). We found them at Blue Sky! Yay!

 

On to Kona Brewing Co. for lunch (difficult to find but very good--fairly close to the ship). We had beer and pupus (the kalua pork nachos were amazing). Next stop was for boogie boarding at Magic Sands beach. They had facilities there and the waves were just the right size.

 

Back to the ship by tender and tried to make it to the ribbon lei making but were about half an hour late. I headed back to our room but my friend went on in and they helped her "catch up" and even gave her written instructions and ribbons for me! (the crew was great overall)

 

We had dinner reservations at Jefferson's Bistro and had excellent service and the food was good. It was lobster night and my husband paid $10 extra on top of the restaurant fee to get Kona grown Maine lobster and he loved it. I had the included lobster tails. We shared a bottle of New Zealand Chardonnay which was very good.

 

We headed off to bed and missed the best comedian of the cruise...someone named "Kermit" who is native Hawaiian. Our friends said their sides hurt they laughed so much. We saw him briefly at the show Friday and really thought he was talented. MUCH better than Second City.

[CSloan]

Thanks for the post. So, the Place of Refuge and Two Step are next to each other? Did you park in one spot, and walk from one to the other?

[annecolorgreen]

YES! we paid $5 which was entrance fee for the car (actually, we had a tri-park pass purchased originally at Haleakala that covered that park, Oheo Gulch--the back part, Place of Refuge, and VNP since we were going to all of them for $30) and left it parked and walked next door to snorkel. Parking was limited next door so that was a good idea.

[annecolorgreen]

I almost forgot to mention, my friend's parents were also on the cruise and chose to do the Capt. Zodiac snorkel and they had an amazing time (even saw dolphins). The stepmom was even afraid of water and couldn't swim and they were very patient with her and gave her floats and a boogie board with a face shield to look through. I'm happy with our decision but wanted to throw that out there.

[CruisingGoddess]

We headed off to bed and missed the best comedian of the cruise...someone named "Kermit" who is native Hawaiian. Our friends said their sides hurt they laughed so much. We saw him briefly at the show Friday and really thought he was talented. MUCH better than Second City.

 

Thanks for the tip about Kermit! I'll look for his shows in the schedules.

[annecolorgreen]

oh, and I guess you know that the cast of "Second City" changes (there are many groups) so your group could be very good. Give them a try the first night and see!

[riofriotex]

...Surfin' Ass Donkey Balls store. The clerk was SO helpful and the samples were yummy.

 

This place is mentioned in the Revealed book so of course my mom wanted to go there. The clerk was extremely friendly and helpful, but frankly, I thought the Donkey Balls (macadamia nuts with multiple coats of chocolate) were not all that great. Too big to put in your mouth and too hard to bite into! But then, I am not a fan of mac nuts. I bought some (along with plain mac nuts I got at Banana Joe's on Kauai) to take back to my co-workers, most of whom ARE mac nut fans, but even they weren't too crazy about the Donkey Balls (and that was after I divided them into fourths).

[annecolorgreen]

Our samples were chopped up and tasty ;). I bought choc covered coffee beans, but my friend got the mac nut balls for conversation starters basically for our book club ;). They ARE too big!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the review. We are basically planning to do the same as you. I know I want to go to a coffee farm. Is the Historical Society my best bet for that? I have seen that many places have along the road, but will probably just go to one.

[annecolorgreen]

You might look at some reviews here and on trip advisor but we were VERY pleased with our experience. I was expecting griping from the men and I could hardly get them to leave! (and the coffee was very good there...we were less pleased with what we tasted a couple of other spots) It IS pricey though, but I liked what we did with buying the basket ahead of time. They had some yummy mac nut brittle too (among other things) for sale.

[E's Mommy]

I just wanted to say thank you. I have truly enjoyed reading all of your reviews.

[annecolorgreen]

you are very welcome...I got so much from other posts that I wanted to reciprocate. I really think our experience was so much fuller because of what I read here.