November 1: A Little Adventure

We wanted to snorkel at the reef off the Mona Kea Beach resort, a luxurious compound established by the Rockefellers and a favorite of one of our neighbors in Boulder.  The plan was to snorkel there and then have lunch in one of its dining areas so we could a good look around and, I hoped, see a collection of Hawaiian  quilts it had commissioned for its decorations.  We read that since Hawaii requires all beaches to have public shoreline access the resort had set aside 40 free parking places for non-guests, but we assumed that the lot would be full by the time we arrived mid-morning so we planned to walk in from a neighboring state park which had lots of parking.  Lotus had done this very thing when she had visit a few years ago, so off we went. 

The Spencer State Park beach was a beautiful site but not good for snorkeling, so I snapped a photo and we moved on, looking for a path to the nearby Mona Kea resort.  

The one we found contained a lot of burned trees and brush and the strong smell of smoke.  I remembered that the fires in August on Maui weren't the only ones at that time in Hawaii.  There had been a wildfire on the north shore of the Big Island as well, and this was apparently the site of it.  Seeing it I also remembered that the Mona Kea resort had been evacuated at that time though it escaped damage due to heroic efforts of firefighters.  

It was sobering to walk among the remnants of the blaze.

We soon came across a crew that had the tough job of cleaning out all the old debris from the wildfire.  Soon after we lost the trail we'd been following.  Apparently it had be obliterated by the fire, so we poked around trying to find our way.

With some effort we climbed over and under the brush and around the lava that lined the pretty coast, making slow progress through the brush and rocks. 

 I was relieved when we to came to a lovely little grassy area surrounding a few sweet little well-maintained "shacks" facing the ocean.  But that relief was short lived when suddenly a loud voice proclaimed "You are on private property.  Get off the grass."  It continued to blare the message as we scrambled to move out of what was clearly a restricted area.  We had all just reached a paved path away from the cottages when a security guard roared down it towards us on his cool looking ATV.  Clearly we were in trouble!  

As soon as he stopped I said, "I'm so sorry; we lost the path."  He told us firmly that we weren't where we should be, we told him where we wanted to be, and he then informed us that we "had a long way to go" and advised us to turn back.  If we wanted to continue we'd go another mile or so and then have to cross a big golf course before getting to the resort.  We decided to turn back and drive to the resort to see if we could snag one of the beach access parking spaces.  

Well, guess what?  We did!  We picked our way back to Spencer Beach and drove up to the Mona Kea resort.  After some negotiations with both the staff at the security gate and at the front desk, we ended up in the free beach access parking lot which had plenty of spaces and found our way through the big hotel, passing all the Members Club-only beach lounges and chairs, and ending up on the resort's beautiful beach.  We were rewarded with had a fabulous snorkel along the right hand reef.  We saw plenty of coral, urchins, fish of all colors and sizes, and even a flounder.   

Ben and I like to say that an adventure is the most fun when you are rehashing it over dinner and a drink afterwards, and that's just what we did.  Here's our merry band of three celebrating our success while enjoying Ahi tuna burgers and Mai Tais at Hugos on the Rocks in Kailau-Kona.  

As for the hotel's collection of Hawaiian quilts, we didn't spot a one as we wandered through the hotel looking for the way to the beach.  The three mile hike, the chats with the security and front desk staff, and the snorkel were all enough adventure for one day!