October 28: At the Kona Coast Resort

Ben and I and our good friend Lotus arrived in Kona on the Big Island late Thursday afternoon, just in time to see and take a few photos of the pretty sunset from our lanai.  Our "penthouse suite" consists of two units sharing one very large ocean view lanai which faces west and north and seems to be tailor-made for sunset viewing.  I took photos of the sunset Thursday night but can't seem to get one to move over to Blogger successfully, so you'll need to imagine how pretty it was and how exciting it was to see as we settled in. 

Being on Colorado time I woke up very early on Friday morning and was delighted to see the full moon over the ocean from our lanai up on the second floor.  

Moonset Oct 27

After about forty minutes I figured out that the moon was setting, growing closer and closer to the ocean.  A moonset!  I don't think I've ever seen one.  I was quite excited and told Ben and Lotus all about it after they awoke.   

 

Moonset Oct 27

We had decided to cook diner and eat in our suite last night so we were up on the lanai again in time to see another amazing sunset and Lotus took a nice photo of Ben and me together. 

  

Sunset Oct. 27

Sunset 0ct 27

This morning I was up early again and found Lotus already out on the lanai checking out the moon.  As I made coffee in the kitchen I kept my eye on its progress. 

Moonset Oct 28

This time it slipped behind some clouds and wasn't seen again.  Apparently the cloud cover obscured its actual setting. 

Moonset Oct 28

We've only been here for two days and I already have lots of photos of moonsets and sunsets.  They are hard to keep straight and I'm already growing fatigued from the effort.  I am on vacation after all and taking, editing, and labeling all these photos is too much work.  So I'm not going to take any more photos of these amazing events and resolve to just sit back, relax, and enjoy them!

As for what else we've been doing, yesterday Lotus and I went snorkeling at the nearby Kahalu'u Beach and saw lots of pretty fishes and several turtles, always a thrill.  It was especially thrilling for me as I'd had a bad snorkel a couple of years ago and have been slowly rebuilding my confidence and enjoyment of this activity.  It was great to come out of the water smiling and happy again.

Today we drove south down to Kealakekua Bay to arrange for kayak rentals, which we had not managed to do online. Lotus had been in that area before and found kayaks to rent so we thought we'd give it a try.  And we did, indeed, find some folks renting kayaks who had no on-line presence, and we were able to arrange to go out tomorrow.  The terrain down there is very different than where we are staying and it was a pretty drive.  

After getting our plans for tomorrow set up we drove a bit further to check out Honaunau, an ancient historic site with recreations of buildings and art.  It was nestled in on a rocky and beautiful shore and we enjoyed our stroll around it.  Then we drove back up to Kailua-Kona for an excellent lunch and am now doing something which is clearly going to be a favorite activity, hanging out in our large 2-unit suite or out on the large lanai.  This photo shows Lotus out of the west facing side of it this morning.