On the second day we decided to head South. We started off with a tour of coffee country in, you guessed it, Kona. We stopped off at Greenwell Farms for a tour. While we waited we sampled several varieties of their coffee blends, including their signature blend, peaberry, and chocolate macadamia nut. They also had chocolate covered mac nuts and coffee beans, as well as mac nuts. There are something like 700 coffee growers in this ~twenty mile strip of Kona. Most of them are about three acres. Very hard work! The trees flower constantly, and the beans do too. This means that on the same branch you could have many different levels of bean. So they all have to be picked by hand! Each tree only produces enough for about a pound and a half of coffee. They dry the beans in the sun (which comes out each morning- although it has been very voggy for the last couple of months according to the locals. Yes- voggy- new word- volcanic smog- their word not mine...) Anyway to keep the beans from getting wet in the afternoon (when it rains at about four o'clock) they have a retractable roof on slides that can be pulled by one guy. Very cool. We got coffee and a bag of macadamia nuts and set off in search of a snorkeling spot. We ended up next to the Place of Refuge. The story goes that in Hawaiin days of old there was one penalty for kapu (crime-wrongdoing-lawbreaking). That penalty was death. A little harsh but, if you could run (literally) and safely make it into the Place of Refuge they would give you a reprieve and you would spend the next couple/few years paying your debt to society by hard labor and then you'd be released back in to society.
Next to this place is one of the hottest snorkel spots- Two Step. Honaunau Bay. I did not have my camera (as it does not get along with water) so I borrowed the pics of that place. This place was tough to get into and out of with the waves and sharp lava (I ended up with many cuts), but it had the widest variety of fish and tons of them. Smelled great there, too :)
Oops. Extra pic in the mix. Those little dots in the water are the boogie boarders by our hotel waiting to catch a wave!
3 comments:
Wow, this is great, Shannon! I love that your showing all this from your trip. It must really be a beautiful place. I hate flying, so I'll probably never get to see it in person, so thanks for sharing!
I have always loved going new places and seeing different ways of life and we feel pretty lucky that we can go to the places we do. As we get older I find I like being at home as much (or more?) than traveling but we are enjoying it while it lasts.
My dad worked for the FAA his whole career and hated flying too ?!?
Wow! That's awesome! Glad you had a wonderful trip! Hawaii sounds divine!!!
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