We had originally planned on driving to Hilo to check out the east shore but due to time constraints, we decided to stick around the Kona area instead. We reserved the day to check out a number of the coffee plantations in the area. Since we weren't sure what was open we just drove to a number of prospective coffee plantations to see which ones looked good.
The first one we went to was the Greenwell Farms. They had regular tours and a nice little boutique where we picked up some roasted (and green) coffee beans. There weren't many people there so Maggie and I ended up being the only ones going on tour with one of the guides.
Maggie with avocado next to one of the coffee machines at Greenwell Farms.
He took his time to explain how the plantation worked, some history of the area and let us walk off with a couple of avocados that he picked off from one of the trees. I was also able to try out a coffee cherry, which had a sweet and fruity taste. There was very little pulp, so you would need a lot of cherries for a meal, but they were tasty.
Maggie and I at Greenwell Farms.
Next was the Greenwell Store which happened to be closed that day. Disappointed, we went to the next coffee plantation, which was really hard to find. In the end, we gave up on trying to find it but Maggie ended up backing up into a stone wall to avoid a barking dog as we were turning around. Oops.
Going for lunch at Da Poke Shack.
We then hopped over to Da Poke Shack for lunch. They were well known
for their good, fresh poke at very reasonable prices. I watched some guy in the back hacking at a huge tuna while we were choosing our dishes. Very fresh! The food was
really good, and we enjoyed our little break.
A cheap and delicious meal from Da Poke Shack.
The next coffee plantation was Hula Daddy, which interestingly enough, had a clock tower with the actual clock device came from Perth, Ontario. Apparently when the city of Perth upgraded their clock and threw out the old clock, Hula Daddy found the device on line and had it shipped to Hawai'i. Fancy that! I was also able to try a number of their coffee brands and found that they were incredibly mild.
Maggie and I at Hula Daddy Kona Coffee plantation. They have the clock that used to belong to the City of Perth, Ontario.
We ended up spending the afternoon for medical issues, and I was worried that we would be late for our evening excursion. Well, I forgot about Hawaii time and even though we were late, the coordinators were even later, and very laid back.
Sunset at the dock where we would be kayaking from before snorkeling with the manta rays.
We went on a kayak/snorkeling adventure with Adventures in Paradise to meet some giant manta rays. Squishy recommended that we try this out while we were here, and we were not disappointed. I think we saw at least five different rays swimming around us as well as the other tour groups that were huddled around their feeding grounds. We were paired up with one person holding a light to highlight the phytoplankton that the mantas were feeding on. The other had free reign with their hands, so I used mine to take some videos of the event.
Because the shots were being taken underwater and in the dark, the flash did not work very well so I was stuck with taking very grainy videos of the event. Bobbing around on the surface of the choppy waters did not help with focus or shudder. There was enough light for the camera to pick out what was going on, so we were at least able to show others what we saw.
So I am used to the soft chimes that you hear in the neighborhood when the ice cream truck comes by. This year we already had three visits, mostly on cold or rainy moments of the day. This was in contrast to the infrequent visits to our old neighborhood when I was a child. In addition, we were too poor to really enjoy a cone of soft ice cream when it did show up so I never built up that sense of tradition that others would share with their children. As suck, when the truck does drive by, I don't rush out to grab a cone for my kids. Also, the pandemic does not help either. Still, maybe one day this summer we will indulge our kids. Maybe. Oh, but that was beside the point. Today I heard the ringing of a bell. This was not the sound I'm used to for an ice cream truck so I decided to investigate with Serena. As the truck drive by, I wondered to myself how such a small truck could be used to sell ice cream much less any kind of food. But then it dawned on me: this was not a food tru
We were planning on going to the beach this morning but our plans got derailed when Serena stomped on Elsy's face and we had to wait for the bleeding to stop. It took so long that there was a chance we needed to go to the hospital. In the end, we thought it too risky to leave the house this morning lest the gusher started again, and so we set up the water table at home instead.
So it seems as if the link I had to the Polynesian Cultural Centre was flagged as a bad site. I double checked the link and, yup, I got a warning when I tried to visit it. I double checked if the link was changed and no, the search and Wikipedia still point to the same page so.. I just removed the link. We will see how the repost goes.
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