We arrived in Kona last night and welcomed the warm humid air after leaving a cold and snowy Calgary. We got into our rental car and found our hotel with no problems. Got checked in and settled in to our ocean front room in the Bay Tower at the Royal Kona Resort. The hotel is an old one (built in 1968) and it is a bit 'retro' with dark wood panelling some pretty tired carpeting but the views are first class. The hotel is RIGHT on the water so we have a front row seat for our sunsets and the soothing sounds of the surf. After all seven of us had settled in we went out in search of some food. Little did we know that this is a drinking town not an eating town after 9pm! We did find one place just down the road called Humpy's and they fed us :-). Then it was off to bed.
This morning we were up for breakfast at 9:00 and after fixing a few clerical errors at the restaurant (apparently the front desk had not communicated to the restaurant that breakfast was included with our room) we settled in for a great buffet style meal. Next, it was off to the dive shop to get signed in and pay for our boat dives. We also got a map and details for shore diving locations so soon headed out to check out the nearby spots. Some of the entries looked pretty 'interesting' with fields of rough lava between us and the pounding surf! It should be an adventure for sure! We did a bit of shopping to stock our little fridge and sampled some authentic Kona coffee (well I didn't but Wade and the others did). A few beverages by the pool...some photo ops with the native critters, a nap or two for some...and then it was time to clean up for dinner. We had a GREAT meal at Bubba Gump's and the service was super although Wade said his BBQ Ribs were clearly broken as the meat kept falling off the bone!
The lava is everywhere you look around here and it is neat to see all of the formations and the things that try to grow on it. Hopefully we can keep from shredding ourselves on it when we get in the water!
Now it is time to get to bed so we can be up early to get to the marina to catch our boat for our first two dives.
This morning we were up for breakfast at 9:00 and after fixing a few clerical errors at the restaurant (apparently the front desk had not communicated to the restaurant that breakfast was included with our room) we settled in for a great buffet style meal. Next, it was off to the dive shop to get signed in and pay for our boat dives. We also got a map and details for shore diving locations so soon headed out to check out the nearby spots. Some of the entries looked pretty 'interesting' with fields of rough lava between us and the pounding surf! It should be an adventure for sure! We did a bit of shopping to stock our little fridge and sampled some authentic Kona coffee (well I didn't but Wade and the others did). A few beverages by the pool...some photo ops with the native critters, a nap or two for some...and then it was time to clean up for dinner. We had a GREAT meal at Bubba Gump's and the service was super although Wade said his BBQ Ribs were clearly broken as the meat kept falling off the bone!
The lava is everywhere you look around here and it is neat to see all of the formations and the things that try to grow on it. Hopefully we can keep from shredding ourselves on it when we get in the water!
Now it is time to get to bed so we can be up early to get to the marina to catch our boat for our first two dives.
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