The rear of the resort, from the beach area.
Although we didn’t have to get up early, I slept fitfully and got up at six and took a shower. I wiped the mud off my legs the night before prior to climbing into bed. After breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, we rearranged our baggage and waited in the lobby for our shuttle to the airport. We checked our bags for the short hop to Kona at $17 per and after clearing security now wait for the flight.
The rear of the resort, from the beach area.
Jonathan perusing a plaque - there was a stretch of lava and fish ponds before reaching the beach.
The lava and the historic (as opposed to ancient) fish ponds.
The beach facilities.
The beach at the resort - this was the only time I put my feet in the water at the resort.
The resort's sign - the tiki torches are a ubiquitous theme throughout the islands.
The flight to Kona took only 45 minutes and landed in partly sunny dry conditions amidst the lava field where the airport is located. There are no jetways at the Kona terminal and we deplaned by ramps and walked across the tarmac to the collection of open-air huts that serve as gates. After collecting our bags, we took the shuttle to Avis, loaded our bags into the car and headed north on Highway 19.
The resort is about 20 miles north of the airport and runs through numerous lava fields. Traversing on of these areas, Jonathan commented “this looks much more like paradise than Honolulu… except where it resembles Mordor”. It was a line I had to share with friends and family. The riff continued the next day where I claimed that we were heading off to Mt. Doom (the Kilauea volcano) and I might have to bite Mr. Lubin’s finger off… my Precious.
We checked into the resort at about 1230 and had lunch in the restaurant. In the afternoon, we made use of the guest laundry. We didn’t do anything else other than venture across the street for a pedestrian dinner at Eddie Aikau (macadamia nut ono/wahoo).