So Amy and I got back from our wonderful honeymoon in Hawai’i a couple of weeks ago. You can see the pictures here, and separate pictures of the food here. We spent a week in Kona, which is on the west side of the Big Island of Hawai’i, at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. It is 62 acres surrounding a private lagoon. They have three hotel towers, and you can get to them by walking, tram, or boat. There were also two pools, along with a dolphin lagoon. You could swim with the dolphins for like $350, but we didn’t do that.
The flight to Hawai’i was direct, so we were on the plane for 8 hours. I used some miles to upgrade us to first class, which was the right thing to do. We were wearing our Bride and Groom t-shirts, so the flight attendants gave us a complimentary bottle of wine for our honeymoon. That was so nice of them!
Some of the restaurants at the Hilton were good, and some weren’t. The first night we decided to just eat at the Malolo Lounge. The drinks were good - Amy had one of many Lava Flows (light rum, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, banana, ice, and strawberry puree) there, while I stayed with beer from Kona Brewing Company, the local brewery. The food, however, was pretty bad AND pricey. We also ate at Kirin Chinese Restaurant, which was good, and had lunch at the Orchid Cafe, which was also pretty good.
The next day we ventured out to Anaeho’omalu Bay, or A-Bay, which was right down the street. We went snorkeling for a few hours and saw lots of fish. Amy also claims to have seen a baby shark which scared her, and also almost ran into a sea turtle. We also managed to get very sunburned there.
The next day we drove down to Kailua-Kona to eat at L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. I had the loco moco - 2 hamburger patties and 2 fried eggs in gravy, with rice and mac salad. What a great breakfast! Amy had a seafood combo plate lunch consisting of fried shrimp, fried mahi mahi, barbecue chicken, rice, and mac salad. After that we drove south and stopped at Kona Joe’s Coffee Estate for a quick tour. They are the world’s first trellised coffee plantation, and the coffee was damn good! We then drove around and found the Pu`uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. This was a sacred place “where Hawaiians who broke a kapu or one of the ancient laws against the gods could avoid certain death by fleeing to this place of refuge or “pu`uhonua”. The offender would absolved by a priest and freed to leave. Defeated warriors and non-combatants could also find refuge here during times of battle.” There was also a large rock which was Mark Twain’s favorite spot in all of Hawai’i. We then stopped at a fruit stand on the way back to Kailua-Kona and bought a dragonfruit. They look neat but taste like a bland kiwifruit.
We were going to a luau at the Royal Kona Resort, but we had time to kill so we stopped in at the Kona Brewing Company for some drinks. We sampled all 12 of the beers they had on tap, and all of them were very good. Then we headed to the luau. The tickets cost $72 each, and Amy went to the bathroom. As I was getting money out of the ATM to pay for them, the guy in the Shell Vacations Club booth told me that he could get us the tickets for $7 each, and all we had to do was go to their timeshare pitch the next day. They also could get us other deals on some stuff, so I agreed to his terms. I’m glad we went, because the luau was not worth $72, although it is something you have to do when you’re in Hawai’i. The roast pig in the imu was not even a whole pig - just roasted pig parts! I wanted to see an apple in a pig’s mouth!
So the next day we headed to the timeshare pitch. Our saleman, Howie, was very nice. Apparently timeshares are going towards a point system where you pay for a certain number of points and can use them for places anywhere they have timeshares. Amy and Howie kept chatting, so it took us 3 hours to get out of there. Howie’s boss was a classic ABC (Always Be Closing - from Glengarry Glen Ross) type, and got on my nerves. Amy was totally convinced though, and probably would have bought if I wasn’t there. We also got half price tickets for a 4 hour snorkel tour with Body Glove out of the deal so for three hours of our time we have about $250. Not bad at all!
For dinner on Saturday, I made reservations at the Bamboo restaurant in Hawi Town on the north point of Hawai’i. It has won the best regional restaurant for a couple of years in a row, and I can see why. Amy had some lillikoi (passion fruit) margaritas to start. We then had their famous chicken sate potstickers. For our entrees, I had grilled fish on crispy polenta, and Amy had grilled fish on a spicy somen noodle salad. They were delicious. We then finished with a mocha cheescake with macnut crust. John Keawe, an award winning slack-key artist, performed during dinner.
On Sunday morning, we woke up early to go on the Body Glove snorkeling tour. We went up the coast for awhile and finally stopped at a small bay. The snorkeling there was amazing! Fish of all colors and sizes would swim right up to you. We had bought a couple of disposable underwater cameras so I managed to take some nice pictures of the fish. I even took one of Amy snorkeling, which some of our friends have likened to the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind album. Afterwards, I believe we ate at this Mexican restaurant, Pancho and Lefty’s. We ordered some nachos which were excellent, and grilled and fried fish tacos. We liked the food, but the service was pretty slow. We then did some shopping then went back to the hotel for a nap. For dinner, we went to Fujimama’s. There are only two in the world, one in Japan and one in Kailua-Kona, so we thought it would have to be good. In fact, we went there because my mom wants to be called Fujimama instead of Grandma, so we were thinking of buying a t-shirt or something. The food was quite a letdown. The sushi was ok, but nothing great. The chicken in the spring rolls was dry, and the entrees were only ok. My duck breast was actually cooked medium-rare, which was a plus. Amy’s swordfish was very bland.
On Monday we decided to drive all around the island. We stopped for breakfast at Tex Drive-In, which is famous for their malasadas (Portuguese donuts). Those were some of the best donuts I have ever had! The breakfast plate I had was also really good - Portuguese sausage, fried eggs, and some of the best hash browns around. We then drove to the Hilo side of the island, where we saw a sign for a scenic road. We drove down that road, and over a nice stream. We stopped and took some pictures. Then we drove on and stopped on the way to the Volanoes National Park to get something to eat. Verna’s III Drive-In was ok, but it took a long time to get our food. I wasn’t that hungry so I just had a corn dog.
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is huge and majestic! We drove all around the craters and did a little bit of hiking. There was an old lava tube that you could walk through in the middle of a rain forest! We didn’t go to where the lava was still flowing because it was a 2 hour hike, and we didn’t bring any water or hiking shoes for the trek. Also, we had dinner reservations at Roy’s Waikoloa that night.
The meal at Roy’s was probably the best meal we had in Hawai’i. We had a lovely Reisling to go with dinner. Amy loves appetizers so w had to start with Roy’s Canoe Appetizer. I think it had shrimp, crab cakes, dumplings, egg rolls, and Szechuan baby back ribs on it. I then had Roy’s classic roasted macnut encrusted mahi mahi, and Amy had the sea scallop dish. Both were excellent. We then finished with a pastry filled with macnut paste and a mini pineapple upside-down cake.
On Tuesday we went back to Kailua-Kona for lunch at L&L because it was so good. We then walked around a bit and finally ate some shaved ice, the local treat. We then went back to the hotel and swam in the pool for a bit. We saw our last sunset of the trip, then rested in a hammock for a little bit. When it got dark, we went back to our room, ordered room service, and drank the bottle of wine that the flight attendants had given us.
On Wednesday we still had one of the underwater cameras, so we got up early and went snorkeling in A-Bay for an hour to us up the camera. We then showered, checked out, and drove back to Tex Drive-In for some more malasadas, before driving back to the airport.
We could not have asked for a better place to spend our honeymoon. Everything was gorgeous, the weather was beautiful, and we had the best time. We can’t wait to go back soon!