February 26 - Kona

Thursday, February 26, 2026 

8:00 am to 7:00 pm

Good morning from the Big Island of Hawaii.

Kona is a tender port...a place where the ship anchors off-shore and then shuttles guests back and forth using the lifeboats. For crowd control, everyone needs to get a tender ticket and then they announce groups by number when a boat is available to load. The tickets were available in Crooners Bar (no charge) so that is where we headed after breakfast. Our group was given tickets with #5. We sat in the Piazza until our number was called at 8:45 am. 

Getting on the tender as it bobs up and down in the water is challenging...
...even more so with a bad knee. Timing is everything!

Bob had already made a call to Enterprise to let them know that we were running a little late to pick up the rental car we had reserved. It was 9:05 when we reached land and we walked the short distance to the big banyan tree where we knew Enterprise would send their shuttle. Bob called the office to let them know we were ready to be picked up, but he was put on hold...and waited and waited. He finally gave up and Jon called an Uber. We walked around the corner to a hotel where the traffic was less congested and the Uber picked us up there.

When Bob started filling out the papers for the rental car at the Enterprise office, he realized that he had left his driver's license in his pants pocket from the night before. 😖 (You need a photo ID to get on and off the ship and he had used it in Kauai and forgot to put it back in his wallet.) Trying to go back to the ship to get the license would have easily chewed up more than an hour...time we did NOT want to waste on a port day. Jon was willing to be the primary driver so he paid for the car with his credit card and we were on our way. The silver lining to this story was that Bob DID have his Global Entry photo ID and was able to get back on the ship at the end of the day. 

Throughout the cruise I tried to keep track of any shared expenses so we could "settle up" at the end. Bob knows I always want him to keep receipts when we travel but Jon did not always do such a good job. 😒

Over the months leading up to the cruise, I had prepared Google maps for each island with routes planned out for places I thought would be interesting to see. Our first stop was at a farmer's market set up in a parking lot near the pier. When we pulled in we realized that it was a pay parking lot. (And I was having flashbacks to getting ripped off for parking yesterday in Kauai.) You were supposed to scan a QR code on a sign and pay by credit card. I did not think it was worth paying for the short time we planned to be there (the market was not very big) and just wanted to leave. Bob and Jon convinced me to stay and they stayed in the car while Michelle and I looked around a little (very little!) and we just skipped paying the fee. 

I decided it would be smart to head to our furthest destination first, but on the way I saw that we were going to go by Greenwell Farms Coffee Plantation. They offered free tours but they were 60 minutes long and we didn't want to spend that much time. We did however sample MANY kinds of Kona coffee they had available. The coffee was very good...but very expensive. 

Since we had already messed up the order that I had planned the stops on my route, we went ahead and next drove to the Painted Church. The church building was white but had the name "Painted Church" because of the murals painted on the interior walls. We had visited here in 2024 but Jon and Michelle had never been. From the Painted Church website:

This present church was erected in 1899 by Father John Velghe. Without any professional training and using house paint on ordinary wood he beautified the church with his paintings. In those days few Hawaiians could read and so he taught with pictures-most successfully.

An interesting fact...the paintings of almost all of the murals have retained their bright colors except for the one that depicts Hell. It has faded and become discolored. 

St. Benedict Catholic Church - "The Painted Church"

Cemetery outside the church.

The Handwriting on the Wall at the Feast of King Belshazzar.
On the wall is written in Hawaiian, “Ua Emi Loa Oe Ua Pau Kou Aupuni / Make No Ka Pono” literally, “You are found wanting. Your kingdom ceases. Should die.”

The faded "Hell" mural.

Temptation of Jesus. The devil is being cast down along with a crown, a scepter and bags of money.

Some of the beautiful flowers growing around the Painted Church.

Finally we made it to where I had planned to start our day...at Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. (I find it so fun to try and pronounce the Hawaiian names!) Bob's America the Beautiful pass got us all in for free and we first watched a movie in the amphitheater. And for anyone who is hoping to snorkel while visiting Kona, there is a great spot right by this park called "Two Step". (That isn't the real name, but it is called that because there are two natural steps to get down into the water.)

Two Step Snorkeling Site is right by the park.

Again, this was a place Bob and I had visited in 2004 so I saved my knee and didn't walk around as much as the others. I found a place to sit and just enjoyed watching that beautiful water. A lady stopped to talk to me and said she had seen a whale so I kept my eye out for spouts...but saw nothing. What I did see were a lot of fish close to the shore in the shallow water. 

Lots of small yellow fish!

Just outside the park was a beach with a picnic area. We had eaten a snack here the last time, but this time we hadn't planned for a picnic so we stopped briefly and then left to go find the restaurant.

Wild goats along side the road.

The picnic area was beautiful!

While I had been waiting on the others, I used my phone to locate a place to eat nearby for lunch. I found a restaurant called Kaaloa's Super J's that caught my eye...it had over 1500 five star reviews on Google! The restaurant was not far away and when we got there we discovered they only had three items on the menu. The price was based on whether you wanted one choice, two choices or three choices!

The restaurant felt more like a kitchen in someone's home.

The open kitchen right behind the counter where you ordered.

Bob ordered pork laulau and I got the kalua pig and cabbage. Once we saw how HUGE the portion sizes were we realized we should have just shared a plate. Jon also bought a slice of mango cake which we all shared. The food was delicious and felt very authentic. We dined at a long, shared table made of a piece of raw edged lumber. 

Pork Laulau (the meat was wrapped in taro leaves) 

Pork & Cabbage. 

Besides my self designed tour, we were occasionally listening to the narration from the Guide Along app on my phone. As we were driving, it was hard for me to imagine living in such a beautiful place where flowers grow with such little care. Bob has a potted croton at home that gets handled with extreme TLC just to keep it alive! 

Our last official stop was at Kealakekua Bay. The bay is a sacred area in Hawaiian culture, historically recognized as the "pathway of the God" and the residence of the deity Lono-i-ka-makahiki.  Bob roamed around through the forest area while Jon, Michelle and I sat and watched the birds and fish. We could look across the bay and see the Captain Cook Monument which marks the site where Captain James Cook was killed by native Hawaiians. The monument is only accessible by boat or a long hike.

Explorer Bob

Snorkel boats around the Captain Cook Monument across the bay.

We stayed on the coastal road to get back to Kona. The car needed to be returned by 4 pm in order for us to get a spot on the last shuttle back to the port and we had just enough time for a quick stop at Walmart. Bob and I got a 12 pack of Coke to take back on the ship and Jon and Michelle bought some pop and a bunch of snacks (since you never know when you might get hungry on a cruise ship!) 😄 Jon also bought a pint of chunky monkey ice cream but then realized he had no spoon. Luckily the gal working at the Enterprise office just happened to have a plastic spoon that she gave him so he could eat it before it melted.

The Enterprise shuttle dropped us off right at the tender pier and we immediately walked on to a waiting tender boat. The boat left right away and we didn't even have to wait until they filled it completely. Since I hadn't made dinner reservations for our port days, I went onto the app as soon as we returned to the ship and reserved a table at the regular 5:20 time. That meant we were seated at Table #51 with Lokesh and Ian.

Heading back "home".

The evening entertainment in the theater was a second performance by Company of Men whom we had just seen the night before. It was to be a different show, but we decided we would rather enjoy a leisurely meal and skip the show. It was 7:15 pm before we left the dining room.

One of the dining room supervisors came to our table while we were eating and told us they had reserved our table 51 for every night of the next leg of our cruise so we will get to stay with Lokesh and Ian!! We are still wondering if the itinerary for our Mexican cruise will have any changes after all of the violence that is taking place.

We were all dragging after three port days in a row and decided there would be no card playing. There was a little bit of balcony time and then Bob and I got ourselves organized for the next day...our last Hawaiian port of Maui. I made SURE he had his driver's license!

Spending time on "our porch".
Bob is wearing the nightshirt our daughter in law gave him for Christmas! 😊😴