A brief look at Kailua-Kona
On October 16th we were docked at Kailua-Kona (usually just called Kona) from 8:00am until 6:00 pm. Unlike our busy 2014 visit when we rented a car and went to Kona Joe Coffee and Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park (see “Exploring Kona, Hawaii“), we had no plans and as it turned out we did nothing except go ashore for a great lunch. So this is a very short post, especially compared to the last 2 🙂
Kona is a tender port – ships anchor offshore and use their tenders/lifeboats to shuttle people to the Kailua Pier.
The morning began with a series of rainbows as we approached Kona – the photos below were shot at 06:35 and 07:05.
Tendering is a slow process. For the first 2-3 hours, you have to get tickets for a time slot. We had zero interest in that process, so it was almost noon when we finally went to the tender door – by then, no tickets were required.
We got seats near an open front window, to get a bit of a breeze. Assisting several people with mobility aids including one with a power scooter slowed boarding down. Although my photo time stamps show that it was only 8 minutes from the photo above to the one below when we were pulling away from the Koningsdam, it felt longer because it was warm and the seats aren’t comfortable. Many tenders have an outside upper deck, which I always choose, but our boat didn’t have one.
The next photo shows the driver’s position on the tender.
As we pulled away, I got a good photo of the dock that folds down from the ship’s hull. Pretty cool.
It only took about 3 minutes to get to the Kailua Pier. There was a huge lineup to get tenders to return to the ship. You can always count on the vast majority of cruisers to return for the free lunch 🙂
I had some important stuff to buy. It was too hot for Cathy to walk very far, so she stayed to wait for me. I said I’d be 20 minutes, but it turned out I had to walk almost 3 miles, and I was much longer than that. There’s a fairly steep hill, and by the time I got back I was nearing a heat stroke. We decided to have beers and burgers on the upper deck of the Cheeky Tiki across the street.
We both had Mauka burgers and fries, which were rather pricey ($20) but excellent. “Grilled 7 oz local beef patty, topped with melted havarti cheese, fresh avocado and cilantro lime crema sauce. Served on a buttery brioche bun with lettuce, tomato and onion.”
The next photo shows our view of Kailua Pier with a couple of tenders, from the Cheeky Tiki.
With no other attractive options, we headed back to the ship after lunch – it was 3:12 when I shot the photo of a postage-stamp beach where a few people were swimming.
There was a tender waiting and no lineup, so 20 minutes later I shot the next photo from the ship’s tender dock as I went inside.
The Atlantis submarine was on a tour – I took the next photo from our verandah as its support boat was arriving. This submarine carries 48 passengers, and they advertise that they explore a 25-acre natural coral reef at depths up to 100 feet.
I shot the final photo of the day at 3:19, then went to bed.
Our next port stop had been scheduled to be at Lahaina, which Cathy and I really enjoyed on our last visit, but the devastating fires in August cancelled that. We would spend two days at Honolulu instead of just one. We only had plans for one evening there.
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Nothing like a Skookum cheeseburger in paradise, Jimmy Buffet’s last request, RIP Jimmy 🍔
That lunch was a totally unnecessary expense but the whole thing was a very good experience, with great food and a great burger, but particularly because we had an 11/10 server 🙂