Good friends of ours purchased a condo in Kona and have offered it to us to use. Thank you, Toni and Charlie!

The condo is located in the Keauhou district of Kona on the Island of Hawaii. It is a beautiful two bedroom apartment that is in a small condo complex with a beautiful club house, pool, hot tub and fitness room. This is our home away from home for the next 2.5 months.

Hawaii is known for their beautiful sunsets. So, with a condo that is placed up the side of the hill facing west and less than a kilometer from the ocean is perfect for one of nature’s best show every single night!

…and with sunsets over water the chance of seeing a Green Flash increases greatly. We were lucky enough to see numerous Flashes during our stay!

Now, how do you spend 2.5 months in Hawaii??? We did not have any contacts or friends on the island, so we were very happy to meet up with Larry and Deann who lived one floor above us in the condo. They too were very happy to have people move into the complex that were under the age of 70!

We flew over to O’ahu to Robert and Trina’s for the holiday festivities. Peter and Dianne where there as well as they were spending 2.5 months at the compound!

We also spent some time on the hiking trails. Two of our regular hikes were close by. The first one was the Pu’u Wa’awa’a Cone. This was on higher ground, so it was a little cooler than the coast. It also gave us some great views on clear days. From the top of the cone we could see the telescopes on top of Maunu Kea, the top of Maunu Loa and even the peak of Haleakala on Maui. The other hike was down to the ocean and Kealakekua Bay and the Captain Cook Monument where Captain Cook was killed in 1779. These two hikes we did regularly and used them more for our cardio workout.

The pictures above are the Cone hike and the pictures below are the Captain Cook Monument hike.

We did spend a lot of time on the hiking trails. Here are a few other hikes that we enjoyed around the Island.

Along the north shore of the Big Island is the birthplace of King Kamehameha which is a nice walk along the coast. Since it is the winter time it is also hiumpback whale time. This hike gave us two great things to see!

Just down the road a little way, actually at the end of the road is Pololu Valley. Another beautiful hike down to the water and a very secluded beach which features a very rugged coastline.

At the far end of the of the coastline in the pictures above at the other end of the road is the Waipi’o Valley. We were lucky enought to hike down to the black sand beach of this valley as well. They have now closed this valley off to tourists because of the treacherous road leading down into it.

We also enjoyed what was below the surface of the ocean. No matter if we were just hiking along the tide pools in the lava rocks or if we were swimming along the surface with our snorkeling gear. The aquatic creatures were simply spectacular!

Snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay by the Captain Cook Memorial

Manta Ray night snorkel at Keauhou Bay

Exploring the tide pools along the ocean!

Another spectacular day outing is driving across the island to Hawaii Volcano National Park and the home of two of the world’s most active volcanoes. Kilauea and Mauna Loa! Mauna Loa peak can be seen from many of the roads around the island but for Kilauea you have to drive into the park and go for a walk. The walk itself is nothing special but the end result and seeing the lava bubbling in the Halema’uma’u crater is beyond words. We visited the park four times, twice during the day and then twice again at night. Each special in their own way. A trip over to the National Park is the perfect time to take in sunset up on top of Mauna Kea. There is something special to see a sunset from above the clouds, amongst the snow in Hawaii!

There is beauty in nature all over Hawaii!

The winter always produces waves along the shores of the islands. This winter was no different and here are some pictures of them in all their glory.

Earlier in this post we had pictures of life under the water. The life above the water is equally as impressive! Here is a small glimpse at the beauty of living creatures above the waterline.

Peter and Dianne had come over from their stay in Honolulu for a week in January to be our first visitors. Then just before our time in Kona came to an end, we had our second set of visitors. Our friends Greg and Trisha flew in for an action-packed week. We literally did everything! We snorkeled with the manta rays and at the Captain Cook monument. We hiked to the Green Sand beach and to the southern tip of Hawaii. We hiked along the north shore and into the valley. We saw a green flash and amazing sunsets from the condo. We saw the lava flowing in the daytime as well as at night. We saw the sunset above the clouds on Mauna Kea. We ate amazing food and we even had chocolate at happy hour! It was an amazing week and we were tired when we drove them to the airport.

We feel very privileged to be able to spend such a long time in such a beautiful place. However, time moves on and it is time to move along. Do not feel sorry for us, our next stop is back in Tucson, Arizona which is different but equally as nice!