Kona, Hawaii – Day 4 and Day 5

Day 4 – 21st January, Thursday

Cultural/Beach day

We had the luxury to snooze in today. Ahhhhhhh! Finally!

But we still had a program. My mom’s company organised a Hawaiian Cultural day by the beach. Just for the fun of it. They had a few different stations set up – flute making, Hawaiian dancing, banana throwing and canoeing. It started at 9:30am but we only went down at 11am.

Sun in your eyes, sand between your toes. Bliss.

Canoeing was the only activity I did that morning.

We were in teams of 6.

The guides behind us. The rest were paddling hard while I was busy taking photos.

We did a few rounds of practice before getting our game on! We were preparing to compete with the other team.

Lovely day out!

Heading to the open waters.

Crystal clear!

Our competitors.

DDI founder was on my team. Good sign. I was definitely on the winning team.

Lining up.

Getting ready… sorta.

In position.

We WON! 3 out of 3 times.

We were paddling so hard, we cruised the last 30m. 😀

Strong team behind me.

After building some upper body muscles, it was time for lunch!

Fresh scallops were fresh.

After lunch, it was free and easy for the rest of the day.

I decided to rent a bike to cycle around the resort. Bike rentals were free!

Cycled to The Shops for ICE CREAM! It was a hot day out. I went for the LARGE! Salted Caramel Espresso, Tahitian Vanilla and Kona Coffee.

So creamy and so good! Perfect for a hot day!

Came back to the hotel and took a nap before smashing out a “track session”. It was great! One of my best workouts so far! WOOHOO! Hawai’i has been good to me. 😀 *Will talk about that in more detail in another post*

For dinner, we decided to walk to The Shops to pack something light – salad and fruits. We were still feeling stuffed from lunch and all the other foods consumed throughout the trip.

Day 5 – 22nd January, Friday

Waterfall Hike Adventure, Kohala

Early start – 5:45am – Wake up. Get ready. Coffee. GO!

We left the hotel in a shuttle bus at 7am with 8 other DDI associates. It was a small but super sweet group with a wild sense of humour. Our tour guide, Peter, helped with the ice breaking by getting us to talk a bit about ourselves, our passion and expectation for that day.

Peter, born and raised in Hawai’i, was very knowledgeable. You could tell that he was very passionate about what he was doing. He shared a lot about the land/sugar plantation, the Hawaiian legends, island traditions, kings and the Hawaiian heritage.

We were headed up North, through Kapa‘au and Hāwī and finally, Kohala. As mentioned in my previous post, Hawai’i is an interesting place with microclimates. Our adventure began in the dry and hot lava fields of Waikoloa (where Mauna Lani Bay is at) and as we went further up North, everything turned from barren and brown to lush and green (just 45 mins away). It was also wet and rainy!

Our 4-wheeler!

45 mins later, we were in Hāwī town where we switched to a rugged four-wheel drive.

Wefie. The whole group + our guide.

Bumpy ride.

Wet roads.

It was another 20 minutes to Kohala park and then an additional 10 minutes of rough riding through the field to the trail head.

It was steep and ROUGH!

We stopped at a scenic point for a panoramic view.

It was beautiful!

Back to the trails!

At the trail head.

And then, we were ready for our short hike to the waterfall! A mini one.

Crossing over the bridge that was built over the flumes.

Peter talking about the Strawberry Guava!

This part of the island was more tropical with familiar greens. There were also many unique indigenous and endemic plant species. Most of them have been brought in either intentionally or by accident. Some of them have managed to out compete the indigenous species.

Water feeding the taros. They have a lot of taros here and the Hawaiians seem to eat a lot of them.

Indigenous species – the ʻōhiʻa lehua plant. It can grow in lava and are able to find deep waters. If the volcanoes erupt, they can close up and not breath for 2 weeks!

The Ohana Waterfall!

*Interesting info: Hawai’i State Fish – Humuhumunukunukuapua’a*

We were finally at THE waterfall!

I was eager to dive right in but the waters were SO COLD!

I. JUST. HAD. TO. DO. IT.

The more you think about it, the worse it gets. Plus, I didn’t come all the way only to leave without immersing myself in the goodness of the Hawaiian falls.

Waiting to swim under the waterfall!

Dropped my sunnies and he found them. haha!

ALOHA! That’s me on the left! 😀

I wasn’t wearing goggles and I NEARLY lost my contact lenses there.

After the quick dip, we got out and changed before heading back to our 4-wheeler.

We were just 300m away! I turned on my Garmin FR235 during the hike and it clocked a total of 1.3km. I know, that doesn’t sound like much of a hike. I didn’t think so either.

I like how the Garmin tracks and records your walks/runs/hike/bike on the map and you can SEE where you’ve been! I love looking it up on the map! It is a great way to remember where you’ve been.

Speedy ride back!