Saturday, March 26, 2016

Living Like A Local In Kona

By Stephen Baker


The state of Hawaii is actually an archipelago of five main islands in the central Pacific ocean. Entered into the union as the 50th state in August 1959, Hawaii is a few degrees north of the Equator. This makes it an extremely popular tourist destination. Sometimes, however, you want to get away without being swept away by hoards of tourists paying high prices for burgers and beers. Kona, a district on the big island of Hawaii, lets you get way from that.

Although you can comfortably drive the entire circumference of the island in about a day, there is still enough air traffic to sustain two airports. The one on the eastern side of the island is Hilo; on the western side, in Keahole, is the other. Here, passengers can arrive from/depart to the western seaboard of the continental United States, as well as destinations in Canada and Alaska.

The architecture of the airport befits that of a southern pacific resort, a series of open-air chalet-style buildings graced with palm trees. It could just as easily be a restaurant or night club. Despite its island charm, Keahole has all the standard passenger services that you would expect to find at any other passenger air terminal.

The local area definitely feels more like a suburban neighborhood than it does a tourist resort. The bright lights, crowds, and noise are out there somewhere if you want to go looking for them but they are not in your face. There is all the accommodation you could ask for and all the amenities your heart could desire. At one restaurant in particular, diners can sip cocktails or mocktails on the coast of Kailua Bay and observe body-boarders being tossed in the surf or humpback whales swimming with other humpback whales.

The island is just the right size for sight-seeing in that nothing is too far away. Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano standing nearly 14,000 feet above sea level. It is the highest peak in Hawaii. A million years old, it is actually taller than Mount Everest. The Mauna Kea Observatory is the largest facility of its kind in the world.

Feeling bold and adventurous? Try parasailing. Here, you are hitched into a harness with a parachute and towed behind a speeding boat, while your lead is gradually let further and further out. Maybe you stop at 800 feet over the crystal clear blue waters, or maybe you signal to go higher. Either way, your tummy tickles like crazy while you gaze at the beautiful scenery and float gently in free fall. Alternatively, hire a motorized sea vehicle.

Not everybody has the guts for a tummy-tickling experience a quarter of a mile above the surface of the sea. If your are looking for a more gentle seaborne experience, there is no shortage of boat trips on the island. Try raft cruising, discover dolphins, or cruise on a whitewater raft.

The great thing about staying in Kona is that you have all the necessary facilities for sustaining life and leisure without the extortionate prices you find in a typical tourist trap. A lot of the available accommodation comes with patios or balconies, so you can convince yourself that you are a local resident living in an apartment. You get a sense of belonging to the neighborhood while retaining an element of independence.




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