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Kona Day 5

Today was our second trip to Cook’s cove! That’s right, we liked it so much that we went again. We boarded the boat and watched the coast roll by on the way to the cove.

As we were approaching our destination, the captain called a dolphin alert! He took us on a short detail to watch the pod of small Hawaiian spinner dolphins. They played along the boat for a few minutes, and were adorable!

When we arrived in the cove, Miles and I rushed into the water. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the water was clear. We almost immediately saw a small eel far below us. Through the day, we saw a large puffer fish, 2 small eels, a mostly hidden large zebra eel (a very cool orange and white striped guy), and the mouth of a giant morey eel peeking out of a cave. Clearly, Mr. Eel from our previous visit to the cove was unavailable, so he sent over his family to greet us. It was a beautiful day of snorkeling.

After the snorkel, we returned to the condo and hung out, until late afternoon, when we headed to town to stroll around, and then had dinner at a lovely little sushi place, making sure to leave room for gelato.

On our way to our dessert, we saw that there was a beach volleyball tournament! (or as I often unintentionally call it, bolleyvall). We grabbed our frozen treats and grabbed some seats to watch the tournament.

The competition was impressive! Everyone was quite athletic and there were many close rallies. We stayed for several matches before deciding we were too tired (read: old), and heading back home.

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Kona Day 4

Today was volcano day! We packed a picnic for lunch, and headed out the door bright and early, planning to break up the 2 hour drive by getting breakfast at a little diner around the half-way point named Hana Hou. We both went traditional, and got the Loco Moco (Hawaiian pulled pork, brown gravy, and an egg over rice), which was incredible!

We then resumed our journey, blissfully not realizing that on a volcano that’s also a rainforest, there might be… you know… what do you call it when water falls from the sky?… oh, that’s right. Rain. In a rainforest. Who would have thought? Not us! Anyway, by the time we got to the volcano, it was definitely raining. It was a beautiful warm rain on a warm Hawaiian day, but it did limit the visibility a bit…

At least I had my trusty hat to shield me! Miles wasn’t so lucky.

We still went around and saw the sights: the sulphur cliffs, the crater, the lava tube, and the museums. We then tried to find a picnic spot as the rain got harder. The covered benches were taken, so we got creative, and I turned the back seat of the car into a food assembly station and we ate our (very tasty if I do say so myself) chicken wraps in the car. We checked the weather forecast, which assured us that the rain would continue into the night, so we decided to head home. On the drive, we nearly hit a chicken that was attempting to cross the road, which prompted some pondering of the classic joke.

After recuperating from the drive in our condo, we hit the town for some traditional Hawaiian dinner. We went to Kanaka Kava, a small bar selling food and the traditional medicinal drink, kava, which is supposed to have a relaxing and antidepressant effect. We decided to try it. Yeah, see how it looks like a gross brown swamp water in the picture? That’s what it tasted like too!

Miles managed to finish all of his off, but I was not so strong. Luckily, the food itself was incredible! We got a pupu platter featuring lau lau, kalua pork, squid luau, uala (Hawaiian purple sweet potato), and garlic bread. We ate out on the porch, and finished as the sun was setting. We decided to top it off with some amazing gelato, which they piled so high out of the cups that they was more out of the cup than in (because clearly we hadn’t eaten enough?) and then headed home for the evening. Maybe not the volcano trip we envisioned, but it ended up being a really fun day.

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Kona Day 3

We decided to start the morning with a trip to a little crepe cafe in Kona. We were amazed at how beautiful the presentations were, and the tasted as good as they looked!

We then wandered around the little shops and local farmer’s market, just appreciating the scenery, art, and pace of Hawaii, until we decided that is was time for lunch. We hit up a spot we’ve been wanting to try, called Da Poke Shack (or as Paige says, “Daaa Pokiiii Shaaaaaacckkk!”) and had delicious poke bowls while sitting out on the porch.

After a pit stop for supplies to for dinner and our upcoming volcano trip, we headed back to relax at the condo and get ready for our snorkel with the manta rays at sunset.

When sunset approached, we headed out to the boat. We steeled ourselves for the long and treacherous journey to the manta rays…. all the way at the mouth of the harbor, at least 5 minutes from where we started! The crew then turned on our magic manta ray attracting lights (they may have explained that the lights work by attracting plankton for the manta’s to eat, but we prefer to believe that they are magic), and manta rays began to appear before we were even in the water. It was amazing how huge they were and how close they came. More than once I had to arch out of the way to avoid brushing them. The fed by doing barrel rolls directly under us, which helped Miles to catch some amazing videos of their underwater acrobatics. We swam with our new friends for an hour before being called us back to the boat. On the way home, the crew fed us hot chocolate and soup. And they didn’t even make us do barrel rolls for our food!

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Kona Day 2

Today was our trip to my favorite snorkeling place: Captain Cook’s Cove. Miles had never been, and we were both excited to experience it together. We got up early for the 8:30am check-in time, and soon we were aboard the Fair Wind II and cruising towards our destination.

As an added adventure, we decided to go out of our comfort zones, and try snuba! (A dive about 15ft below the surface breathing through hoses attached to a raft holding oxygen above us).

The experience of being fully submerged was incredible, and took some getting used to. Unfortunately, my beloved camera met its end in a tragic snuba accident, when the underwater case leaked under the additional pressure of the dive. RIP, Sony rx100, you served us well and will be missed. Fortunately, Miles’s GoPro held up just fine, and he got some great videos.

After our 30 minute snuba adventure, we returned to the boat with perfect timing for lunch. There’s nothing quite like hamburgers grilled on a boat in one of the most beautiful places in the world. After eating, we headed back into the water for some snorkeling. Miles dutifully caught the highlights of the day on camera: the swarm and the eel. The swarm was a group of yellow and brown fish that swam as a school, and descended together on coral formations to feed. I had never seen anything quite like it. The eel (or Mr. Eel, as his friends call him), was a large moray eel who befriended Miles and decided to put on quite a show. We followed him for at least 5 minutes, as he thoughtfully displayed all his best angles. After about 45 minutes in the water, we headed back towards towards the boat just as they started to call “all aboard.”


When we got back to land in time to browse a farmers market, and then wandered around Kona for the afternoon, before eating dinner at a cute French Restaurant named La Bourgogne, run by a sweet husband and wife team. The meal ended with one of the best pot de creme’s I’ve had. Overall, it was a magical – if somewhat tragic on the camera side – day.

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Kona Day 1

Today we flew into Kona for a weeklong stay. And it was an action-packed day 1!

Flying into Kona was a beautiful site, we were treated to a cloudy view of the volcano. First order of business was Costco for supplies, and then we headed straight to Snorkel Bob’s for snorkeling supplies.

We arrived at the condo and were treated to a lovely yard right on the sea out our front window.

First order of business was obviously snorkeling! We went to an old beach we knew well, which was busy but further out had some great fish to play among. Finally, after a few more supplies (Target is conveniently nearby!) we had dinner at a Japanese restaurant which has been open since 1929. Delicious food which felt comforting and homemade, and a lovely staff. There was no shortage of food tonight…

 

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Putting the x100f Through its Paces

Picked up the new x100f today, and we managed to take a few minutes to test it out. My initial impressions? I love this camera. Everything you see here is some photos we took over lunch, JPG files straight off the camera.

The x100f provides a built-in black-and-white film mode that is eminently usable, in contrast to may “auto B&W” filters in cameras I’ve used in the past. With RAW+jpg, you can save the original raw (full color) file alongside it for later processing.

The camera seems to have a real affinity for light and shadow, and pictures straight off the sensor seem almost to ‘glow’ in the right scenarios. Rather than frustrating me with the photos I failed to capture, the x100f encouraged exploration, consistently turning shots taken on a whim into something beautiful.

The 35mm (equivalent) fixed lens in the camera is a perfect walk-around focal length, and seemed to always capture things in the same fashion I’d seen them.

I’ve only scratched the surface, having had about thirty minutes shooting with the x100f, but I’m excited to learn what this camera has to offer. The degree of customization offered is excellent for something this size and price range, and I always had the setting I wanted at my fingertips. For me, the exposure compensation dial was especially well-placed and useful.