HomeOn Sunday, November 1st, 2009 – we arrived in Kona on the south side of the Big Island. This is the dry side, and it was definitely hot that day. Again, our ship had to park in the harbor and the tenders took us to shore. There was a small beach where the ocean wall met the pier and apparently this is the official swim start and run finish line for the annual Ironman Triathlon World Championship. And when we arrived there were folks swimming in what appeared to be a triathlon event. We were on our way to a snorkeling trip with the Kamanu outfit (www.kamanu.com). They took us out on a catamaran. It was a beautiful day and the snorkeling trip was great. David got to put his underwater camera housing to good use and caught a few good photos – including an eel, and a scorpion fish along with the more common tangs, parrot fish and sergeant majors.
In the afternoon we set off on foot to see if we could find the Walmart. It was less than a mile from the wharf, but we realized later that we were walking up hill almost the entire way. After only one wrong turn we found the Walmart. It was set up high on a hill with a nice view down to the harbor and our ship. We did some shopping and bought some more souvenirs along with another small wheely suitcase to tote some of our trinkets home… and after a few photos we walked back down to the wharf area. The walk back was much easier since we knew where we were going and it was all down hill. We stopped at Boston Basil’s for a quick pizza before heading back to the ship.
