Moving onto the last of the islands, Hawaii proper, we flew from Maui to the Western and dry side of The Big Island and were greeted by Jonny at the airport with leis he had made himself. The Kona airport was open-air, all planes were greeted by roll up staircases and there were very few walls in the airport at all. It was very cool. He got us settled into our condo rental and we took off for the beach in the Jeep we rented.
He took us to a fairly secluded black lava beach north of Kona that had a few homes on it and attracted sea turtles, unbelievbly beautiful! He started the hike out by taking us for a swim in an underground fresh water lava tube known as the Queen's Bath, that was about 100 feet from the ocean. We climbed down a ladder into it and followed swimming behind Jonny and his flashlight, trying to avoid smashing into lava boulders. We made it back quite far and sat on some rocks. Then he turned out the light and we waited in complete darkness till our eyes adjusted and we could barely see a glow. Then he told us to find our way back in the dark. Wild.
We then walked along the beach of Kiholo Bay and took in the sights, including fresh water lagoons where the turtles hung out and saw an amazing sunset. Jonny is such an interesting guy who has lived very close to this land for the last ten years, you'll see more of him in the next few posts. He reminded me of John Locke on Lost both in looks and temperament. Perfect guide for Hawaii.
We spent the night back at the condo, Jonny cooked us an amazing meal, homemade ginger carrot lemongrass soup, sesame tuna ceviche and a beautiful salad. It was Nick's birthday and Jonny outdid himself. He finished it off with crystallized ginger and local vanilla fresh ice cream. A great birthday for Nick.
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