Hawaii – Kona Day 14

Posted on November 30, 2020 by jmatie22

Last day in Hawaii, which was pretty packed with small stops.

Started the day going to Green Flash Coffee. Here are the details:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/30/green-flash/

Then headed to Kahalu’u beach to get in some last minute snorkeling. I gotta say I liked the diversity of fishes here better than Captain cook monument (but the corals at captain cook were much better, and there were dolphins there). NJ did mention though he saw a turtle in the water while snorkeling.

After the beach, we cleared out our AirBnb (will always have the memories of watching season 28 of survivor there). We then dropped our bags of at Janie’s new place which is near Da poke shack.

From there, we headed to Kona Coffee and Tea to pick up some souvenirs (got some medium roast coffee. I also wanted to get the chocolate covered espresso macadamia nuts, but they ran out :().

We then headed to Kona Brewery, where we had a late lunch. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/30/kona-brewery/

After the brewery, we stopped by a small chocolate shop called Puna (had an art exhibition in the upstairs). Got a chocolate covered stroopwafel, which was pretty good.

We then headed to HiCo, where I got an iced mocha plus a spam musubi. Here are the details: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/25/hico/

After, we went to costco to grab some additional souvenirs (macadamia nuts plus Kona account Crunch coffee).

After Costco, we quickly rushed to Pine Trees Beach to see a glimpse of the sunset. Afterwards, headed to ABC to get some souvenirs (a shot glass, a coaster, some chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and a shirt).

The last stop before heading to the airport was Janie’s place to eat a Sushi dinner (ordered from Sushi Cocoro & Udon, which details can be found here: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/30/sushi-cocoro-udon/).

We then dropped off our Jeep at Hertz, and boarded our flight. Till next time Hawaii!!!

Some things to check out next time I visit Big Island:

-Narnia

-Resort area 25 miles north of Kona (where there is other types of nightlife)

Hawaii – Kona Day 8

Posted on November 24, 2020 by jmatie22

This day was a day of snorkeling.

Started off the day going to Costco to pick up some snorkeling gear. Decided to get the full face mask, but also had to buy the set with flippers.

We headed off to two-step beach at Captain cook, where I basically learned how to use the snorkeling face mask (key part is to make sure the face mask is tight enough using the straps at the back, and just breath with your nose normally. Admittedly it is difficult to breathe with it, and don’t really like to use it longer than 30 minutes), and got comfortable with the flippers. To finally get out there, as Dersu said “don’t think”. Another tip (but I think this is for the goggle type snorkels), to have no fog, you spit in your goggles (need to figure if this works for the full face mask).

The ocean floor had very few sea urchins. There were a good amount of fish. At the time I didn’t know this, but there were sea urchins between some holes in the rocks on the steps coming out of the water (although I had my flippers on, so my feet would have been ok regardless. I was using those holes with my hands though).

After two-step, we headed to Honokohau Harbor for our night time manta ray snorkeling adventure.

First time wearing a wet suite. Definitely see how it warms you up, and would consider buying one if I did more water sports (but would get between a small and a medium size).

To get to the snorkeling spot, we spent 30 minutes getting there. The boat ride was definitely bumpy. While we were there, we spent 45 minutes attached to this surfboard looking device, that shines light down the water to attract plankton, which attract the mantarays. I was fortunate enough to get a manta ray kiss (it’s bottom part touched my right hand). Gotta say it felt pretty rough lol.

The last 10 minutes I did start to feel light headed. Didn’t think I needed to throw up, but my stomach was also not super settled. Might have been a good idea not to drink a seltzer beforehand.

The ride back it started raining, but covering myself with a towel plus the wet suite helped.

We ended off the day having dinner at a ramen place, which you can catch the details here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/24/daichi-ramen/

Hawaii – Kona Day 3

Posted on November 19, 2020 by jmatie22

We spent the whole day at Kohanaiki (Pine Trees) beach. Tried surfing for the first time, watched the sunset, drank and had a bbq (note though this beach does have a lot of sea urchins).

After the beach (which is required to close at 7pm), we checked out Costco and bought a good amount of food and liquor (note their whisky selection is pretty limited).

Austin Day 1 and 2 (plus part of 3 and 4)

Posted on November 16, 2019 by jmatie22

On day 1, I arrived in Austin around 10pm. From the airport, we quickly dropped our stuff at our AirBnB (staying at the west side of Austin), and made our way to a local bar called Kung fu Saloon (a mix of game arcade and dive bar).

For the start of day 2, we ended up at the Costco to get supplies and breakfast food (note that at Austin, like in Vancouver, they only sell hard liquor at an independent store, but beer and wine can be found I. Costco. The independent liquor store was right beside Costco).

After Costco and eating an awesome breakfast, we walked to SOCO, and went through some local shops (for example, trying in some cowboy boots).

After SOCO, we walked all the way up to the Capitol building, and explored around for a bit (we tried to make it to the top floor, but looks like you can’t actually go to the top without being in the tour guide. We got to the 4th floor.

After, we got food at Black’s Barbecue. You can read the review here: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/11/16/the-original-black-barbecue/

After, we made our way south to a bar called Spider House, where they served hot liquor drinks. I got a got chocolate with vodka called the Hot Chodka.

From there, we ventured south. We ended up going through The University of Texas, passed by a frat party of KKT, then walked through the Capitol building and avoided a group of people casting spells, then made our way to the East part of Austin where DBL saw some dead. Key being out in a trunk. We then ended of this paragraph’s adventure by going to the Voodo Donut place (you can read the review here: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/11/16/voodo-donuts/).

We stayed in the east side of Austin for the rest of the night. First bar stop was the Buffalo Billiard bar. The place had the large sections, each with various games like billiards, connect 4, and arcade games. I was impressed. We ended of the night seeing Fleetmac wood at the Parish, which was an interesting EDM experience.

At the end of the night, we came back, and I ended up making my first candy for the next day.

The next day, we had brunch at Walton’s Fancy and Staple: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/11/25/waltons-fancy-and-staple/