Kahalu’u beach | Travels, Adventures, and Leisure

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)

Started off the day by going to Janie’s place, which as I may have mentioned before has an awesome view from higher ground of the water.

We then went to grab some poke (first time) at a new place called Kona Grill house (interestingly enough I didn’t order any red meat, only sea food). Here are the details: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/21/kona-grill-house/

After picking up the food we drove to a Kahalu’u beach, where we ate said food (and then NJ and ben snorkled… which Ben mentioned was the best place to snorkel as of Day 8 of our trip). Shortly after, had my first Kona Coffee and Tea experience, where you can read a out it here: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/21/kona-coffee-tea/

Shortly after, we made our way to Green Sands Beach, where along the way we drove to the southern most point of the United States!

When we got to the entrance of Green Sands Beach, we met our second off road challenge (and my first time driving off-road!). This one was definitely much more of an experience than the previous day. Not only where there more sudden drops, but there were multiple ways to go (so trying to choose the less bumpy one was sometimes challenging). The secret though (which we found out on the way back) is to follow the paths closest to the only wired fence.

When we got to the beach, we basically had the beach to ourselves (one other group left shortly after we arrived). To be honest, I didn’t think the sand was super green, but Justin was mentioning it’s because of how late in the day it was. We only spent 40 minutes in the water, but I did body boarding for the first time, and got 1 really good wave.

We then headed back to Holualoa (right before sunset), and checked out the Ola Brewery:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/22/ola-brewery/

After, we went to a bar/”club” called MyBar, which was a reminding experience during COVID times.

We finished if day watching the moon set at 11:28pm at Magic Sands Beach. That one was a first for me, which was really beautiful.