Email Elizabeth
Elizabeth Weintraub
Three Humpback Whales Breaching in Kailua Bay
Just across the water from Kona Haven Coffee, there were 3 humpback whales breaching in Kailua Bay last week. A local Kona woman caught all of the action live on her iPhone. Well, she missed the first whale because you don’t expect that to happen when you’re paddle boarding. Kathy Daly videotaped the whales breaching while screaming with sheer delight.
Her video made me smile ear-to-ear. I’ve been watching whales all week, just about every beach features humpback whales. Even while at Makalawena Beach yesterday, there were dozens of whales on the horizon blowing water.
This is amazing footage. What is not amazing is how nasty some people have been. I purposely have not read the comments on some of the links because I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life. But West Hawaii Today reported that some people said horrible things. What is wrong with people that they have so little sense of self worth, that their own inadequacies force them to display such a-hole behavior?
I’d like to wait until all the hoopla dies down over the video of whales breaching so I can ask Ms. Daly where she got the waterproof bag for her iPhone. I am dying to take my iPhone snorkeling, but I am too afraid to rely on online advertising to buy such a thing. Because if it leaked, I am hosed.
The new XR shoots tremendous underwater photos. A woman at the Patton Oswalt show at the Blue Note last month showed me a video she created featuring schools of yellow tangs, and it looked like National Geographic filmed it. If anybody knows what kind of waterproof case to get, please let me know.
Photos from Makalawena Beach on Big Island
Words cannot truly convey the experience of traversing to Makalawena Beach. Well, they probably could but I would be up until midnight, and that is way past my bedtime. Besides, after a day in the sun, you have no idea what a toll it takes on your body unless you are a roofer, and then I have 4 words for you: find a better trade. Only desperate people get up there in the hot sun to play with asphalt shingles and tar.
I will say this is my defense of saying nothing. It is well worth the trip to Makalawena Beach. First, you enter Kekaha Kai State Park and you really need a four-wheel or SUV to drive that road. Otherwise you walk. But since I have a Subaru Forester, we were in luck. We could drive.
Then you walk a half mile or so to the beach, and we saw no monk seals. To get to Makalawena Beach, which is billed as the prettiest and most beautiful beach in West Hawaii, you then must walk down another half mile of lava. Some of it is sand, but going over the lava rocks, well, I seem to have not taken any photos of that. For a good reason.
It was a glorious day, high of 79, stiff breezes and magnificent surf. Hope you enjoy the pictorial journey. There is a close up of Mauna Kea with snow and a pufferfish at the end. Believe it or not, all shot with an iPhone XR.
I need to add that last photo is a pufferfish. It had washed ashore in the tide. Anita, my friend, was busy looking for a cowry shell for me when I pointed into the distance at this fish and said WHAT IS THAT? See, when you’re searching for something, you might find something else. I knew it was a pufferfish as I had actually caught a pufferfish in Florida.
Somehow it was tossed ashore by the strong surf at Makalawena. We assumed it was dead. It was not moving. I emptied out my lunch bag, and got mayonnaise all over my white shorts, but we packed up that pufferfish and headed back to Kailua Kona. Anita planned to make a blowfish lantern from it.
Weird twist, though. Anita texted that when she got home on Ali’i, she discovered the fish was alive. WTH? So she rushed to the ocean, dropped it into the water, and it regained consciousness. Swam away. How f-ing weird is that? Like suspended animation.
Will a Praying Mantis Bring You Good Luck?
While visiting an open house on Big Island, I noticed this praying mantis, which are supposed to bring good luck. He sat on a ledge and did not move, even though I walked by him several times. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore so I whipped out my phone to shoot a photograph. It could be an excuse to rest as well because I had just climbed three flights of stairs, while my friend carted her dog and panted her way up. This is how determined we can be to see an open house.
Since I do not sell real estate in Hawaii, only in Sacramento and neighboring cities in California, it’s kind of fun to attend open houses here. My friend and I immediately stop whenever we spot an open house sign. It’s a sickness, I know, we can’t help ourselves.
Did you know a praying mantis’ life span is only about a year? Or that they have five eyes, two big eyes with 3 little eyes in between? Sometimes, during mating, the female praying mantis will kill and eat the male. But the male says it is was totally worth it. So dope. I’ve had a few ex-husbands express similar sentiments.
After I spotted the praying mantis, we entered the open house on the third floor of a condo building. Now, I am not looking to buy a condo; you can relax, Adam. Just enjoy looking. No sooner did we walk into the living room than a woman came around the corner and introduced herself as “the seller.”
I stared at her. Jackie?? What a small world. Yes, it was Jackie from Statements who helped me to buy much of the furnishings for our house in Hawaii from my home office in Sacramento several years ago. She was a tremendous help. So fabulous that I returned to Statements Furniture to buy even more stuff for the house. She has to move out of state, due to unforeseen circumstances, which in her case means sell her condo and leave the island. That is sad for her.
Hope that praying mantis brings her luck. It brought me luck because on the way out; I discovered the elevator.
Lunch at the Aloha Vista Bar and Grill at Keauhou
At Aloha Vista Bar and Grill, you might initially come for the view, but you will come back for the food. Wish I could say the same thing about the interior of the restaurant, but that would be only my suggestion for improvement: to beef up the atmosphere. Makes you want to stuff your face and leave, not hang out and order another drink.
For a Kona Country Club restaurant on a golf course, the Aloha Vista Bar and Grill lacks ambiance. When I first poked my head inside, I thought maybe it was a cocktail lounge and had to ask if we could get lunch. It looks like a high school cafeteria. But perhaps I was disappointed because I had it in my head to expect so much more. It is nothing like the golf course restaurant at the Four Seasons in Lanai; that place is plush. So you can’t blame the interior on “well, it is Hawaii.”
You will find 3 menus, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some of the dishes are identical but cost more as the day goes on. This delectable dish in the photo above is Loco Moco. Popular meal for any time of the day in Hawaii. When I first heard of this years ago, I thought it sounded dreadful and wondered who would consume such a thing.
However, I have come to love Loco Moco, so I now have to eat my words. Along with the grilled hamburger patty on a bed of rice, topped by two over-easy fried eggs and a shitload of brown gravy. I think the gravy contains beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. I scarfed down the entire bowl.
My friend ordered the rigatoni, alfredo style, with gorgonzola cheese, mushrooms. Since she is allergic to garlic, the chef left the garlic out of the sauce. That is always a nice sign when the chef can accommodate special requests. Fabulous dish, and I’d like to return for dinner and order it.
I should mention the Aloha Vista Bar and Grill features American and Italian cuisine, with a heavy emphasis on southern Italy. It is a little confusing to find, but don’t try to use GPS. Just drive down Ali’i Drive until you see the Kona Country Club and turn makai into the driveway. A rather unassuming building greets you below the parking lot; park and go in.
Snorkeling at Mauna Lani Black Sands Beach
OK, totally on purpose that I did not bring my cellphone to snorkeling at Black Sands Beach. Just do not feel comfortable leaving my phone on the beach, but I don’t know why. For starters, nobody can get into an iPhone unless they have my face or code. Then again, thieves don’t always think or they wouldn’t be thieves. What they see is a beach bag with stuff in it, so they might grab it on the outside hope it’s valuable.
However I have never heard of nor seen anybody swiping a beach bag from a towel on the beach. Also, bringing my phone would mean it might ring, and if it rang, I’d answer it, and if I answered it, I’d be talking about Sacramento real estate on the beach instead of enjoying the view.
The view at Black Sands Beach yesterday included the gorgeous Kohala mountains, rimmed by low lying bungalows at Mauna Lani, brilliant blue skies and choppy seas with whales breaching. Every couple of minutes, numerous whale blow holes gushed vertical waterfalls, followed by the tail slaps. I envisioned the whales doing a handstand on their pectoral fins. Look Ma!
I also learned a few things about snorkeling I did not know, especially since I am basically self taught from my trip to Vanuatu 5 years ago. Like how to clear water from my mask by letting water in, pressing the mask against my forehead and blowing really hard through my nose. My new friend Anita is an excellent snorkeler. That woman can do kayaks, SCUBA, paddle boarding as well as snorkel. She suggested we try out Black Sands Beach, which I would have never found at Mauna Lani if it wasn’t for her.
You probably won’t believe this, but I actually went 5 hours without my cellphone. On purpose. Just conversation, snorkeling at Black Sands Beach and watching the whales. It was a glorious afternoon.
Really enjoyed the ride home to Kona, too. Look at those gleaming cones over the road sign, and the clouds are beautiful. They could be a type of altocumulus. I’m just beginning to study clouds. Aloha!
