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Elizabeth Weintraub
The Best Beach in all of West Hawaii is Mauna Kea
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel has the best beach in all of West Hawaii hands down. Ask anybody. I can say that as a person who has swam at practically every single beach there is near Kona. The beach is white sugar sand, and it continues into the water as far as you can walk. The water is turquoise and a dozen shades of aqua, as well as warm and inviting.
At one point, Josh pointed to a dark spot in the water. Was it a honu? I swam after it, but it seemed to move. All of a sudden, my mind went to the turtle images Laura Dern conjured in the HBO series Enlightened.
There were not very many people on the beach, either. Our afternoon at the best beach in all of West Hawaii was absolutely perfect. Sure, I could have been cleaning the house or doing laundry or working on a blog, but I’d rather be at the beach. At the best beach in all of West Hawaii, I lounged on an oversized towel and chatted with a few clients on my cell. Where else in the world can you sell real estate in Sacramento when you’re sitting on the beach in Hawaii?
Jump in for a brisk swim or just float on your back. Life just doesn’t get any better than this. After swimming, we enjoyed a delicious lunch of salads and fish. Then we jumped into the water again. I also strolled the grounds of the Mauna Kea Hotel to find the 12th century buddha brought there by developer Laurance S. Rockefeller himself in 1965.
Below are photos from our afternoon. In a few, you can spot buyer’s agent Josh Amolsch and Vika carting boogie boards or lying in the sun. All of the resort beaches in Hawaii are open to the public.
Photos of Flowers and Ferns at Akaka Falls in Honomu
After we finished ziplining on Big Island, Vika asked to visit Akaka Falls in Honomu. This is one of the best known waterfalls on Big Island, although we have so many waterfalls. Vika and exclusive buyer’s agent Josh Amolsch discovered this glorious state park in Hawaii was closed when they had stayed at our Hawaii house last October. It had also been about 10 years since I’d been to the Akaka Falls. The park was near our Botantical World Adventure, so we made a point to visit before heading back to Kona.
After we paid our $5 to park, which included admission, we began the trek into this lush paradise. Akaka Falls is 422 feet high, and the word means split or to crack in Hawaiian. My eyes were not so much on the path as on the beautiful flowers and ferns growing like crazy in the park. Plus, when I heard a bird sing, I mimicked the sound through a whistle, and soon I found myself conversing with the birds.
It drizzled a bit but intermittently the sun peeked out. I snapped quite a few photos at Akaka Falls, so I hope you enjoy this effort below. After all, I shall be returning to Sacramento on Thursday. Back to the reality of Sacramento real estate. Only a few more blogs from Hawaii to go.
World Botanical Adventure for Ziplining on Big Island
Josh Amolsch, Elizabeth Weintraub, Vika Gerassimenko go Ziplining on Big Island
How did I get to be 66 years old without ever having experienced ziplining on Big Island . . . or anywhere for that matter? When buyer’s agent extraordinaire Barbara Dow and I went to Maui a few years ago, we didn’t bring closed-toe shoes. That’s pretty much a mandatory requirement to go ziplining. Plus, the place where we would go was a long way from the hotel when lounge chairs at the beach beckoned with their siren call.
The sport also seemed a bit scary. Dangling from a cable 300 feet in the air and moving at 40 MPH sounds scarier than it is, though. We heard there were some people who completed only the first of 8 ziplining runs at World Botanical Adventure and quit. Also, some did not complete the final half-mile zipline past the waterfall because it was too long and too high.
Elizabeth Weintraub Ziplining on Big Island across a waterfall.
We felt perfectly safe the entire time. There was a short period of time that we could have freaked out if we had stopped to ponder the trip and what could go wrong. So, we just didn’t do that. When it was time to go, the thing to do is hang on and go. Don’t think. Don’t analyze. It’s easier than you think. If you want to go right, turn the rope to the left and vice versa.
Elizabeth Weintraub approaches end of zipline.
At one point, we could race side-by-side. Exclusive buyer’s agent Josh Amolsch and I waited at the starting line. I took my tip from Vika. The World Botanical Adventure guide said, 1, 2 and I zipped off before the count of 3. Josh still beat me through because he weighs more. I pulled my body into a tight little cannonball, but he still flew by. I cannot begin to tell you how much enormous fun ziplining on the Big Island is. Now that I have a taste, I am hooked.
Ready for our next ziplining adventure
By the end of our adventure ziplining on Big Island, we reached a new consensus, a new level. That level was we now need to push ourselves further, because we could do this ziplining on the Big Island all day long. We soared like eagles through 8 ziplining runs. Along the way, we nibbled on wild ginger, studied an elephant apple tree, and sniffed a sassafrass root that smelled just like root beer. 10 toes and 10 fingers up. Excellent adventure for Labor Day on the Big Island!
Happy Labor Day from the Big Island of Hawaii
My husband left the Big Island of Hawaii yesterday to return to our cats in Sacramento. When he rebooked his flight due to the then pressing Hurricane Lane, he could not get a return flight on Labor Day so he had to leave on Sunday. However, that still leaves our exclusive buyer’s agent Josh Amolsch and the beautiful and entertaining Vika at our house with me. And a few more days of vacation before I return to Sacramento real estate and they move on to the island of Kauai.
You would not believe the energy of these two. Of course, they are about half my age but so what. We had a blast yesterday. After dropping Adam at the airport, we decided to thoroughly enjoy what the Big Island of Hawaii has to offer. Starting with a drive past the Coffee Shack in Captain Cook (which is still for sale) on our way to go snorkeling at Two-Step Beach.
Yesterday I had a new experience at Two-Step Beach. I encountered a giant manta ray while snorkeling, sort of snuck up behind him. He wasn’t swimming very fast so I sauntered along behind. The manta ray began to pick up speed and rose toward the surface, so I swam faster and harder. Almost swam right over him. He was enormous. I could almost reach out and touch his back. Incredible.
Those giant manta rays look like a creature from outer space, with horns on the front, a gray and white body, and a long straight tail. First time I ever came across a manta ray while in the water. Also spotted your usual assortment of parrot fish, needle-nose fish and tangs.
On the way back to Kona, we stopped at Huggos for a mai tai and fish tacos. Followed by renting boogie boards and headed to White Sands Beach. Josh gave me his board, tied it to my wrist and I rode that sucker all the way to shore and up the sandy beach. When we got back to our house, I discovered sand in every crevice, nook and cranny. Well worth it. And I left my cell at the house.
Today, we plan to go ziplining in Hilo at the Botanical Gardens. Happy Labor Day from the Big Island of Hawaii!
You Cannot Call Uber to Report Credit Card Uber Fraud
Swiping a credit card to commit Uber fraud seems like such a hokey thing to do. There are so many other ways to utilize a stolen credit card than hopping into an Uber for a 15-minute ride. I mean, you could be buying $1,000 bags at Henri Bendel, which is what a Sacramento waitress in Midtown managed to do after I lunched at a sushi place on J Street. Or, a thief could purchase diamonds or bitcoin or maybe a semi-automatic rifle. Crooks are stupid. If they had any brains, they wouldn’t have to be a crook.
When I woke up yesterday morning, there was an email and a text message waiting for me from my bank asking if I had authorized a $33.20 Uber ride. There was also a second Uber charge. I immediately went about trying to call Uber to report the theft. My bank said somebody stole my credit information and opened a fake account at Uber.
Since I have an Uber account and my last Uber ride was in June, I thought it was odd that the bank would contact me about it. There must have been some other reason the bank felt it was suspicious. I dunno, maybe because Uber fraud is on the rise. Found many links about Uber fraud through Google. But no way to contact Uber. Well, you can email, but you know what happens to emails. Oops. Time for lunch, oh shoot, deleted.
Jumped on Twitter and sent a tweet to @support_uber. They asked me to follow them and promised to direct message but I got nothing after that. So, I hopped on Facebook and found several Uber Facebook pages. Not much came from that except I found a bit of solace that other people were victims of Uber fraud as well. Misery loves company.
Like I explained to my bank, I almost feel like paying their Uber bill just so I don’t have to replace my credit card and notify 50 vendors of my new credit card information. But if the crooks use it for Uber, they will use their new-found “wealth” elsewhere. This time, I have been fraud-free for almost two years. It is painful to realize we are all marks. Nothing is safe. And Uber doesn’t seem to give a damn about its customers. If they had contacted me yesterday, probably could have nabbed the crooks.
As a result, I called my bank a second time at the end of the day when I could not get Uber to respond. By that time, there were two more Uber charges on my card for a total of four trips. Turns out the charges were made in The Netherlands, which my bank says is Uber’s corporate office. So I suspect they noted international charges when I am using my card on vacation in Hawaii. No international hotels. No international meals. Tip off.
Speaking of tips . . .
TIP: Our exclusive buyer’s agent Josh Almolsch informs me that Lyft is cheaper than Uber. He doesn’t even use Uber anymore.
