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You are here: Home - Hawaii Travel Ezine - #63 Relaxing in Kapoho
Relaxing in KapohoThe and Hawaii ... Travel Ezine, dated 10/01/02, by Lisa Weber
01. Title Article - Relaxing in Kapoho 02. Travel deals - oahu, maui, and pro bowl packages 03. Hawaiian Word - hema 04. Hawaiian article - ahalanui, pohoiki warm ponds, and pahoa steam caves 05. Featured Website - North Shore Shark Adventures 06. Featured Links - Issue Sponsors: Condo at Poipu Beach, Ivy's Kauai Vacation Cottage, 4BeachNuts.com Aloha everyone, sorry for the long delay since the last issue - my life keeps refusing to cooperate with me. Anyway, I hope to put out an extra issue this month to make up for it - watch for my issue on swimming with the dolphins in Kealakekua Bay - as soon as I get the pictures back! - I have big news to report. First, the free Kodak Hula show in Waikiki is no more. This amazing show has been occuring every week in Waikiki since 1937 but it shut down for good on September 26th. Full Story at honoluluadvertiser.com - The West coast dock problems could severely affect Hawaii. Everything gets shipped out here, and a long stay in shipping could short us on everything from toilet paper to milk. Even people in Hawaii who didn't live through the 5 month strike in the 50s hoard toilet paper. I have a whole closet devoted to paper products, and I just bought 500 pounds of dog food. - On the Big Island, the volcano scientists say Mauna Loa is due for an eruption. Talk about scary! Mauna Loa is the other large mountain you see in the distance from anywhere on the island (not the one with all the observatories). It apparantly has been inflating recently which tells the scientists allthough an eruption is not imminent, it will happen. Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984, and came dangerously close to having Hilo for lunch. Lisa Issue Sponsor
01. Relaxing in KapohoThose of you who have been with me for a while know of my affinity for Kapoho - and I just got to spend another weekend out there last month! I contacted my friend Camille of A1KapohoVacation.com and she hooked us up with the Burgess Cottage.
Camille manages several homes in Kapoho, so you have to check out all the choices on her website. She even has houses with naturally- heated salt-water ponds in the yard! We stayed at one of those the last time we went down and it was heaven. Some ponds have little fish, some ponds have turtles, and some ponds are just for us humans to hang out in. For those of you who don't know where Kapoho is, it is on the windward side of the Big Island, in lower Puna. I know what you are thinking: "all that rain." Am I right? Well, for a geographical reason, it doesn't rain as much in Kapoho - not like the rest of Puna, and nothing like Hilo! It is even referred to as "Sunny Kapoho". For a more visual picture of where Kapoho is look here at the point that sticks out farthest to the right. Notice Hilo to the North. We stayed in Kapoho Beach lots, which is a quiet, gated subdivision directly on Kapoho Bay, but there are also houses available in Kapoho Vacationland, which is a nearby subdivision fronting multiple, large (huge, actually) tide pools. The Burgess Cottage didn't have a pond, but it did have fantastic ocean access. The ocean was only 17 steps from the back lanai (porch). I counted! Every room in the house (except the bathroom) had a fantastic ocean view. The house had Direct TV satellite but the TV had to compete with that view ... so we only watched it at night.
The cottage itself was very nice. It had one bedroom, one large bathroom, washer and dryer, living room, full kitchen, dining nook, back cemented lanai with table and chairs, barbeque, and use of water shoes and some water toys. The kitchen was fully stocked - we had filtered water, pots, pans, paper towels, microwave, aluminum foil, silverware ... anything we could think of, the house had it.
Almost as soon as we got there, we had to jump in the water. The house has a cemented water access with a handrail and steps to make it easy to get in and out of the water. We did some snorkeling in the cove and saw all sorts of fish; reef fish, goat fish, and even a few bigger, great-eating fish. Out of the cove, closer to the open bay I saw a turtle but he didn't stick around for long once he saw me. On the second day we took the kayak out. We didn't go too far because of time constraints but next time I hope to explore the entire bay - - this is a great place to see large sea turtles and we did see two more from the kayak.
The cove behind the Burgess Cottage is so calm it is an excellent place to learn to snorkel, or to take kids in the water. Besides the snorkeling and the kayaking, we also floated about on the provided ocean floats, relaxing. We also took a bicycle trip (we brought our own bikes - but I think you can rent them somewhere in the subdivision) to Ahalanui (ah hah la noo ee) Warm Ponds. It is also called just Warm Ponds or just Ahalanui Beach Park, and sometimes is referred to as the Millionaire's Pond. It was about a three mile ride along the red road (Hwy 137) but once you leave Kapoho Beach lots it doesn't get very scenic for about 2 miles. That's when you enter the palm-tree lined tiny road that is practically in the ocean. Ahalanui gets packed by mid-day, so we went early-morning. It is a large squarish pond that is protected from the ocean and is geothermally heated up to 90 degrees - talk about relaxing! It's like a bathtub big enough swim in. My biggest caveat here is don't leave anything of value in your car here - not even in the trunk, this is a prime vehicle break-in place.
Basically, we had a wonderful time and I can't wait to go back. If you would rather hang out in the water than on the beach and prefer quiet time to shopping time, you should check out the a1kapohovacation.com website for several Kapoho rental choices. Have fun! Lisa Issue Sponsor
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hema - (hem ah) - left side, south
Pahoa Warm Ponds A visitor's pictures with captions of Ahalanui, Pohoiki Warm Pond, and the Pahoa Steam Caves
North Shore Shark Adventures From Oahu's north shore; two hour shark boat tours, and shark cage experiences.
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