Steve's China Blog: A beach and a luau

After getting back from the air tour we decided to drive up to the northwest part of the island to visit one of the white sand beaches we saw from the air. On the way there we saw a strip mall, and since it was almost lunch time, we decided to stop to find a place to eat. It was a pretty nice little mall and they had a Macaroni Grill there, so we decided to go eat there.

Enjoying some pasta

I had the Pasta Milano and Jackie had the lasagna. It was all very good, but we couldn't finish it all. After lunch we headed back out on the road and went looking for our beach. We couldn't find the one beach we wanted to. Our pilot had told us about a road to take to get there, but we ended up finding the other beach, which was much more crowded.

A white sand beach on the northwest side of the island

Beach goers and a surf paddler in the distance

Neither of us had our swimsuits, so we walked about and did some people watching and relaxed a little bit before going back to the our place. We had to get ready for our luau!

Jackie all dressed up for the luau

Our luau was held at the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel in the late afternoon. The main area had tables and chairs to seat about 200 or so people, a large stage, and tables setup for the the big buffet.

Jackie posing with a local

Another area had some canoes setup with big bowls of mixed drinks, as well as a little bar to serve other drinks. There was also a second little stage and the big BBQ pit where they cook the pig for the luau.

Small bar in the hut and drinks in the canoes

The luau started with some little shows on the stages and around the bar as people made their way in. One guy had a show about how to open a coconut...