By Cynthia and Warren Keegan
For our honeymoon in January, we went to what is arguably the most romantic place in the world: Kona Village on the western coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.
When you really, really, want to get away, when you are in Hawaii you are farther (2,000 miles) away from any other land mass than any other place on earth.
Hawaii stretches 1,600 miles, with the eight principal islands clustered together over the southernmost 500 miles. They were formed over 44 million years, by a giant land plate that is floating slowly northwest over a vast “hot spot” rift in the Pacific Ocean floor.
The Big Island is the farthest south, the youngest, and the biggest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also the only one with active volcanoes — not one, not two, but three of them. It is, in fact, getting bigger: Kilauea – the world’s most active volcano — is erupting continually, spewing out lava night and day, and adding 500 feet to the coastline each year (it recently buried a development on the south shore). The other two active volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Hualalai, are currently not erupting, but are predicted to go off again in the not-too-distant future.
So just what makes Kona Village so special?
The literal translation of the word, “Kona,” is “the lee side” of an island. — i.e. the opposite side from the wind direction. Every Hawaiian island has its Kona. The lee side in these latitudes is always on the southwest. These lee coasts are dry, because as the prevailing northeasterly trade winds rise up over the mountains they drop their moisture on the windward coasts. The higher the mountain, the greater the contrast between the windward and lee coasts.
If you do not take this into account, you could end up being drenched in Hawaii; the two rainiest places in the world are the northeast coasts of Kauai and Maui, which get over 400 inches a year. November through February — just when you will see whales — is the rainy season. Travel agents don’t necessarily know this vital information. Because Kona Village is on the lee western shore of the island that has the highest volcanoes (almost 14,000 feet), you are almost guaranteed sunny weather. It is also sheltered from the winds — which in Hawaii can be strong.
When Hualalai erupted in 1801-1802, it poured lava down on either side of Kona Village, but, miraculously, the area which is now Kona village itself was spared. As you make the 15-minute drive north along the coast to the village from Kona airport, you pass mile after mile of forbidding rough lava, the color of dark chocolate, with some milk chocolate areas of smooth lava. The only light touch is graffiti “written” on the lava in letters formed out of chunks of chalk-white coral.
When you finally arrive at the secluded green paradise that is Kona Village you feel you have reached an oasis.
At Kona Village, you sleep in a palm-thatched hut call a hale (“HAH-lay”). Some of these hales (the more expensive) look out at their flawless lagoon; others (less expensive) overlook 5 ponds that are fringed with water birds and filled with tilapia nests. (Tilapia dig out small craters with their fins, which they protect fiercely).
These hales do not have:
• A pay mini-bar
• Telephones
• Radios
• Televisions
• Air conditioners (you have to make do with scented tropical air wafting into your windows).
• Internet access (there are computers in the reception hale)
• Locks on the doors
Torches, instead of electric lights, illuminate the paths at night.
Kona Village is blissfully quiet. During the day, you hear nothing but the cooing of zebra doves in rustling coconut palms. At night, you hear gentle wind. In the morning, you will be awakened by a joyful chorus of tropical birds.
The marine life is magnificent. The snorkeling is the equal of any place on earth. There are 12 species of healthy coral, 75 species of reef fish, moray eels, octopus, and manta rays.
If you do not watch your feet as you walk along the beach, you will trip over a huge green sea turtle, toasting on the hot sand to raise its body temperature. These gentle giants grow to 3½ feet, and can weigh up to 400 pounds. They lay their eggs on the French Frigate Shoals in the northernmost Hawaiian Islands in the summer, then come down to the Kona Coast to feast on seaweed in the winter.
These turtles will swim right underneath you, but don’t be tempted to help them out by scraping seaweed off their shells. If you do, you will be depriving some reef fish of its dinner. Turtles periodically will float lazily by the reef, so that yellow butterfly fish can come to vacuum off their backs.
Humpback whales spend their summers in Alaska getting fat, and then come to Hawaii from November to May to mate. There are masses of them, and they are full of fun; the locals call the ocean at this time of the year “whale soup.” Gaze at the horizon, and within 10 minutes you will see at least one whale spout and then breach. One surfaced 100 yards from Cynthia’s kayak with a loud, “PAAAAH.”
There is an excellent beach crew on hand to organize your water activities. All are knowledgeable naturalists. Kayaks, wind surfers and snorkeling equipment are all free.
Boats go out daily for humpback whale and spinner dolphin spotting, and for scuba diving and snorkeling. In actual fact, the snorkeling off the beach cannot be beat, and you will see the humpbacks without going out in a boat.
Do go out in the spotter boat, however, in order to get a close look at the spinner dolphins. They will come right up to the boat, because they just love to play in the wake. All dolphins jump in the air; Pacific spinners jump, and then twirl around and around before splashing back. We counted 5 spins for one acrobatic fellow, and a little baby showed promise with 3 rotations.
You will also be able to eavesdrop on whale conversations from the boat, using a device called a hydrophone. Their eerie songs are occasionally used on the sound track of horror movies.
Twice a week they have a luau dinner at Kona Village, with traditional Hawaiian fare and entertainment. Guests can see a pig placed in the imu, or pit, with hot rocks and banana leaves, at 1 p.m. and then watch it taken out, roasted to perfection, at 6 p.m.
One night a week there is a paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) barbecue, with entertainers who sing songs and tell stories about the olden days when the paniolo drove their cattle down to the beach and then into the ocean and swam their cows out to be lifted by cranes with huge straps which were put under the cows who were lifted onto the waiting ocean freighters. There is live Hawaiian music on the terrace almost every night. You will hear the famous “slack string” guitar: a guitar with the lowest E string tuned down to G and the other strings turned to a G chord. The sound is mellow and resonant and haunting.
One of the best petroglyph sites in Hawaii is right at the village. These rock carvings date back 900 years. The ancient Hawaiians had no written language, so the priests would record important events by carving them into smooth lava. You will see many images of triangular shaped sails, which record journeys; images of men fishing; dots, which were probably ancient calendars; turtles and another animals.
Amazingly, there is a petroglyph of Captain Cook and his men, tied up in a sort of chain gang. Cook was killed in 1779, at a spot a half hour’s drive south of Kona Village. There is also a petroglyph depicting two other foreigners, Davis and Young, one American and one British. These two sailors, survivors of the slaughter of their shipmates, became advisors to King Kamehameha the first, the “George Washington “ of Hawaii, and helped him to conquer all the rival chiefs and unite the islands in 1795.
Kona Village is centrally located, so it is an excellent jump-off spot to see the rest of the island. We drove across the north side of the island one afternoon through the lush rolling fields of Parker Ranch (one of the largest cattle ranches in the U.S. at 350 square miles) to spectacular Waipio Valley which can be reached only on foot or by four-wheel-drive vehicles. The valley ends at the coast where the beaches are dramatic black sand. You can hire horses in the valley, ride to and gallop on these stunning beaches.
So far, you are probably thinking that this place is a sort of eco-tourist resort. In some ways, this is true. But it is more than that. What gives pleasure in life is not gadgets, but a sense of community, of serenity, of connectedness to nature and to others. The other guests and the staff were friendly, helpful, and gregarious, anxious to share with you why Kona was so special. This is a village — not a resort. Almost all of the guests had been coming yearly, or bi-yearly, for many years.
The place draws you back. It will draw us back next year.
The local attitude is summed up in the welcome statement:
“…It was born of a dream to create a place and time, long-forgotten, of Hawaii as it was meant to be- a secluded place of beauty and peace in a hurried world, a place where guests are made to feel at home in the true aloha spirit and where the spirit of Old Hawaii lingers on.”
Disclosure: Neither of us has a financial interest in Kona Village. In fact, it is not in our interest not to tell people about it.
Dr. Cynthia MacKay Keegan, an ophthalmologist, is long known to her Brooklyn Heights neighbors. Warren Keegan is a distinguished professor of marketing and international business at Pace University and has his own consulting firm.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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