Hawaii - Day Seven

Now we come to my favorite place in Hawaii, Kona. This was the Hawaii I'd always seen on television and in movies, no George Clooney wasn't there but a cute little town with local shops, a palace, and lots and lots of plants and greenery were what I had been looking for. We rode from the ship to the island on a life boat because the water around Kona is too shallow for the ship to dock. Living not far from a beach myself, I love anything that reminds me of a beach town and this house caught my eye almost as soon as we got off the ship.

The Hulihe'e Palace is one of the first things you see when you get into Kona. It was home to Governor Kuakini, whom it seems was considered royalty because his wife was actually a princess. We took the tour of the place but you can see the pictures here.
The grounds were the best part, the scene out on the back porch was a beautiful ocean view.
We could see our ship right off the coast, it looked so huge from far away.
The town ran along the coast of Kona, I was so thrilled to be able to see the water from where I was walking.
The orchid gardens weren't the only place to see pretty flowers. They were everywhere in Hawaii.
In every color....
There was a small beach in Kona, obviously man-made but renting an umbrella and two chairs was cheap so we decided to lay out. My husband got quite a burn that bothered him for the rest of the trip. I safely stayed under the umbrella. Just up the street you could rent surfboards!
The water was the most beautiful color, the camera couldn't capture it but I tried.

We couldn't resist getting another shave ice while in Kona. This guy was funny. I know it looks huge here but he works on shaping it to a more reasonable size just like you'd pack a snowball. (photo by Chris Hill)

Shave ice can have ice cream in the middle, we went with macadamia nut ice cream inside. (photo by Chris Hill)

The flavors were awesome and there were so many of them. Over the top you definitely want to order sweetened condensed milk too! (photo by Rachel Ventura)

We had to leave Kona early for an afternoon departure of the ship. I could have stayed there all day.

When we returned to the ship there was another towel sculpture on our bed! What fun!
I also received yet another gift from Close to my Heart!

We headed off to our favorite martini bar, the bartenders were lots of fun and would make any type of drink mixture we chose from their infused vodkas.
It was such a nice relaxing place, they had singers and piano players in this particular bar. We loved it.