This category was suggested by Sue Kellam who recommended:

“Old Airport for picnic lunch, Manini Beach, Pahoehoe Park”.

So let us know your favorite spots–don’t be shy!

CAK

This post was suggested by Sue Kellam–so, she’d better leave a post! Where are your favorite dive spots on the Kona-Kohala coast? Thanks, Sue!

Dances with Whales

Ours is usually Honaunau/Two Step–easy in and easy out. Great visibility and always great sites and relaxing time. This pic was sent to me by Scott Hansen who dives all over the world.  I believe this was taken in Tonga where it’s “legal” to purposely dive with the Humpbacks. Sue has some great pics of the Kona coast–send them and we’ll post!

In this blog, list your favorite meal or place to eat on the Big Island of Hawaii. Click on the numbered tab on the left of this blog to add your comment.

Click on this link for a list of our favorites:  Big Island Ono Grinz.

We have recently enjoyed the Macaroni Grill and Splasher’s.

The  newly opened Romano’s Macaroni Grill is located in the new Queens’ Marketplace at Waikoloa Beach Resort. We’ve been there twice already and the food’s great! They opened November 24th and have been very busy, catering to families as well as couples.

If you love a good burger (and, be honest, who doesn’t really?) be sure to try Splasher’s, located near the pier on Ali’i Drive in Kailua-Kona. It’s not fancy, but the food is really good and the service friendly. Be sure to go early during your stay here because I guarantee you’ll want to go back!

Send us your favorite picture of the Big Island and we’ll post it on our site. Preferred 640 x 480 px size but any size will do and we can adjust it. Click on the number link at the left to add your post. In consideration of copyright laws, please send us only those images that you have taken or know not to be copyrighted. We promise not to use the photos for commercial gain. You can e-mail the file to drkwiat@yahoo.com.

Thanks to Gary Orton and my co-worker, Joanne Lombardi, for the following great picture of Rainbow Falls:

Rainbow Falls courtesy of Gary Orton

Below is a photo from Karen and Dickie Huff, Kona residents and some of my BEST patients:

Kona Sunset courtesy of Karen and Dickie Huff

We are at a unique latitude in Kona where it is possible to see the Southern Cross and the Big Dipper–at the same time! Check out the picture I recently took of the Southern Cross from our home in North Kona:

Southern Cross viewed in Kona, Hawaii

This nice Honu pic at Makalawena Beach was taken by my trusty assistant, Katrina Sheehan:

Makalawena Resident

We live on a coffee farm in Makalei Estates in the north Kona district. In 2008, we’ve already picked over 25,000 pounds of cherry on two acres and are in the process of roasting it for sale. We feel that our farm produces the best coffee in all of Kona (of course, ALL of the farmers feel that way, but our cherry certainly looks the best!).

Most of the world-renowned coffee grown in the Kona district comes from 2-3 acre farms such as ours. The farmers usually take the freshly picked coffee cherry (within 24 hours) to a nearby processing plant where the cherry is sold. In 2008, the going price paid per pound of cherry was $1.10. Deducted from this is the cost of picking labor ($0.45 to 0.60 per pound), fertilizer (as much as $35 per bag  x 45 bags total for us this year!), weed killer, and pruning costs. To keep some or all of the coffee ourselves, we pay a processing fee of $0.35 per pound. So, it’s not really a money making operation. (At least I still have a day job!). “Estate Grown” coffee refers to farms who sell only coffee that they have grown and processed. Typically, we get about 1 pound of roasted coffee for every 7-8 pounds of cherry picked.

Our Coffee Label

2008 Coffee Cherry

Everyone who comes to Hawaii has at least one cherished memory that is indelible. In this post, we would like your favorite memory of the Big Island. Click on the number to the left side of this post to enter your comment/memory. It can be short or long, a feeling, meal, or actual experience that you had. We would even like those thoughts of persons who have never visited here, but may have had memories shared with them by others, or dreams of coming to Hawaii in the future.

For example, my father, Paul Watts, was a marine stationed in Waimea (“Camp Tarawa”) for two years prior to and following the invasion of Iwo Jima. For the first forty years of my life, my Big Island “memories”, were those shared with me by my father. He loved to describe the wonderful, cool weather; the warm, friendly Hawaiians; the unbelievable scenery; and the preparations for the invasion.

One of the memories he related most often was hiking up to the top of Mauna Kea on Christmas Day, 1945. He and a group of fellow Marines, drove up Mauna Kea until their Jeep would no longer go (about 10,000 feet)–purportedly stopped by “the thin air at that altitude”. He spent the rest of the day hiking the final 3,000+ feet , and was the only one of the group who made it to the very top. Sixty-two years later we attempted the same feat. We discovered that our Jeep actually became bogged down due to a vapor lock in the fuel line. By untwisting the gas cap, we were able to continue to the top without any problem. We really got a chuckle realizing that my father could have done the same and avoided the strenuous (and dangerous!) hike up to the peak alone. Sadly, he passed away a three years ago. At least we didn’t ruin his memory by informing him of this fact!

Attached are a few images from the top of Mauna Kea: