Kiholo Bay

We spent the weekend at a new spot to us called Kiholo Bay. It was a birthday party for a friend of ours, Nicki, and she turned 40 on saturday. Nicki and her husband Mike own a charter business doing diving and fishing, so they brought their boat up north to the bay and anchored just offshore. It was a blast, and this place is beautiful! On saturday a large group spent the day on the boat fishing and diving, and Stacey and River and I stayed around camp to greet those who would slowly show up over the course of the day.

Stacey and I had a great time snorkeling in the bay. I have never seen a coral reef as large as this. The bay was dead calm, and the water was ridiculously clear. We spearfished for awhile with no luck. It's usually easier to sneak up on fish when the water is rough, so with all the clear water they could see you coming from a mile away.

Along this beach are a few homes that are absolutely extravagant. One is owned by the person who apparently invented the pacemaker, and another owned by Paul Mitchell. The latter was hand carved in Bali by supposedly 200 Balinese workers who were paid 1.50 a day. The home was brought in pieces to the Big Island and assembled.

There are several "Queen's Baths" located at this spot, which are freshwater ponds. This is one of my favorite things about the Big Island, all the freshwater so close to the beach. Here you can see all the palms that thrive off the freshwater springs clustered together in the middle of a barren lava field. The water is super cool and feels great!

Some of you might remember the post when I mentioned the tiger shark that our friend Tracey saw from a helicopter. This is where that took place. Unfortunately we weren't able to observe a tiger shark this trip ;).

On the way out on sunday, Mike took us to a lava tube off the beaten path. We hiked over jagged lava to get to this spot. He was shown this spot by one of the caretakers of the Bali house. It is incredible! We crawled way into this cave and came upon more freshwater. It was really neat to see. Probably 100 yards into this cave is a deep (20ft) spring of cold, fresh water. And it is completely pitch black in there if you turn off your flashlight. The water felt great, and it was a great ending to the weekend. We will have to take some of you to this spot when you come visit.

This trip was a blast, not surprisingly. Next week we are celebrating my birthday, as well as a Alan's bday, by heading to the east side (Puna) and camping at a friends cabin. It should be a good time and good story to come.......