A Whale of a Weekend at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel

The Sign Outside the Hotel

Two weekends ago I had a chance to take a relaxing vacation away from the craziness of the upcoming census work I would be doing for the next few months and I couldn’t think of a better way of doing it then by going over to the Kona side of the island and staying at the King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel.

I arrived there just as the sun was setting over the mountain leaving a beautiful reflection of the sun off the waters onto Kona Village.

The sun sets over Kona Village

I guess I should have turned the lights on before I tried to take a picture of the room from the doorway… but I think you can get a good idea of just how large this room was.

I had a nice cozy sleep in their newly remodeled rooms which had these “Cush” beds that made me not even want to wake up in the morning.

Now this was comfortable

The room had a small fridge as well as microwave, but I only used the fridge of course.

When I woke up in the morning… I washed up and got ready for the day spending it with a friend I hadn’t seen in about 25 years.

Rise and Shine!

When I walked out onto my lanai and saw this view… I knew it was going to be a special weekend.

My friend and I actually went Ziplining at two separate places on the first day before I dropped him off with his family.

Here is a video of Dave Haggen Ziplining the longest Dual Zipline on the Island of Hawaii:

That night I spent some time around the hotel and ended up eating at Wendy’s only because I was too late and I missed their Island Breeze Luau.

After having a long day of activities with Dave, I dropped him off and then went back to the hotel to relax for a while.

There is nothing better then being able to swim in a pool, take a hot tub and being just footsteps away from a nice cold drink.

The next day I took a quick tour around the hotel and realized that the pier that was out front of the hotel was the pier where the big marlin fish get reeled in.

One big fish displayed in the lobby

I was intrigued by much of the Hawaiian Collection that they had on display.

Even though the hotel is currently going through a remodel, many of the display cases were readily available to see.

After grabbing breakfast in town with Barbara Uechi of the Guava Bee Blog, I grabbed my friend again and took off for Kona Boat Rentals where we had a 21 foot boat waiting for us.

At the helm of a 21 footer

It was like old times for Dave and I as we used to always take out his ski boat on Lake Whatcom… the only difference this time was that it was in the Pacific Ocean and we were 25 years older.

Kona by the sea

And of course back then… we didn’t have to worry about WHALES popping up out of nowhere!

Humpback Season in the Pacific

I really had a great weekend at the King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel, I just wish that weekends like these… could last forever.

It was really great seeing my old best friend from High School and I really wanted to say thanks to the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel and it’s friendly staff for hooking me up with a great weekend.