April 1, 2006 9:29 am - The whales have gone back to Alaska
Looks like all good things must come to an end. I haven't seen a whale in
probably 2 weeks and then it was days before that.
In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, the humpback whales migrate down to Hawaii from
Alaska each year around December and then return to Alaska in late March.
Overall it was a great year for large numbers of whale's spotted.
There may still be whales up at the north end of the island, but I haven't
talked to anyone who's seen any.
If you live up Hawi way and still see whales, please drop me a note in my contact form on
my home page and say "hay I still see whales" thanks for your kokua. A hui hou
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April 1, 2006 9:55 am - Babel fish translator
In case you're wondering what the little box with the flags is all about, it's
a translator link.
You just click the flag of your country and this website is automatically translated to your
native language. Very cool.
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April 1, 2006 10:34 pm - Free Kona activities page
Friday night we went down to the Keauhou shopping center and had dinner at Drysdales.
They have a delicious prime rib, which I didn't have. Instead I had a cheeseburger. It was good, but the steak would have been better.
On Friday nights there is a FREE Polynesian hula show right next to the restaurant. It starts at 6pm and goes about
an hour. I took some photos and will be adding a page to the site about all the FREE things to do here that
don't cost a dime.
I will be working on the free things to do page tomorrow so look for it soon. Or better yet, enter your email address in the box
at the top to subscribe to my blog and you'll get emailed a notice when the new page is up.
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April 9, 2006 10:38 am - Kona After The Rain...Again
Aloha, I think it's safe to say we are getting back to the business of living in paradise here in Kona.
For the past week it's been blue skies every day. A couple of weeks ago I thought we were over the rain. I was wrong.
The last six weeks there wasn't much sun light coupled with on and off showers.
Over on Oahu and Kauai they were about to start building ARC'S from what I heard. If you're coming to Hawaii in the next week and
Waikiki is on your itinerary. Don't go in the water. It's still very much polluted from the major sewage spill they had from a broken
main sewer pipe. How bad is it? A guy that fell in the Alawai canal over there DIED from the bacteria contamination.
I apologize to all my readers for not updating my blog more often. The main reason is I've been working on the "RESORTS PAGE."
I'm hoping to put the page up today with the first installment of great insider information about the major Kona resorts on the Kona coast.
Last weekend I went out and took some good photos of the Waikoloa resort and I'm almost done putting all the info together and will
hopefully upload the resorts page today. A Hui hou...
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April 9, 2006 11:03 pm - Kona Resorts Page added!
Finally I managed to get the Kona resorts page added to the main site. Kona Resorts starts with the Waikoloa Hilton.
I will update the resorts page until I have them all covered. It's taking me longer than I anticipated, I have not been out to the Hilton in a long time and forgot how big the place was.
Check it out and if you subscribe to Kona News by entering your email address in the box above you'll get automatic emails letting you know when new posts to the site are up. Your address will not be sold or anything else by me. Joe
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April 12, 2006 11:07 pm - Great Service in Kona
I just have to tell people when I get great service from a company or person here in Kona and today
I got GREAT service from Trojan Lumber here in town.
We are getting ready to seriously expand Eila's photography studio due to the lack of room and it will require
adding a room in one of the bays of my shop for her so she can take photo's of large families here.
Like everyone else I like to save a buck when I can and if I were
to go to one of the new big box stores here in town, I could save some dough compared to the independent lumber yard here.
But I hate going to those places, it seems for the few sheckles you save, you pay in time and frustration.
But let me tell you something, loyalty is everything to me. Rocky at Trojan Lumber has been bringing me their trucks to repair
for many years.
My rule of thumb is; I call people who spend money with me FIRST... Now let me come down from my soap box and get back
to the story about great service in Kona.
Where was I? Oh yeah, I called Rocky and asked him if I gave him a list of all the lumber I needed over the phone and my credit card
info, could he deliver it to my house by Saturday and he said SURE NO PROBLEM. You can't do that with one of the big box stores
here in town. As a matter of fact he said; can I deliver it in the morning? I about fell out of my chair.
I'm just not used to that here. Almost every business here is running short handed and trying to keep up and long delays are the norm.
This is pretty much true in all industries. So when someone here in Kona really gives great service I like to tell everyone I know.
Trojan Lumber = two thumbs up!
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April 13, 2006 7:35 pm - We went to U-Top It for Lunch
I met Steve and Leo at U Top It for lunch today. It was a perfect Kona day. The sky was blue and warm, the Pride of Aloha cruise ship was in port and the town was jumping!
I'm a member of a group of one man business owners who meet for lunch together on a daily basis. Steve and Leo are also part of this group. If you've read through the Hawaiian Art page on this site this is the same Steve.
Then there's Leo, he's a genuinely nice guy. Leo like me suffers from the same curse, we both have our own shops and struggle to stay up to date fixing today's modern vehicles.
Steve's really camera shy and Leo was sitting next to him, so no photos of them. But I did take a picture of the Teriyaki Beef with red potatoes that I had for lunch. It was DA BOMB!
If you live here in town or are planning a visit to Kona, you have to try this place!
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April 14, 2006 8:22 pm - Madagascar Gecko
My little friend here is a Madagascar Gecko. These guy's are all over the Big Island and their fearless!
When I'm sitting out on the lanai, it's not unusual to have one of these little guys walk right and up stare at me for 15 or 20 seconds.
You don't want to let them in your house though, because they will make messes all over the place.
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April 16, 2006 4:46 pm - Eila's Photography Studio
Eila has her own photography studio here in the house and does custom black and white portraits amongst other things.
She is probably the only one on this island that has a custom built dark room in their home. There are no labs here that develop black and white film. So she does her own.
Local families here are usually very large. No pun intended. You have to have a studio big enough to take photographs of the all the aunties, uncles and cousins plus the immediate family.
Were moving the current studio down stairs to one of the bays in the garage so she'll have enough room to photograph the whole family.
So for the last two weeks my job has been clean out one bay for her to use. Yesterday I was making a run to the dump and decided to stop and see my buddie Curt at the Kona International Marketplace and drop off a printer for his computer that I wasn't using anymore.
He showed me some really nice hand carved medallions he just got in from Fiji like this one.
This medallion is hand carved by a member of the Frey family in Fiji. They even signed it on the back. This picture doesn't do it justice, because I took it, not Eila.
I put it on EBay for Curt to see if maybe I could help him expand his business.
If you go to EBay and buy it I'll see to it the shipping is free for being from Konafriends, just let me know your from "Konafriends" by clicking the "Ask seller a question" button at the bottom of the EBay page and writing "Konafriend" then click send and you'll get free shipping plus a surprise gift!
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April 19, 2006 7:13 pm - Kona Real Estate is Cooling
Well, looks like the parties over. First I've notice a lot of price reductions on houses for sale in the newspaper. Second, my friend Ron Ford a real estate agent here said he's noticed a significant inventory of houses that are not selling. And that it's gone from a sellers market to a buyers market.
Third, and this is the one that tells me something's up, my pal Ginger Thomas (Allstar Mortgage) stopped by with a flyer for the Earth day events at Keauhou Beach Hotel and said she was "out beating the bushes" dropping off cards with the local RE companies.
Ginger said she was talking to a long time Kona agent who said "we have eleven phone lines and their not ringing."
That's pretty spooky if your low man on the totem pole. I suspect if the market continues to cool I maybe able to finally hire me someone for yard work...
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April 22, 2006 5:55 pm - Kona Earth Day
Today was a very cool event at Kahaluu Beach Park Pavilion. It was Coral Reef Awareness Day.
It started at 10 am and went till 2pm. The event was sponsored by UH Sea Grant, Girl Scout Council of Hi, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine... (Read Article)
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April 25, 2006 12:34 pm - Coastline Park in Ka'u
225 acres of shoreline next to Whittington Beach Park has been acquired by the state and will be turned over to the county, which is going to turn the area into a park.
This is wonderful news because this means nobody's going to build houses on the shoreline.
From what I understand the land is going to pretty much remain as it is now, pristine. Cool.
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April 30, 2006 7:28 pm - Kona Lochness Monster
Even the Lockness Monster comes to Kona for vacation.
As seen here chasing the cruise ships off into the sunset...
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