E Komo Mai (welcome)

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Kailua Kona is a small town on the Leeward side of the big island of Hawaii. I will refer to it has "Kona" from here on. It was the home of King Kamehameha l. The climate is warm year round. Balmy trade winds bring the sweet scent of the beautiful blue pacific ocean to your senses here. The temperate climate makes planning a trip here easy. You just don't have to worry about coming at the wrong time of year. It's nice year round for the most part.

In the summer it can get down right hot (upper 90's) close to the ocean though. But compared to the U.S. mainland it tends to be cooler here. It tends to rain every night at the higher elevations. For the most part the weather doesn't change much. We do have a hurricane season but one has never hit the island. (In recorded history.) I've heard people say that's because ofMauna Kea and Mauna Loa but a scientist from the NOAA was on TV recently and said the mountains had nothing to do with it.

Big Mountains

What's Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa? Oops, sorry, I got a head of myself here. They are both huge mountains over 13000 feet tall. 13 of the worlds most powerful telescopes are located there. Because Hawaii is the most isolated islands in the world it makes them ideal for astronomers to peer into the night sky. We have little lightpollution here at night. It is said that counting from the bottom of the ocean floor, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world. Even taller than Everest.

The population of Kailua Kona is about 20K judging from the traffic. Wikipedia says about 10K, they get their numbers from the 2000 census. I get mine from sitting in traffic. Kona is like most small towns, you tend to know everybody and everybody knows you. It's not uncommon to spend more time chatting with friends at the grocery store than actually shopping.

Kona forces you to become a kinder gentler soul. You can't help but to just "mellow out" after you've been here for a while. Even Mark Twain once said and I'll paraphrase, "Kona is a great place to rest your weary bones".

Landing on the island

I remember the first time I came here just like it was yesterday, spotting the big island out of the window on the left side of the airplane.

As the plane approached the runway the view started to change from an island off in the distance to nothing but a brown lava flow below. The airport is built right smack in the middle of an ancient lava flow. I'm thinking this ain't the Hawaii I saw in the post card. It looked more like the surface of the moon.

As the door swung open of the airplane I could start to feel the warm balmy breeze as I exited the cabin and made my way down the stairway to the tarmac. That's right, nojet-way, they drive a truck with a staircase up to the airplane for passengers to walk down. Cool.

It's about 7 miles from the airport to the center of town, it's mostly lava along the coast and not much to look at unless it's time for sunset. But I got to tell you, after one trip around the island, that was it, I had to move here. It took me about a year and a half but I did it. I've been here ever since 1996. I loveKona. As you explore the pages of this website it will become evident to you why.

On the pages contained here in this website you will find stories about all kinds of things to see and do here in Kona and on the big island of Hawaii. I also write about the major annual events that Kona is home to, like the Ironman World Championship Triathlon and the Billfish tournament for example.

Within this site...

As of this writing there are over 600 web pages in this website and growing. Sometimes finding things can be a challenge. In those cases I recommend using the search boxes.

This website is designed for both the folks who visit Kona on vacation and those who make the big island their home. You will see articles here for both types of visitor. Take what you can use and leave the rest behind.

One of the key features of this site is the ability for visitors to post their own stuff if they like. For example: If you have a local Kona business you are invited to list it for FREE in our yellow pages section. Just click the link on the left menu.

Come on in, look around, make yourself comfortable and hopefully you will become a part of our little cyber ohana. (family)

Mahalo Nui Loa (thank you very much)