October 9
Today we were on the bus at 8am to transfer to the Honolulu International Airport to board our inter-island flight to Hawaii (the island), leaving behind Ohau. We got to the airport in plenty of time, cleared security and waited patiently for our flight. Kim ran into one of her pickleball pals from back home in Sunrise in the gate area! What a small world :) Our flight was a little late leaving but we landed in Kona only a few minutes late.
But......the Kona airport was down to a single baggage scanner, so there was a plane waiting at "our" gate because they were so slow to clear and load the luggage. We sat motionless for about 45 minutes before we finally moved into our gate. Disembarkation - note in photo above that we disembarked out in the open - and luggage collection (and it should be noted that the entire Kona airport had NO WALLS - all open air!) went ultra-smoothly! We were on the bus and headed to our destination in a very short time. As we waited on the runway we were beginning to worry - why, you ask? Well this started yesterday when we looked carefully at today's schedule. On our itinerary we received before leaving we saw that our flight was scheduled to land a little after noon. So we booked a 4 pm sunset cruise. The complete itinerary called for us to go from the airport to a shopping village and then on to the hotel with a schedule arrival at 3pm. And our tickets said check-in for the cruise was 3:30 pm. We were worried we'd miss the cruise (like the first night). We arranged with our cruise director Annie to leave from the shopping village for our cruise, and Annie promised to have our keys ready and all our luggage (including our carry-ons) in our rooms by the time we returned. We got to the village and the GPS said that the cruise location was less than a five minute walk. But after the experience the second night when the walk was a LOT farther than indicated, we decided to check. We called the cruise office and discovered that literally right next door to the hotel in the village where our bus had dropped us off was the pier for our cruise! EASY - and in plenty of time. We had about a half hour to kill before we took a selfie and boarded the ship.
Every.....EVERY bit as good as our first sunset cruise if not even better. This one included dinner and music. AND we were treated to dolphins - LOTS of them - on two different occasions jumping around the boat. The scenery along the way as spectacular, and much different than on the island of Ohau.
While cruising along, we saw our resort hotel, the Outrigger Kona Resort from the water and it looked very nice. We had all remarked when we left the Prince Waikiki that it was an outstanding hotel, very luxurious and that the bar had been set high for our accommodations. But as we arrived at our new hotel/resort we all said WOW multiple times over. SO plush, so amazing. HUGE rooms, with a private balcony and a wow view.
And finally - as we were waiting for our flight in Honolulu I checked the schedule of races for today, the final day of "Fall Stars Weekend." Because we'd been on the excursion all day yesterday, there was no time for handicapping any of the big races. But in looking at the entries, I found a solid play in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes. Was able to make the bet, and watch my pick romp home. For those of you who do not follow my racing adventures, a "GOOD" handicapper will win about 30% of their races and will collect about $1.94 for every $2 bet (very few people win enough money to make a profit). For the sixteen years I've been keeping records - over 28,000 bets, I win at a 35% clip and get a return on my investment of $1.96. But with the win today, I finished 6-for-12 (50%) - and got a $2.67 return for every $2 bet. WHOOOO HOOOOOO!
Kim looks like an island girl. Great photos!
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