Day 09 - Bye Bye Maui - Aloha Big Island

July 31, 2022

Today is the first island change. Our flight leaves at 11:30. Our friends told us about chaotic conditions at the airport, so it's best to be there 3 hours before departure. They flew on ahead a few days ago and apparently had a lot of stress at the airport. Okay, then we'll do the same.

After returning the rental car, we take the tram to the terminal. Endless long lines await us. Oh no....

We're told that we have to print our boarding passes at the machine and also pay for our luggage there (Hawaiian Airlines doesn't do that during ticket booking, you always do it on-site). After we've taken care of that, we line up and wait... and wait... and wait.

We're shuttled from one waiting area to the next - and back to the starting point, but this time on the other side of the queue. I feel like I'm in an amusement park. Good thing we're here so early. We stand for over an hour until we can finally check in our bags and go through security to the gate. At least our Hawaiian plane rolls up to the gate on time and we take off with a few minutes of delay towards Big Island. Hossassa!

The flight is one of the shortest flights ever, along with the flights we took in the Azores. It feels like we just reached the "top" and we're already going back down. From the plane, we can see the coast (yay, right side => 7 A B & 8 A B), the lava fields, the turquoise bays, and then we land right in the middle of the lava field. The airport is the cutest I've ever seen. It even surpasses the one in the Maldives, Phuket & Punta Cana before the 2000s (back then, they were also small and cute - now they're big and commercial). It's an "open air" airport, everything is open. The gates are covered waiting areas, and the baggage carousel is also just a covered area. How cool - luckily it's not raining...

We quickly get our bags and then join the shuttle buses for the car rental companies. It feels like everyone around us has booked with Avis & Budget, because these shuttles are always packed. We have to wait for 3 buses before we can get on and arrive at Avis. Like on all the islands, I booked a "full-size" car. I would have liked to book a 4WD car, but the prices for that were disproportionately expensive. We still inquire about an upgrade to a 4WD. They offer us one for an additional fee of a whopping $600... in addition to the rental car, of course! We're now paying $330 for a full-size car for the week, so I'm definitely not paying an extra $600 for a 4WD??? No way...

Too bad, I would have liked to drive on Mauna Kea, but not for that price.

They hand us the keys and when I go to the designated parking lot, we're not greeted with a Nissan sedan like on Maui, but with a GMC Terrain AWD SUV. Wow! Surprise!!! It can also do 4WD! We're thrilled and drive from the lot towards Kailua-Kona, which welcomes us with a heavy rain shower. Yuck. But it quickly passes, although the sun doesn't really show itself (yet).

We can't check into our apartment until 4 p.m., so first we'll have lunch, then maybe do some shopping, and continue. That's the plan. We try a "Ramen" restaurant at the Kona Commons Shopping Center and then go to Target across the street to look for some bargains. It's difficult, but we find some basic groceries that are even cheaper than at Walmart, as well as drinks and wine.

Next stop is Walmart for our weekly shopping. Again, only the essentials end up in the cart - it looks like we'll be having pasta with sauce frequently this week and bagels with cheese on the go...) and whoosh, another $250 is gone. Crazy...

It's almost 4 p.m. when we drive to White Sands Beach or oh, "Magic Sands Beach," where our apartment is located.

Magic Sands Beach is called that because the beautiful white sand of the beach tends to "disappear" overnight and then - you never know how long it will take - magically washes ashore from the sea again. I pray and hope that we'll find a beach!!!

We move into our apartment on the 1st floor. It's also a 2-bedroom apartment. We have a large balcony with a view of the community pool and BBQ area. In a large chest on the balcony, we find several bodyboards, snorkel sets, pool toys, etc., and there are also 2 large coolers, beach umbrellas, etc. for our outings. Very good.

We explore the grounds and then go directly across the street to the beach. It's crowded, but to my horror a very important component is missing: the sand!!!

Oh no!!! It looks like the swimming area in the Azores, where there are only lava pools between the rocks and no sand. A few crazy people frolic in the waves in front of the rocks with bodyboards. Wow, they're crazy. There are only rocks at the end of the waves.

Mega disappointed, we return to the apartment and want to test the pool. The kids aren't interested and prefer to chill. The pool is crowded - and the water is not clear but milky. Hmm... is that how it's supposed to be?

I take a short walk around and then quickly shower, it's not really inviting. We meet a German father at the BBQ. He tells us that the beach changes overnight, sometimes it's sand, sometimes it's rocks, and it keeps changing. You never know what it will look like in the morning. Great. So I hope for tomorrow.

After dinner on the balcony, we briefly discuss the next day and then fall into bed, quite exhausted. The beds are very comfortable and: there's air conditioning 😉