I have my map beside me so I can properly spell several of the places we visited here on the glorious South Kona coast of the Island of Hawaii (also known as the “Big Island” but we’ve been told not to refer to it as that with locals.). We have had a hard time keeping the names of the places we’re going straight – let alone pronouncing them correctly. So many names that start with H or K or M – and have lots of syllables full of vowels.

But no complaints. What a glorious place. Amazing how quickly we’ve acclimated to being in such a lush and green tropical land but I’m no longer gushing at the sight of red, orange and purple bourganvilla lining the road, or gorgeous expanses of black lava rock beach with elegant palm trees and crashing waves. I’m just taking it all in calmly, happily.

We are staying at a funky B&B right off Highway 11 just south of Captain Cook. The turnoff from the winding mountainous two-lane highway is abrupt and then there’s a very very steep decline into a thicket of lush green vegetation and a ramshackle “farm house” where we are staying in a pleasant room for the low-low price of $100 per night. Pomaika’i “Luck” Farm B&B is a keeper – even though our room is a bit noisy when the occasional car zips by on the highway – and a rooster or two starts crowing at, what was it, 6 a.m.

The place is run by a woman who originally hails from East Texas – and her friend who does a lot of the farming/tourguiding. We had a pleasant breakfast full of local fruits and vegs – star fruit, passionfruit, papaya, oranges, super-creamy avocado – all grown on the small sliver of a farm. Then the “friend” took us and a few guests on a little walk around the farm – and we saw most of what we ate hanging from the trees, including the “cherries” used to produce the Kona coffee we drank. We didnt eat any macadamia nuts but those are here too. We are way up high on a mountain ridge that slopes down, way down, to the ocean.

After breakfast, we loaded up the car with left over fruit from breakfast, snorkeling gear and towels kindly provided by our hosts and drove a few miles south to the fabulous Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park (see what I mean about the names?) that is the site of an ancient temple and refuge for outlaws where they could get back into society’s good graces by showing up there. It’s a spectacular spot – with a broad swath of black lava rock that stretches out into the ocean. Picking our way across the spiny hard porous surface felt at times like walking on the backs of a rhinoceros. We took pictures in front of the reconstructed temple with the reproduction Polynesian style wood sculptures. Also saw some amazing old canoes cut from gorgeous wood.

I’m glad we took a slight detour to see the nearby Painted Church – a lovely white frame Catholic Church high on a hill surrounded by spectacular flowers adorning a small cemetery. Inside, the tiny wood frame church is painted with fantastic folk-art style scenes done by a self-taught priest in the 19th century. Wow. Gorgeous view too from the front doors of the church. I could become a Catholic in a place like that! Almost.

We stopped for takeout lunch at Super J’s – which specializes in Hawaiian food. We had lula – chunks of salty pork and a green resembling spinach (casava?) steamed inside a huge leaf (also casava?) Whatever it was, it was delicious. We got three of them and sat on the rocks at another nearby beach and gingerly unwrapped the three lulas which were held together with rubber bands and oily – and happily devoured them. We were at Kealakekua Bay – where Captain Cook was killed.

Time for  a little snorkeling. We returned to the “Place of Refuge” (the anglo name for Pu’uhonua o Honaunau) and the two-step beach – another rocky expanse where people walked gingerly across the black lava rocks and figured out a way to get into the water to snorkel. We saw all kinds of gorgeous fish – bright yellow fish, flat black fish with yellow markings, another rainbow-colored fish. We didn’t see a sea turtle – but we got lucky with that earlier at the Place of Refuge when we saw one in shallow pool there. Snorkeling was fun – and the water was surprisingly warm. It’s the first time I’ve swum in the Pacific. It’s been too cold when we’ve been on the West Coast.

We took another smaller scenic highway 190 to the more upscale coffee town of Holualoa and just passed through since none of the galleries were open (today is a holiday – and it’s a monday). Unexpectedly, we ended up in Kailua – a large touristy town that we unexpectedly enjoyed. It has an old fashioned sea wall that runs along a street that reminds me of a boardwalk in a Cape Cod or Jersey Shore town – full of t-shirt shops and bars and hotels but also some beautiful old architecture including an elegant old royal residence and old church. We ended up trying our first shaved ice – at Scandanavian Shaved Ice – a scoop of vanilla ice cream buried in a huge snowball of ice and colored blue, orange and yellow – the liquid flavors we requested (passion fruit, pineapple and “blue hawaii” (whatever that is.) It was surprisingly good. Then again, an old shoe would have tasted good given where our circumstance – sitting on the sea wall watching teams of sprightly men paddling in long narrow canoes in the ocean.

For dinner, we picked the Kona Brewing Company – a brew pub that’s very popular with locals for good reason. The beer was good – so was the pizza and greek salad. We ate outside underneath enormous trees and umbrellas lit by burning torches.  Ahh Hawaii. Life is good.