Photo Tour: Big Island - Kona side

Okay, okay, so regular posting is not really my strong suit. To be honest, this is why I never started a blog before. Like everyone else, I enjoy reading people's blogs. I use a blog reader and truly enjoy the people who have stuff to say, and say it regularly, so I get that bloggers who don't blog often are just not interesting. But I'm one of those people that tends to let myself be pulled in eleventy-five different directions at once, so I do what I can.

So anyways, if there is still anyone left out there :) I'm going to pick up where I left off about three months ago - back to showing you some of the Hawaiian Islands.

Since I talked a little bit about Hilo the last time I did this, I'm going to show you a bit of the other side of the Big Island. Kailua-Kona, commonly known as Kona, has quite a bit to offer. But this is me, and I only had one day there, so naturally I spent the day exploring what Kona has to offer in terms of food. Everyone knows the coffee, and I absolutely got a chance to experience that, but did you know that the Kona side also has amazing chocolate and vanilla, too?




My day in Kona started just after sunrise...and who wouldn't love waking up to a sunrise like this??

And this was the fantastic first view I had of Kona!!

Our first stop in Kona was the amazing Holualoa Kona Coffee Company. This company runs a totally organic coffee plantation. They compost the husks of the coffee cherries and even have a flock of geese that help keep the mowing under control and provide pure fertilizer :)

While we were here, we had an incredible tour. We learned all about coffee production, from growing the coffee cherries...

...to how the beans are harvested, dried, and prepared for roasting...

...to the roasting process itself...

...and then we got to drink the incredible coffee!!!

If you ever want to try some of the best coffee ever, give this stuff a try. Even better, get thyself to Kona and take a tour! They made us feel so welcome and were so knowledgeable and passionate about sharing their coffee expertise with us!

After we had our way with the gift shop and said our goodbyes to the geese, we were on our way.

The next amazing stop in our tour de Kona was the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Company.

This company is another small, family owned- and operated cacao plantation and chocolate maker. They specialize in single-origin chocolate which is becoming increasingly rare in the chocolate world. That means that all the cacao used in the chocolate comes from one place, instead of coming from lots of different farms and states and countries and who knows where?? They use the finest ingredients, no preservatives or other chemicals, and of course locally grown cacao that they personally follow from the tree to the packaging. And it truly does show in their amazing products!!

Here are some cacao pods on a tree...

...and this is what you find when you open the pods. The beans are encased in this white stuff that the geckos find REALLY tasty!

Inside the white stuff, you'll find the beans!

So now we'd had this amazing chocolate and we were thinking that there was nothing that could even come close to topping what we'd had so far.

And then we arrived at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company.

This company is another small, family-run enterprise. I truly admire this family. They wanted their children to grow up on a farm, so they bought one (!). They didn't have farming experience, they just knew they wanted their children to have a childhood full of hard work, learning from mistakes, and being together as a family - and for them, this meant life on a farm. Their children, who are homeschooled, work alongside them on the farm. They've seen their parents' successes and failures first-hand and have learned from all those experiences. What an amazing way to raise a family!

And did I mention that their vanilla is incredible?!

They do a tour that comes with a vanilla-infused home-cooked lunch that shows the versatility and fabulosity of vanilla.

One of the young children came to our table, introduced himself very professionally, and asked what we'd like to drink. I decided on the vanilla lemonade.

You can see the vanilla in there!

After that, lunch was served. This was all lovingly prepared by the family, and each item had some way of incorporating the vanilla. It was all delicious and healthy and truly enjoyable!

While we worked on dessert (homemade vanilla ice cream with one of three toppings), we learned a bit about the family, the farm, and how vanilla is produced. We learned some of the easy things we could do with vanilla at home (vanilla-infused vodka, anyone?!).

Did you know that vanilla is an orchid??

The plants have to be hand-pollinated, which is a ton of work...but you can really tell when you taste their vanilla that this family has a passion for what they do. It was nice in this day and age of instant gratification and constant distractions to see a family working together, learning together, and translating all that into a successful product that they love to share with anyone who wants to learn.

And did I mention that the food was delicious?!

After a tour of the vanilla-growing area itself, we went back to that gift shop and picked up some great vanilla products to take home.

Between the coffee, chocolate, and vanilla, the bus smelled AMAZING!

After all this, it was time to say goodbye to Kona. As our bus headed back to the ship, we knew we'd have to make it back here. After all, we barely scratched the surface of things to do on the Kona side, but we certainly were happy and well-fed. We look forward to our next trip to the Big Island. If you do find yourself on the Kona side, check out one of these three businesses.

I took one last photo of Kona as the tender pulled away.

And we settled into the ship for yet another perfect sunset.

Bye, Kona! Hope to see you again soon!!

(Side note: None of the companies named in this post have compensated me in any way. In fact, they don't even know I'm posting about them. I truly believe in small-scale organic farming and in knowing where your food comes from, and all three of these companies are stellar examples of that. I wanted to pass along the wonderful experience we had on all three of these tours and highlight the wonderful work these people do. Just in case you were wondering. Ok I'm really done now.)