OUR LAST SUNSET

Since we flew to and from the Kona airport, on the opposite side of the island from Hilo, we decided to stay on the Kona side for our last night. As a surprise, I had gotten us a room at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, about 17 miles north of the airport. When I had looked for rooms on the Kona side, this resort hotel was comparable or a few dollars more than other, much lesser places. What a place! I felt like we were in a Polynesian theme park. Here's what the website blurb has to say about it, "Nestled within 62 oceanfront acres, this Big Island Hawaii hotel has everything - a four-acre swimming and snorkeling lagoon, three freshwater swimming pools, sun-drenched beach, interactive dolphin encounter program, waterfalls, exotic gardens, trams, canal boats and more than $7 million in Polynesian and Asian artwork. " They aren't kidding. After we checked in, we boarded a tram (monorail type) which stopped at each of the three towers (over 1,200 rooms) and the convention center. We stayed in Ocean Tower which was the farthest away but had the best ocean views.

Right out front from our room was this walkway along with ocean with sunbathing pavilions.

Jim took advantage right away.

Not far away was "Buddha Point:"


I was dying to ride on the canal boat and took a complete loop trip, which took about 1/2 hour. Here's a view of the convention center from one of the boat landings.

As sunset approached, a Hawaiian man wearing a lava lava stood at the point and blew a conch shell three times, then proceeded to run from torch to torch, lighting them all,


and people gathered to watch the sun hit the sea.

We were lucky and had a perfect view from our lanai.




A perfect end to a wonderful vacation.

Audrey