Driving to Hōnaunau Bay the first stop is the Painted Church.
This is still an active church with a congregation. It has interesting architecture which makes sense for this climate and has unique depictions of biblical history on the inner walls. I don’t know if we’re allowed to photograph them, but a violinist was playing at the time anyway. It’s pretty much an open-air church on amazing grounds on a hillside, which is the slope of a volcano.
This is one of the best beaches I’ve ever been to. The sand, water, and shade were just lovely, and the access to the beach while windy, was not treacherous. It was well-paved all the way down the hillside, even if the parking was a little bit hairy. There were nice bathrooms, but no commercial establishments. The water was calm and comfortably accessible with incredible views.
This beach was not accessible by car south of Kealakekua Bay. The road had long been unnavigable. I don’t think even with a 4-wheel drive vehicle it would be possible to get all the way down the street that we saw on the map due to the road condition, which it didn’t appear anyone was in a rush to repair. It was tough enough just getting to a safe parking space by the ocean with the road that was semi-functional, but definitely unpaved and neglected. The last stretch was surmountable only by foot. At least the walk was scenic. I just wish the GPS didn’t try to get us to keep driving to the actual beach that we ended up at.
In the distance for the first time, I saw the Captain Cook monument, not knowing for certain if we’d be near it to snorkel a few days later (but we were). There was almost no one else on the beach besides us and maybe four other tourists while we visited, plus maybe a few locals with their homes nearby. A few of them might have been vacation rentals. Either way, this was no tourist spot.
While I had been to this park a few times before, knowing it was expected that one treat the grounds as sacred, I had never ventured quite as far into the park as I did this time. Researchers were studying the freshwater ponds that had been created, which makes sense for the indigenous populations that lived here as a place to store fish near this ocean spot, a woman weaving traditionally and explaining to visitors her process. Shea did not wish to be photographed here, although he might be in the background of a video.
After leaving the park, in other parts of Hōnaunau Bay we got to enjoy an accessible beach where people were snorkeling. We didn’t see a place to rent equipment so I just went in for a dip while Shea read on the beach. Between the cultural center and the beach, near the parking lot, I took a picture of some of the wild goats.
I have mixed feelings about wanting to have my picture taken with a trained dolphin. Here is Shea watching the captive dolphins eat at the Hilton resort we walked around:
Here are wild dolphins from the shore with people in canoes.
This wasn’t Shea’s favorite kind of sand, but I still found it intriguing and comfortable, even though I didn’t go in the water in part for fear of jagged volcanic rocks cutting up my toes again. You can see Maui in the background and there was barely anyone here. I’m not sure if this beach has a name nor would I know how to get back to it because it had such a hidden road to turn off from the main belt highway, but there is a campground. No one was really on the beach while we were there though.
Shea discovered an Orchid Conspiracy!!!
Two very cool parts of the gardens touch the shore, which we got to explore. For the rainiest place in the world, we were lucky it was only overcast and did not rain at all while we visited. Here is a compilation of much of our visit in one video:
We had time before sunset to pull over and enjoy the lookout between Waikoloa, where we were staying, and a spot in Kona that I knew I wanted to get to before the sun descended on the horizon.