Black Sand Beach along transition to Kona

(Katherine) Transition day – time to head to Kona. We packed up and stopped at the Farmer's Market in Maku'u for some great Thai curry. After about an hour or so, we finally reached the infamous Punalu'u Black Sand Beach, which is a pretty amazing site. The sand is REALLY black, which only made my pale legs look even whiter (FYI, there is more rain than sun in Hilo.) We walked along the beach and found a group of sea turtles swimming in the ocean, and then found a couple of them hanging out on the beach who didn't mind posing for some photos.


We finally arrived in Kona to the apartment we had all rented through AirBnB, a SF based company who runs a kind of Craigslist-type web site which matches travelers with people who are looking to rent out their apartments or a room.  Our place was right on the main street through town & also right across the street from the ocean (click here to view.)  We headed into town in search of food and chose the Kona Brewing Company for pizza and beer samplers – yum. After, we went for a nightcap at Huggo's on the Beach, where the outdoor seating is right on the sand and shoes were basically required to come off. We watched a hula dancer perform and try to give lessons to some of the female patrons while we sipped on fruity drinks with umbrellas – very quintessential Hawaii.