Miriam & Alim's Honeymoon Blog

In the short 4 days we were with Kristen and family, I had some fascinating images of the area of the immediate environs. For one, anywhere we went, we traveled down steep grades with excellent views, and abounding with wild chickens and roosters. Beaches where we went had beautiful palm trees and rocky shores with occasional coves where body surfers/boogie-boarders (Goose and friends) loved to surf. Most of those coves were defined by boulders above and below the water’s surface. Like so many places in the states, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute”. We saw black/gray rock everywhere - walls, pathways, mounds of rocks, huge, protruding boulders - all exclusively lava rock. They look not like they were placed there or flowed down from up high, but almost as if they grew up out of the earth. As we moved along the windy roads, we could see where folks had carved out their own ‘little piece of heaven’, whatever their economic strata. I loved how most property boundaries we...

   Kristen convinced us of doing the "Manta Float" and now we want to pass that passion on to anyone who might want this experience…       As we rode in her well-used mini van over the mountain and down to the water’s edge, the sun was setting, looking all the world like one of those picturesque Hawaii postcards. We came to the public landing for putting boats in the water, and our guides were waiting with all the gear: wet suits, swim ‘noodles’, masks and snorkels, and a boat that would take 16 human ‘floaters’ and our 2 guides, Kris and Buddha. Kris owns the company and Buddha is the Manta Whisperer. And a whisperer he is! As a nearly blind person, they took care of me like I was their most precious cargo, guiding me every step of the way verbally and physically. We only had 11 floaters, one who spoke no English and even one who could not swim at all! Once we all had our gear in the right-fitting sizes, we were out of the inlet in no time, an...

     The night we went out to dinner with friends and family for local (divinely delicious) sushi, we also went to a hula dance. Like so many other public events, everything shut down when the pandemic hit Kona. Normally they held a once a month free-to-the-public open air hula demonstration. Since it was the first one after everything had opened up, the attendance was excellent. As you can see from the pics and videos, we were in for a treat! Skirts are made by each individual dancer the day of the dance. Constructed of tea leaves harvested that morning, each skirt takes about 40 leaves to complete. All of the dancers are local folks and the lei’s are fresh flowers which grow in huge abundance in the wild as well as cultivated all over the island. Through the movement of feet, hips and hands, each dance tells a story. Age, body type as well as newest dancers to the most experienced were all present on stage. We were - like everyone else - enamored with the 10 year old gi...

Our beloved girl, Kristen, who Miriam has been fortunate to have in her life since she was 15 (mid ’90’s) and came to live with the family, still introduces her to all as her mom. She and her husband Jamie, daughter Layla (15) and son Goose (12) welcomed us with open arms. A true gentleman, Goose surrendered his room to us for the 4 days we were there. 3AM and our jet lag goofiness must have been funny for Layla. The family pets were 3 indoor/outdoor cats and a rescue dog named Mando who was adopted at the beginning of the pandemic. We came home one evening to find that Mando had gone to our room and eaten our roasted nuts, chewed on a small gift, and managed to chew into a medicine bottle and eat all 47 thyroid pills! We all freaked out except for Mando – he seemed not to be phased at all. Layla spent the next couple of hours figuring how to purge him and slept with him outside. But in the end, all seemed not to matter. Desiccated porcine thyroid was just another doggie snack for the ...

The Delta flight direct from Atlanta to Honolulu took 9 hours and left much to be desired – especially compared to what we were later to experience on JAL! Seats over the wing (LOUD) with Alim’s seat that would not lock in place and Miriam’s tray that dumped her meal in her lap! But had we known what was coming - having never been to HI before – all was worth our temporary discomfort. With quite a few airports in our experience, Honolulu was our first open air one. Small, gray, pigeons abounded throughout! Song birds as well. Interestingly, the pigeons are about half the size of the ones on the mainland. We looked down from the concourse and wow! Check out these pics of parts of the gardens taken from above.  We don't know what these are, but they looked like house plants on steroids!  

 In case you do not already know, until last week, we were only married with God, but not with Mammon other than by common law. However, to get Alim into Japan, we had to show them a legal document connecting me to the Japanese family. So off we went to the JC courthouse and got all legalized! That's how this trip became our honeymoon! Beloved friends with tongues in cheeks, sent these t-shirts as wedding presents. If you cannot read them, Alim's it says "I really should have checked into my wife's family a little closer," and Miriam's says "I'm not a Trophy Wife, I'm a Lifetime Achievement."

 Four large suitcases and four large carry-ons. We did leave a few things home! We did NOT leave our Japanese visas home. It was an act of God to get them - weeks of back and forth with the Japanese consulate and Ayu (daughter-in-law) working on it on the Japan end. In the end, they arrived two days early.