and chocolate, with reservations recommended for groups of six or more; coffee-loving couples should book the 1-hr., in-depth VIP tour ($170 per two adults).
Greenwell Farms, 81-6581 Mamalahoa Hwy. (makai side of Hwy. 11, south of mile marker 112), Kealakekua (www.greenwellfarms.com; 808/323-2295): If any farm can claim to be the granddaddy of Kona coffee, this would be it. Englishman Henry Nicholas Greenwell began growing coffee in the region in 1850. Now operated by his great-grandson and agricultural innovator Tom Greenwell, the farm offers free tours daily from 8:30am to 4pm. Bonus: On Thursday, join volunteers baking Portuguese sweet bread in a stone oven from 10am to 1pm at the H. N. Greenwell Store Museum just south of the farm; bread sales ($8) start at 12:30pm and sell out quickly. Greenwell built the store in 1870, making it the oldest surviving shop in Kona; its multicultural museum is open 10am to 2pm Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday; admission is $7 adults, $3 children ages 7 to 17.
Ocean side of Hwy. 19, 3 miles south of Kona airport. www.nps.gov/kaho. 808/326-9057. Park daily sunrise–sunset. Visitor center and parking lot ½-mile north of Honokohau Harbor daily 8:30am–4pm (closed second Sat in Oct for Ironman). Kaloko Rd. gate daily 8am–5pm. No time restrictions on parking at Honokohau Harbor; from Hwy.19, take Kealakehe Pkwy. west into harbor, then take 1st right, and follow to parking lot near Kona Sailing Club, a short walk to beach.
Mokuaikaua Church
Mokuaikaua Church RELIGIOUS/HISTORIC SITE In 1820, the first missionaries to land in Hawaii arrived on the brig Thaddeus and received the royals’ permission to preach. Within a few years a thatched-roof structure had risen on this site, on land donated by Gov. Kuakini, owner of Hulihee Palace across the road. But after several fires, Rev. Asa Thurston had this massive, New England–style structure erected, using lava rocks from a nearby heiau (temple) held together by coral mortar, with gleaming koa for the lofty interior. The 112-foot steeple is still the tallest structure in Kailua-Kona. Visitors are welcome to view the sanctuary, open daily, and a rear room with a small collection of artifacts, including a model of the Thaddeus, a rope star chart used by Pacific Islanders, and a poignant plaque commemorating Henry Opukahaia. As a teenager, the Big Island native (known then as “Obookiah”) boarded a ship to New England in 1807, converted to Christianity, and helped plan the first mission to the islands, but he died of a fever in 1818, the year before the Thaddeus sailed. (In 1993 his remains were reinterred at Kahikolu Congregational Church, 16 miles south of Mokuaikaua in Captain Cook.) Mokuaikaua hosts a free history talk most Sundays at 12:15pm, following the 11am service.
75-5713 Alii Dr., Kailua-Kona, across from Hulihee Palace (parking behind the church off Kuakini Hwy.). www.mokuaikaua.org. 808/329-0655. Daily 7:30am–5:30pm.
Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm AQUACULTURE On the coastline just behind the Natural Energy Lab (NELHA) lies this 3-acre, conservation-oriented “aqua-farm,” which breeds and displays more than half of the world’s 36 species of seahorses. The farm began breeding seahorses in 1998 as a way of ending demand for wild-collected seahorses and, once successful, expanded its interests to include similarly threatened sea dragons and reef fish. Although the $43 online ticket cost of the biologist-led, 1-hour tour may seem excessive, proceeds benefit the farm’s research and conservation. In any case, people still find their way here in droves, excited to see pregnant male seahorses and their babies, and to have one of the delicate creatures wrap its tail around their fingers.
Saving Rare seals
Seahorses aren’t the only rare marine life on view near the Natural Energy Lab. From 10am to 4pm weekdays, drop-in visitors are welcome at the Hawaiian monk seal hospital, Ke Kai Ola, 73-731 Makako Bay Dr., Kailua-Kona (www.tmmc.org/monkseal; 808/326-7325). While you won’t interact directly with this highly endangered species, of which only about 1,100 remain, you can view any patients on a TV monitor and learn more about them from interpretive signs. Most are rescued from the remote Northwest Hawaiian Islands archipelago as undernourished pups and returned there once suitably fattened up.
73-4388 Ilikai Place (behind the Natural Energy Lab), Kailua-Kona. From Hwy. 19 (at mile marker 94), follow OTEC Rd. past Wawaloli Beach Park to 1st left; farm is on the right. www.seahorse.com. 808/329-6840. Online tickets $43 adults, $33 children 4–12, free ages 3 and under (toddlers do not hold seahorses); at gate, $45 adults, $35 children. Tours Mon–Fri 10am, noon, and 2pm, also Mon 11am; reservations recommended. Gift shop Mon–Fri 9:30am–3:30pm.
South Kona
Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park NATURAL ATTRACTION The island’s largest natural sheltered bay, a marine life conservation district, is not only one of the best places to snorkel on Hawaii Island, it’s also an area of deep cultural and historical significance. On the southern Napoopoo (“nah-poh-oh-poh-oh”) side stands the large stacked-rock platform of Hikiau Heiau, a temple once used for human sacrifice and still considered sacred. A rocky beach park here includes picnic tables, barbecues, and restrooms. On the north side, a steep but relatively broad 2-mile trail leads down to Kaawaloa, where ali’i (royalty) once lived; when they died, their bodies were taken to Puhina O Lono Heiau on the slope above, prepared for burial, and hidden in caves on the 600-foot-cliff above the central bay. The Captain Cook Monument is an obelisk on Kaawaloa Flat, near where the British explorer was slain in 1779, after misunderstandings between Hawaiians and Cook’s crew led to armed conflict. The Hawaiians then showed respect by taking Cook’s body to Puhina O Lono before returning some of his remains to his crew. Please do not tread on the reef or cultural sites; to protect the area, only hikers and three guided kayak tour companies have access to Kaawaloa Flat (see “Kayaking” on p. 229).
The Painted Church
From Hwy. 11 in Captain Cook heading south, take right fork onto Napoopoo Rd. (Hwy. 160). Kaawaloa trailhead is about 500 ft. on right. By car, continue on Napoopoo Rd. 4¼-mile to left on Puuhonua Rd.; go ⅕-mile to right on Manini Beach Rd. dlnr.hawaii.gov/dsp/parks/hawaii. Free. Daily during daylight hours.
The Painted Church (St. Benedict’s) RELIGIOUS SITE Beginning in 1899, Father John Berchman Velghe (a member of the same order as St. Damien of Molokai) painted biblical scenes and images of saints inside quaint St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, founded in 1842 and restored in 2002. As with stained-glass windows of yore, his pictures, created with simple house paint, were a way of sharing stories with illiterate parishioners. It’s a wonderfully trippy experience to look up at arching palm fronds and shiny stars on the ceiling. Health issues forced the priest to return to Belgium in 1904 before finishing all the
