A Special Visit

2/27/2025

This is a “guest posting” from my sister Cathy.

Russ and I had such a fantastic visit with David and Alanah a couple of weeks ago while we were on the Big Island of Hawaii. In fact, seeing them was The reason we went to the island. We flew into Kona and then it’s about a 2 1/2 hour pleasant drive, along the coast, to their property near Naalehu. David gave us directions to his slice of paradise; it’s in a beautiful area on Holowai off the paved highway, surrounded by banana plants and palm trees.

After enjoying a refreshing drink of juice in fancy glass goblets, we were treated to a tour of David’s property as he explained his vision. He has done an incredible job clearing the land for his cinder-block structures. It’s amazing all that he has built- completely by hand! He has no water on the property; he hauls in water from the nearby town of Waiohinu… which is a major job just by itself!

In one bungalow he has a bed and even solar powered lights. He was currently working on the separate bathroom; pouring cement for the shower, and making doors and window frames from scratch. He even has special lantern-type solar lights outside the bathroom. Very nice! His attention to detail is evident by the particular patterned cement floors in the bungalows.

Of course, he put us to work shoveling gravel and moving rocks!

We then drove over to his other property on Ahi, where he’s working hard on the steep driveway. He’s built a gazebo plus another bungalow structure here as well. It’s all very tropical and lovely, and we had a gorgeous view of the ocean in the distance. We even enjoyed ripe guavas from some of his trees. It’s so hard to describe the amount of labor and love they have put into their Hawaiian dream.

We drove over to Punalulu Bakery/Store for lunch and ordered yummy sandwiches and malasada. It was gorgeous sunny weather as we sat outside under the palm trees and ate lunch.

David then showed us to the nearby black sand beach. The blue ocean waves, black sand, and large sea turtles were amazing! We can’t believe we’re actually here enjoying this beautiful tropical area. We then drove back to Kona, with the promise of meeting up with David & Alanah soon.

A couple days later, David & Alanah drove the 2 1/2 hour trip into Kona, then we piled into the rental car and drove north along the Kailua-Kona Coast. We had blue ocean views on one side of the road and large areas of black lava rock on the other side; it’s very unusual.

We drove to the Northernmost part of the Big Island, to Hawi, King Kamehameha’s birthplace.

We, of course, had to take pictures with statues of the King.

After pizza for lunch, we went looking for the Old Kohala Lighthouse on a very narrow, deeply rutted dirt road.

The road became a “path” surrounded by sugar cane, and David wisely stopped the car.

We walked the rest of the way, 1/2 mile, to a dramatic view of the ocean.

We found ourselves on the point of a peninsula, with views of the ocean in all directions,

but no lighthouse. It had been replaced by an observation tower pole.

It was a fun adventure. We drove back to Kona and sadly said good-bye to David and Alanah.

They were amazing tour guides and we enjoyed our days being tourists with them. Thank you so much for a marvelous Hawaiian time!