Day 4 on the Big Island

Maybe I waited to long and don’t remember everything about this day. I do remember sitting out on the lanai at Paniolo Greens listening to the birds and watching golfers out on the course. The hurricanes had both missed us. We were ready to enjoy a relaxing day of walking, shopping and snorkeling.

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The Paniolo Greens was a very nice condo and we would have been content to stay there for the remainder of our stay. The condo was clean, the staff friendly and we could sit out on the lanai and watch the Nene (a bird native to the Islands that looks like a small goose) walking around the place.

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So we spent the day wondering the islands, talking to more feral cats, sometimes catching a brief siting of a mongoose, and then snorkeling a one of our favorite spots, the beach at Makiawa bay.

A few more pictures form that day.

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Fountain at the Kings shops

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Then we got back to the Hotel. The Harley’s were taking over. Now, we knew this was going to happen, and if you love Harley’s I’m sure it would be just great for you, but we really don’t.

When staying here previous years we were always a little removed form the bikers. These are not Hells Angels types, just load expensive and generally annoying high end customs. This would have been fine if they were not right outside the door and completely taking over the parking lot.

So I figured, hey, this place is mostly empty, why not see if the staff can move us a few units away from all the bikes. After all the always say, anything you need just let us know. Nope.

The claimed there were no more units, all full up. This sort of pissed me off.

So I jump on the internet and check out other hotels in the area. Don’t need anything fancy, just a place for a few days right. That’s when I saw the Fairmont Orchird was having a huge sale with rooms at 1/3 of normal pricing. Cool.

Called Expedia to see if you could get a partial refund and book the Fairmont. After about an hour on the phone (Heidi already packing) we were set to go and off we went!

Arriving at the Fairmont was like starting a new vacation. The Paniolo Greens is a decent condo resort and very adequate for the price, but in no way compares to a beach resort like the Fairmont Orchid.

When we arrived we are greeted with a Kakui nut Lei and a bottle of Hawaii water. This was perfect as it was hot even at 10 at night. Check-in was smooth and efficient and we were at our room in no time. We were exausted and hungry so we ordered the most inexpensive thing on room service; a bacon and eggs breackfast with toast and jam. So good. Everything was made just right and left us with little jars of jam to eat the next day.

 

 

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