Kitesurfing around the Big Island of Hawaii

Spending much of the night building the new Lightwind Kona Kite . . . my Paradise morning comes quickly and the Island Mercedes powers the familiar summit of the most active volcano on earth . . . Beautiful Kilauea . . . then along the slopes of the Long Mountain, Mauna Loa . . . some 32,000 feet high from sea floor to peak, the largest mountain on the planet . . .  past the wind farm at the southernmost point of the Nation . . . South Point . . . where I had shown my new Oregon friend Keenan how to fly my kite the day before. . . and up the Kona coast to my stop at Puhi's coffee farm for a workout and swim.

After the workout Puhi offers his barn to let me check on a tenacious Mercedes alternator regulator that has the volatility and mind of Kilauea's beautiful Madam Pele. While wrestling gently with Ms. Pele I receive a call to lift weights and hit mitts with my friend Chandler.


In his early twenties, Chandler is a talented athlete and works as a Captain on the Hula Kai. When the sun sets, Chan takes people off the shores of Hawaii, for an underwater experience unlike anything else ~ a dive adventure with magical and beautiful Kona Kite like creatures, with a wingspans of over 5m, who perform their underwater night ballet in the  plankton . . . absolutely breath taking . . .

Chandler's trip is off this evening though due to uncharacteristic windy conditions for the Kona Coast . . . music to my Kiting ears!! Telling Chan I'll catch up with him later . . . My Madame Pele Mercedes is off to the 2 mile marker on Alii Drive . . . behind the exit point of my last Kailua Bay Kiting session.  The wind at my back is clean and brisk . . .

My Kite fills and launches and I am off . . . enjoying the cool blue water . . . past the little known public salt water swimming pool and out into the ocean  . . . with a nagging feeling that in my haste to get out on the Pacific Blue, I hadn't stopped in at the fire station this time.

. . . As a safety measure and as a courtesy to the Emergency response professionals it is normally good to check in with them . . . especially here in Kailua Kona, the leeward side of the Island where interested and concerned watchers are not exposed much to kiting. Observers here are prone to err on the "dial 911" side when mesmerized by a lone light wind surfer being gracefully dragged along the water surface behind a kite.

Sure enough, while passing Magics . . . or Disappearing White Sands Beach at the 4mile marker,  I have to give the international fist on the head -  "I'm OK " - divers' signal to professional rescuer Sean, who has graciously paddled out for me. Sean asks where I plan to exit and informs me that they had been called by a concerned lady who was motoring along Allii Drive.

The fun wasn't over yet! After greeting a few Pirate friends on the three returning Captain Zodiac boats   while passing Ku'emanu Heiau . . . the old Hawaii Surfing Temple next to the Little Blue Church . . . a Coastguard Helicopter circled 3 times with the doors open ready to jump out and rescue! They received the I'm OK divers' signal too with a fist to the head each time they pass.


The visitors at Snorkel Beach , where I volunteer with Aunty Cindi Punihaole in the ReefTeach Program,  are as inquisitive as the local Monk seals with the Life Rescue Helicopter excitement.

In the big scheme of things though . . . as the water covered petroglyphs on the flat rocks beside the restored temples remind us of the King of Maui Kamalalawalu who was impaled alive on this spot and then towed to sea and fed to sharks. . .  this is just another beautiful day in Kahalu‘u Bay . . .  with a long history of people, families and excitement.

Ahead I can see the Fairwind boat coming in to dock in Keauhou Bay with . . . it looks like Elvis aboard as the 1st mate . . . This is also the home port of  Chandler's Hula Kai . . . It is interesting that calm Keauhou bay recently experienced a mini Tsunami.

A little higher up on the hill of Keauhou, I enjoy a glimpse of the old mile long Holua Slide . . . those old Hawaiians knew how to have a little fun!

Next I pass the Sheraton Hotel and the spot where Chandler wasn't going out tonight for the Manta rays and on . . .

With the wind holding steady I planed past the cliffs of End of the World . . . my fav place to do flips into the ocean. ; )

FYI . . .  Be careful at the End of the World point . . . some time back while launching my kite here, I had a rogue wave wash right over the point and me . . . I was holding on the rocks like a crab to stop going into the drink! . . . I didn't want to join the many hundreds of warriors entombed in the terraces cut in the lava around Kuamo'o point . . . this is spot where the last Hawaiian battle occurred to end the traditional Kapu system and destroy the temples around the Island. . . a Ruggard and beautiful place.

Kiting passed the Green house and sea caves to "Steve's Bay" . . . so named by Steve who was kind enough to pick me up with his boat. We enjoyed pleasant conversation all the way back to Kona where his beautiful Captain, after first encouraging me to bring a satellite radio beacon for my next kiting adventure, . . . dropped me off her boat with my traditional back-flip into the water, right near my starting point and the spot where the Mercedes was parked on Alii drive.

I swam in and watched the sun slip below the horizon for a glorious Kona sunset. . . then back to the car and returning cellphone messages from Chris and Jason about a kite spotted in Kona and if that was me. I picked up some "after workout Chicken quesadillas" at Habaneros . . . and was off to lift weights and box with Chan, relate the Kiting adventure and show him my new Kona lightwind Kite, while munching down on some good food! . . . It has been a Gr8 day Mercedes, wind, helicopter, boatride, Kiting and all . . . to be continued . . . : )  Aloha Air