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Traveling
South from Kailua-Kona, into the South Kona and Ka'u
Districts toward South Point, (the Southernmost point
in the United States) the first landmark to be seen
is Kealakekua Bay,
where Captain Cook met his unfortunate end
at the hands of the Hawaiians. A monument dedicated to
his memory stands there today.
This bay is also famous for snorkeling and
diving and is a well-known habitat of the Pacific "spinner" dolphin.
The climate here is much the same as Kailua-Kona, but the shoreline
tends toward rocky lava outcroppings, and pebbled beaches.
Many of Kona's commercial diveboat tours use
Kealakekua Bay as a staging area for accompanied scuba-dives
and snorkeling expeditions, displaying the colorful and
exotic ocean fauna for visitors.
Continuing South, the long highway intermittently
crosses barren lava flows, and passes through coffee and
banana farms, which eventually give way to orchards of
Macadamia Nut trees covering acres and acres of rolling
land sloping toward the sea.
Finally,
rounding South Point, a glimpse of pink sunset is seen,
and turning east then northeast the road begins to climb
up toward the sleepy little town of Na'alehu.
Situated almost halfway between Hilo and Kailua-Kona in
the middle of the Ka'u District, Na'alehu is picturesque,
with old style plantation architecture,
and it's most famous house, the "Mark Twain" house, was actually inhabited
by the famous writer while he was visiting the "Sandwich Islands" in the
late 1800's.
Continuing
beyond Na'alehu, the highway passes through broad pastures
of long, lush green grass, watered by the misty rain as
it is carried in on the Easterly Trades. The pastures are
dotted with black and white dairy cows, for this is the
home of Na'alehu Dairy Products, a staple of Big Island
tables.
The
highway then passes Punalu'u, where a beautiful and
private resort complex rests on a black sand beach.
Thank you for taking our South Point/Ka`u tour and be sure to visit the
other areas of the Big Island of Hawaii - click on the link below to
return to the Big Island Image map.
Aloha! and Mahalo!!
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Identifying "Spoofed" Websites - By Vince Barnes 
