Caffeine and Chocolate

Today I went for a ride in one of the lifeboats.  Not because the ship was sinking - they use them as tenders to transfer passengers to and from the port at Kona.  Kona has no deep water port - so the Pride of America has to anchor out at sea and take us over on the lifeboats.

Bridie and I were booked on the Kona Mocha tour. First stop was a coffee plantation with samples of Kona coffee.  Once we were all buzzed up with caffeine we were taken to a chocolate plantation.  So apparently when you hack open a cocoa pod the 30-40 beans inside it are initially covered in this white sticky stuff - which the lizards find very tasty.  While the guy was trying to give us the demonstration about half a dozen of these guys arrived on the bench. The place smelled divine, and the samples were all yummy, but this stuff is expensive!

After arriving back at the port we had lunch in a place called the fish hopper on the waterfront where I tried a fish called Ono for the first time (I keep wanting to call it oni - but that's some sort of Japanese demon isn't it?).  They had great cocktails.

Also saw the old Royal palace - which I've got to say looked more like a country house than a palace, and the oldest Christian church on Hawaii.  Did a bit of shopping, then lifeboat back to the ship again.

I'm now exhausted and hanging out in the library while Bridie is attending another lei making class.