KAILUA-KONA TO HONOLULU

Kailua-Kona is also known as Kailua and Kona Town. The community was established in 1795 by King Kamehameha the Great, who was the King of the Big Island before he set out to unite the state. With 19,173, has the second most number of people next to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. Actually, down from the 2010 census of 11,975. The volcanic eruption that began in 1983 still continues, bringing voggy weather, resulting in a compromised economy and not so high real estate prices.

This town is dry and hot because ventilation is low. Kona is the city with highest record low in the USA at 56F.

Home of the Ironman World Triathlon since 1981. However, beginning this year, while the women will continue to have their championship in Kailua-Kona on September 14, the men will go to Nice, France on October 2023. They will flip in 2024, with women in Nice on September 24 and men in Kona on October 26. Read my story on how I almost killed it. No kidding.

Also has the annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, November 3-12, 2023, and Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament, August 5-13, 2023. Kona is known for coffee, as fortunately the upper slopes get a daily fog and more moisture, where the crop grows.

Ali Drive is the main drag. At the downtown end is the Marriott King Kamehameha Hotel, which starts the Kailua-Kona Pier, where the tender docks. Read about our stay here nearly a third of a century ago for the total eclipse of the sun. And, incidentally, the next total solar eclipse will occur on 8April2024. Hawaii will not see a total, but there is a track through Texas and up to the Northeast. There are various churches, shopping areas and beaches along the roadway.

So on our final day, we had lunch and walked around Kailua-Kona.

Second course of fish,

After lunch we caught the tender to town.

Walked through the Marriott King Kamehameha Hotel. They had various displays.

Ship left Kailua-Kona at around 5PM.

We had reservations for Thomas Keller's The Grill, but decided that the American Market Dinner Buffet in the Colonnade looked more promising. The problem with The Grill is that they rarely vary the dishes, and if those are indicative of his French Laundry, then I don't want to go all the way there and spend so much money for that.

Beef.

Salads.

Parma ham.

Lobsters and crab legs.

Sushi.

I love red wines from Paso Robles, especially the Petite Sirah. Note that this is a totally different grape from the Syrah or Shiraz we were drinking from Australia. The Cabernet Sauvignon is not as good as the Petite Sirah, but sufficient. This Herzog Lineage can be bought in a market for less than $20, if you can ever find it. Our favorite wine on this cruise was the Raymond Family Classic Cabernet Sauvignon, which sells for $20-$25 in the market. Raymond is from Napa Valley.

Here are some photos of our buffet, beginning with the end, which is always a Baked Alaska. Not quite 2 feet high, but this shot does not do it justice.

Our dinner. We were joined by Jay of Hawaiian Airlines.

Thought I'd take shots of what was left of the beef and Baked Alaska. Does not look so, but this Baked Alaska must be two feet tall.

Then a frantic rush to pack and leave our baggage outside in the hallway.

Day 53, arrival into Honolulu.

Last breakfast.

Diamond Head.

Customs and Immigration check? Nothing. Can't believe it. All they did was look at our passport in Lahaina, and there was no desk, even, in Honolulu. No forms to fill. Nothing. We could have walked out with a case of expensive scotch.

Goodbye Seabourn Odyssey.

Final pedometer view: 3076 steps.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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