Memories

 

I recently bought myself a present on Etsy.  I found this wonderful print by a local artist in Kona, Hawaii.  The print is of the old swimming pool at Kona Village resort as it appeared before the tsunami took it out years ago.

The pool (and the resort) have now been rebuilt.  The old pool is now long gone and a new modern high end resort type pool has replaced the beautiful pool of my childhood.  

My father started working at this resort as the assistant manager when I was 3 years old.  He later worked his way up to the manager position.  He was there for 38 years when he finally retired.

This resort was so isolated at first and everything and everyone had to flown in.  There also had to be a manager or assistant manager on hand 24/7.  Kona Village became my second home and I literally grew up there.  I spent a good amount of my time over the years swimming in this pool.  My brothers learned to swim there and I got meet and played with many people from all over the world including princes and princesses from the Middle East when they, and I, were children.  I also swam with a dolphin in this pool as we waited for the Navy to come and retrieve it and it's mate after they got lost in a storm and arrived at Kahuwai Bay.  They had to get at least one of the dolphins in the pool so they both would not swim away.  They belonged to the Navy and were highly trained.  I loved being able to pet it and keep it calm.

I remember being the official taste tester of the fruit at the real shipwreck bar.  My "pay" for my hard work 😉was a Shirley Temple drink.  I was also limited to one drink a day by my father that he paid for so getting that extra drink was a huge bonus!  I love the bartenders and one of them even brough his girls down sometimes with him and we would spend the day playing and swimming.  Such wonderful memories!