Abay Café

Let’s face it, 82 degrees with 60% humidity can feel pretty hot after leaving 28 degree weather! Come get some shaved ice!!! Melts quick so inhale it while you cool off! Weird hours so don’t expect it to always be open when you want it!

So, for reasons which are entirely unclear to me, Shave Ice (or Shaved Ice, or Shave Iced, depending on who you talk to) is something more easily and spectacularly found in Kailua-​Kona than out in the heavily touristed sections of Waikaloa and the Kohala Coast and I’m utterly befuddled as to why. There are, as you find if you search «Shave Ice» on the Big Island, some very justifiably famed shave ice establishments in Kailua — but what do you do if it’s 90 degrees up near the Marriott, you’re on the beach, or you’ve just wandered away from Queen’s and King’s market and actually gotten in the water at Anaehoomalu Bay — and you’re dehydrated, hot and craving a shave ice?
Well, if it’s between 10 AM and 2 PM (noted the limited hours), AND the folks from the Ocean Sport’s concessions stand Abay Café aren’t on a needed break AND if they haven’t run out of ice — you get a huge, overflowing shave ice with two flavors and you sit at the slightly sticky picnic table in the shade of the palm trees and you alternately spoon then slurp, as it melts away, the cooling and soothing flavors of kiwi, mango, blueberry, lychee, strawberry etc as your toes push the sand around and surf splashes on the beach and you think: yes, this is a very enjoyable experience.
Note: the map address doesn’t show the real location BUT the marker I positioned with the correction feature does (right on the beach). Google Maps doesn’t do well with «it’s on the beach, at the end of the beach walk in front the Waikola Beach Marriott that goes over the fish pond next to the cluster of palm trees and the Ocean Sports beach hut, within frisbee distance of the surf» or with the theoretical address.
The relatively low star rating, BTW, is only because of the restricted hours and the absence of the apparent Hawaiian local benchmark shave ice with ice cream buried in the middle — but really, on a hot afternoon, with the ocean front location and a friendly server who accommodates your youngest kid’s eccentric flavor combination requests — it’s a five. I’m glad it’s there.
Something like $ 3.50 for a shave ice (hey, they have to carry the ice all the way down to beach front hut; it’s not like there’s a water line and ice maker inside that little shack!)
Worth it.