Hawaii, Fall 2002

To Day 2 PM, Volcano

Day One, Puuhonua o Honaunau: We arrived in Hawai'i! Warm, moist ocean breeze greeted us as we exited the airplane. Even the flight here was a little unusual -- they served guava juice, one of my favourites. Our first stop was Puuhonua o Honaunau, a place of refuge in the past for defeated warriors and common people who broke the "Kapu" law, now a national park and apparently a place of refuge for tropical fish and turtles. The snorkelling here was excellent, even under a rapidly graying sky. We saw more turtles than we'd seen in the last 3 years (okay, we actually managed to see zero turtles in the last 3 years). Besides turtles and fish, there were also abundant snorkellers and divers. A big ALOHA sign greeted us under 30 feet of water -- some energetic divers constructed this with bricks years ago. On the shore, a short hike led us through ruins of a Hawaiian village to the cliffs, where Matthew went through his first lava tube. As a law-abiding citizen, he did NOT jump out of the opening into the ocean.
Day Two AM, South Point to Punaluu: After a gigantic breakfast at the B&B, we set our course due south. The south point of the island is also the southern most point of the United States. Yes, despite this being an exotic tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles away from anywhere else on earth, this is still part of the US. Because of this fact, everyone speaks English and we were driving down the highway with a rental car just like in California. Even the scenery was reminisent of the golden state, a windy coast lined by pastures, with cows lazing about. Are they happy cows, like their relatives in California? Around South Point, the ocean was a deep, deep blue under the cliff. Supposedly, the current here is strong and goes all the way non-stop to Antarctica! The water was also very clear and enticing. Even from the top of the cliff we could see colorful fish swimming. The braver one of us decided to go for a dip. Again, he did not jump off the cliff, but rather went down a ladder made for fishermen to access their boats. I have to admit I felt intimidated just standing on the platform, and I am not one who is normally afraid of heights. As Matthew climbed carefully down the ladder, he provided pretty good live entertainment for the tourists that just arrived after us. Continuing our counter clockwise circle of the island, we saw our first black sand beach at Punaluu. The sand is really black! Another turtle awaited us on the black sand.