After breakfast Jenny checked the guide book again for information about our destination for the day.
We were headed to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park. (Great Smoky Mountains is a lot easier to say!) Anyway, this place is referred to as Place of Refuge. In ancient Hawaiian times, if you broke the sacred laws (kapu), the punishment was death. No matter how serious or how minor an infraction, you had to die. Furthermore, if you saw someone in your family commit a crime, you had to kill them or risk being killed yourself! The only hope of survival was to seek exile at a "Place of Refuge". The only way to get to this particular place of refuge was to swim a very long way, but if you made it you were forgiven and could live, but you had to stay there for the rest of your life.
We stopped at the Visitors Center for maps, then began our exploration of this sacred place by the sea.
A typical dwelling place.
The Great Wall marks the boundaries between the royal grounds and the sanctuary. The wall was built by hand and has no mortar.
We learned about the ancient game, Konane, which is still popular today. It is a two-player strategy board game, similar to checkers. The white pieces are made from coral, the black pieces are lava.
We saw the sanctuary with its tiki idols.
It was an interesting walk in a very beautiful and peaceful setting. Afterwards we split up. Keith and Jeff went hiking and the rest of us headed next door to check out the snorkeling at Honaunau Bay, better known as Two Step. There is no sand beach there, just lava, and the water is best accessed by going down "two steps".
It is supposed to be the crown jewel of Big Island snorkeling, but most of the snorkelers we saw said there wasn't much to see today so we took a pass and headed back to meet up with the guys for a picnic at the park.
Meanwhile, Keith and Jeff hiked the 1871 Trail. The ancient trail has a wealth of archaeological remains, including structures, temples, and an ancient ramp that provides access to the cliffs of Keanae'e. The guys took the loop that ended at the beach where we were. They were excited to tell us about the wild goats they saw.
Time for a picnic! We enjoyed eating under the tree by the sea. We spent some time walking on the lava and I was finally able to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean (sort of).
After our picnic, we headed back to check out Kealakakua Bay. K Bay is another prime snorkeling location for boat tours. We wanted to stop, just to see the statue erected for Captain Cook.
The statue is that tiny white thing in the middle of the picture about an inch or so over on the left of the coastline. We weren't able to get as close as we had hoped. The only way to get to the statue is to swim, go by boat or take a very strenuous hike. I guess you might wonder why they would put it there - It marks the exact spot of Captain Cook's death. Afterwards we headed back to the house by way of a very interesting road. We didn't expect to see wild goats and we really didn't expect to see a cattle crossing! We also saw some chickens running loose.
We finally made it back home. After some ice cream and pool time we got ready for our evening event - The Luau! We chose the Island Breeze Luau at the King Kamehameha Hotel, near the harbor. It's a crap shoot when choosing a luau. They all get a lot of rave reviews and a handful of bad reviews so it's hard to choose. I went expecting nothing and found it was well organized and much better than I expected. After checking in and having our picture taken, we gathered on the lawn for fun and games and mai-tais.
I got a tattoo.
And then I made a half-hearted attempt at learning to hula. (Maitais!)
Then we watched them take our dinner out of the pit.
Then, there was the Royal Procession.
Then it was dinner time so we got in line.
Then we proceeded to chow down!
It was quite a feast - pork, turkey, beef, fish, and chicken with salads and rice. It was quite tasty. I didn't like poi (wallpaper paste) and I wasn't brave enough to try the poke (raw fish), but, all in all, there was plenty to eat. Once we were stuffed we settled in for the show. It was the usual fare - hula girls and half-naked men and a guy twirling fire. It seemed a little long or maybe I was just tired after another long, busy day. Anyway, it exceeded my expectations and will be something I will always remember.
And one last photo before we headed back home for bedtime.
No comments:
Post a Comment