OK. . .despite all the glowing things I've written so far about this vacation, it was not all perfect. So let's talk about the worst experience of our trip: snorkeling.
We set out with high hopes on Sunday morning, for a 3 hour, 2 site snorkel. The boat ride out was very fun and fast - nothing like the sea wind whipping through your hair to make you feel cool! We happened upon a huge pack of dolphins (probably 100 or more) and they did some tricks for us. All good so far! We got to the 1st site, got our gear on, got in the water, swam around beautiful coral and fish - everything was great!! So let me just summarize the rest: both Ked and I ingested salt water, and from our experiences (and at least 3 others on board) it takes only a little bit of salt water in your body to make you feel VERY nauseated. So by the time we made it to the lovely Kealakekua Bay (the best snorkel spot in the state, and reportedly it has the 'dropoff' that inspired the one in Finding Nemo), we were both really too sick to enjoy it. We did take some pics on a non-digital underwater camera so we can't post them. We drove home and spent the rest of the day in bed. . . and that was our Sunday in Hawaii!!
On Monday, our last day, I finally convinced Kedron to visit the most difficult place on the island to pronounce: Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (Poo-oo-hoe-NEW-uh Oh Hoe-NOW-now). This is an ancient place of refuge, and it turned out to be a fascinating place. We happened to arrive at the start of a park ranger talk, and hearing her explain the cultural significance of this place made our visit very interesting. The ancient Hawaiians had very strict religious beliefs, which included 4 major gods, 100+ lesser gods, and many forbidden practices (if something was forbidden it was called 'kapu' by the Hawaiians). For instance, males and females couldn't eat together. Females couldn't eat any foods sacrificed to the gods, which included bananas or pork. If did something that was considered kapu, the punishment was death, because the Hawaiians believed that the gods would send a tsunami, famine, etc, if the 'sin' wasn't atoned for. So, yes, a woman could be killed for eating a banana. IF a rulebreaker could flee to one of these places of refuge around the island, a priest there could perform a forgiveness ritual on the person and all would be OK.
Once the Hawaiians realized that this belief system didn't work, most of the places of refuge around the island were destroyed. This one remains because it holds the remains of several royal Hawaiian figures.
On our last day, we also spent some time in Kona (which was the only part of the island that actually seemed crowded with tourists; though the city had had a marathon the day before so we wondered if that was why). Our flight didn't leave till 9pm, so we got to watch one more sunset before heading home.
We don't know if we'll ever make it back here, but we completely fell in love with this island! Aloha, Hawaii!
