Hawaii Bound - Monday

May 19 2008


Up early for our snorkel at Honaunau. This is also called "Two Step". The drive was nice, a little overcast with some sprinkles. We parked at the historical park-Pu'uhonua O Honaunau and walked over to the snorkel area. This is the most awesome place we have ever been snorkeling. This is a very easy entry if you know where to go. It is called Two Step for a reason. You just walk across the lava to where there are 2 lava steps. Step down and just fall into about 10 feet of water. If you are struggling to get in and walking across slippery rocks you are in the wrong place. Just look for where everyone else is getting in. We saw just about every fish in the fish ID book that we have. Believe it or not, Matt was actually disappointed that we did see any of the white tip reef sharks. I think it was because he is so much more comfortable in the water now. We snorkeled a large portion of the area. Be very careful getting out. There are very small sea urchins in the holes on the steps. I ended up with a sea urchin spine broken off in my finger. I found it very tranquil there. We met a really nice guy there named Ted who is a free diver. He had great stories. After our snorkel we walked around the "City of Refuge". For some reason I didn't bring the camera to take pictures. This is a very interesting place. If you broke one of the many laws you could make a break for this area. If you made it before being killed, a kahuna could decide what you needed to do to be forgiven. After you completed your penance you could go back to your village. That being said the area was very peaceful. At the temple there are ki'i. These are the wooden carvings that watch over the site. If you ever go look the the ki'i that is "anatomically correct". I wonder what that one was is supposed to watch over. On the drive back we stopped at the St. Benedict Catholic Church. This is the famous Painted Church. It is hard to imagine that one priest painted all that by himself. It is also hard to imagine that we have been in 2 churches in 3 days. Matt said it is even more shocking that we weren't struck by lightning! Back home we took a quick shower. Matt decided to go for a short run while I went to Long's for more sunscreen. We went to an open house downstairs. One of the listings was for the closed restaurant on the property. We spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to buy it and move to Hawaii. We need to do a lot more research but it could be doable. I called Tam and got her started. I asked J if he wanted to tend bar. He said that Dustin wants to come to wait tables, plus Dustin can tend bar also. We also talked about sending for Kenneth when business picks up so he can man the grill. We decided that we needed to talk to the agent at his open house the next day. We watched the sunset from the balcony off the bedroom then ate the rest of the hamburgers for dinner. We called Gramma to report on her property. She was surprised that the roads were paved. She had assumed that they were gravel. She may just hold onto it for a while longer.