Hawaii 2010
Yesterday's tour company also owned Bongo Ben's restaurant next to the hotel, so we went there for breakfast, then explored the farmer's market up the road while waiting for Sophia to call us to pull taxi duty for all the rest of the family coming in today.
Fortunately we weren't needed, so we drove south to Kealakekua Bay and the Captain James Cook Monument, only to be foiled by the lack of beach access and the lack of time to rent a kayak. We wandered back north and went snorkeling at Kahalu'u Bay, where we ended up with our own private sea turtle viewing for a solid 10 minutes. He just treaded water there off the rocks, nibbling algae while we watched... and occasionally yelled for people to come over, but no one could hear us over the waves!
Ended up skipping White Sands Beach Park (we'd seen plenty of white sand by now) and instead aimed straight back for the hotel so we could get ready for the luau.
Traditional Hawaiian pig, buried in the ground and cooked for hours, hula dancers and live music, and a full on buffet complete with tasty pork, beef, and ahi poke (mmmm!)... and of course it rained quite a bit, which really just added to the atmosphere. =P t'was a good time!