Hawaii - Day 2

This morning we woke up about 7:30 and got ready while we waited for the bell to ring at the place we are staying.  The bell signals breakfast being ready and we headed right down!  Hot coffee, tea, 3 kinds of juice, fresh mango, papaya, bananas, kiwi, strawberries, grapefruit, hawaiian bread with three kinds of jellies, muffins, and a build your own omelette area....we had it all!  We needed our energy for a day out and about.

After breakfast we took a drive down to Kahalu'u Beach Park for snorkeling.  The area was pretty busy as it has great snorkeling for all levels.  My first and only other snorkeling attempt was in Mexico in the ocean where we jumped off of a ship into the water.  While successful, it wasn't the best first snorkeling experience one could have.  However, today's adventure was great!  We saw so many kinds of fish in a great array of colors.  Eavesdropping on some conversations, we followed a couple to an area where they had located a huge turtle!  The four of us watched the turtle as it came up for air twice and then dipped back down to rest by a rock, probably wishing we would go away.  Unfortunately Jay cut his hand open on some rocks during the outing.  We learned from a gentleman representing ReefTeach once we got out of the water that this is a popular spot for turtles to live into their "teens" until they mature between ages 25 and 45 years.  At any given time there are around 12-14 turtles in the park area.  Amazing!
  We rinsed off and decided to head north for a bit to find another beach.  We settled on Makalawena, listed in our guide book as "A Real Gem".  A 15 minute walk from the Kona Coast State Park, it was advertised as somewhat secluded, so we figured we had a good shot of a little more elbow room.  The one thing we didn't know was how treacherous it would be to even get to the park.  About 1.3 miles (I'm guessing) from the highway we finally reached the park.  But it took us a solid 20 minutes driving there - at some point the road was carved out of hardened lava and paved, but never maintained and super rugged.  Our little economy car was a trooper, though!  Questioning our decision, about halfway down the road we actually asked someone leaving the area if it was really worth the drive! He assured us it would be and he was right.  The beach was gorgeous!  White sand and bright blue water.  Tide was starting to come and kick up a lot of sand, so our attempt at snorkeling was fruitless, but we had a good laugh (and the people on shore probably did to) at my attempts to put on snorkeling fins while sitting down in the water as waves came in. I got dragged up the sand then back down the sand.  Oh well!  With poor visibility we chose to swim a little.  I left Jay in the water to splash around some more and, in a fashion more befitting of me than him, Jay cut his foot open on some coral.  Two wounds in one day!  We took some pictures and enjoyed the views a while longer before walking back to the car and bobble-heading our way back up the uber-bumpy road.

  After a quick stop for some liquid bandaid and neosporin we drove a short distance to the Old Kona Airport.  The runway is right along the ocean, lined with black lava beaches.  A few more photos and ocean watching, then we headed back to the ranch to shower and get ready for dinner out on the town!