06May14 - Day 5, Big Island, Turtles and Luau

Today we explored the South West and a bit of the South East side of the Big Island by car.  We drove to the famous Black Sand Beaches in Punalu'u.

The drive there was only 75 miles but it took 2 hours, not much traffic but the roads are not highways and the landscape changes from tropical to woods, to fields, to moonscape lava rocks and back again in a few miles, it is very strange.

The Black Sand Beaches are very cool and what makes them extra cool is that the large Honu, or Hawaiian Green Sea turtles, love the black sand. They are swimming about everywhere and a few come up on the beach. They are protected but you can get close enough for some good pictures.

This one appears to be nesting....

From the black sand beaches we started back with intentions of finding lunch and doing a bit of snorkeling. We found lunch at a famous Hawaiian sweet bread store in Punalu'u, the Southernmost Bakery in the USA. It was very good and inexpensive (a change from what we have been experiencing).

After lunch we decided we would try to snorkel at Kealakekua Bay since what we read on the web said it has some of the best snorkeling in Hawaii, however it appears that access from the state park is difficult so most arrive by boat. We decided to forgo the skinned knees and move on. It was getting late so we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Luau.

We met Sue and Roger for the Luau, to say we had a great time is an understatement.  The drinks were flowing, the entertainment good, the food was excellent and the weather gave us some entertainment too.

During dinner and much of the entertainment, it was nice and we had a fabulous sunset that provided a nice photo opportunity, but once the sun went down it started to rain...but by then most were having so much fun we just stuck it out.  We sat with a young couple, Ryan and Julie from Michigan who were on their honeymoon. They were fun and probably a bit overwhelmed by three couples who have been married, 35+ years each having such a  good time.

They put on a good show, dancing with fire and the girls really enjoyed the rain soaked Hawaiian men.













After the Luau we moved onto Sue and Roger's room for continued partying, Sue and Roger again celebrated my retirement.  This is after they insisted on treating us to dinner in Oahu, I told them ok, this is my retirement year...we can continue this all of 2014.

It was another fun day....we retired exhausted...and it was good.