Picture Gallery Wednesday, July 19
L13: Koa Cottage
L18: Punaluu Beach
M15: Coast of Ka Lae
M17: Tree at Ka Lae

Our final breakfast at Carsons Volcano Cottage was without Rebecca, since she wasn't feeling her best. The breakfast cat chose my lap to warm up in. We were well-packed and loading the car was not a problem, especially after Mom mailed 2 18-pound boxes to Delaware.

Our first stop was the back sand beach at Punaluu, where we also saw our first sea turtles - one resting on the beach and several feeding in the shallow waters. There were tidal pools that had little fish and crabs. Our next stop was Ka Lae, or South Point (after accidentally stopping at the head of the trail for the green sand beach). It was very windy there, but the surf was beautiful.

We got back on the highway, which required returning on the one-lane road from Ka Lae, and headed to the Kona coast. For lunch, we tried stopping at two places before a friendly local pointed us to Aloha Cafe near Kailua. That meal gave us the stamina to backtrack 9 miles to see the Puuhonua O Honaunau (City of Refuge). That was an interesting recreation of a Hawaiian sacred place where condemned men could flee to be absolved. We saw some more sea turtles and fish off the salt-and-pepper beach there.

We then made it to the Kona Village Resort: "The Huts." The guard let us by and we were greeted with plumeria leis and assurances that our car would be unloaded into our hut. It is pretty spacious for a hut but not many modern features: no phone, TV, or AC. It's sheltered on all sides by trees, but we can still see the lagoon from our lanai.

We walked around the property to get our bearings and then went on to our "surf and turf" dinner. It was quite good, and we all had plenty to eat.

day 11	index	day 13