Today was less eventful (regarding the number of stops) but fun. Some people in our group started the day snorkeling in an area where there was a possibility of swimming with dolphins. I didn’t join because I get to kayak with dolphins regularly during summers for my job, so I figured I’d let others see if they could find any…unfortunately, dolphins did not appear today.
I started the day with a nice breakfast and then moved on with the rest of the group to meet up at Pu’uhonua, a national historic park, which was super cool.
In ancient Hawaii, this place was known as a “place of refuge.” What that meant was that if a Hawaiian broke what is known as “kapu,” or the rules of the area, they would be put to death unless they could find and take shelter in a place of refuge. These Puʻuhonuas were the home of priests and the bones of chiefs and were considered sacred, so if someone could get to one, they were allowed to claim refuge and live out their second chance at life in the Puʻuhonua. If you want to read more about Puʻuhonuas, click on the link.
Next, the group moved to a snorkeling spot, where we swam around for quite some time. It was really neat snorkeling. We saw a ton of coral and some really bright yellow fish. I was most impressed by the massive sea urchins on the sea floor. They were HUGE. After swimming around for a while, we moved over to a smaller tidal pool warmed by the Sun and sat and talked for a bit, which was really nice.
After that, we drove to where Captain Cook was killed in the late 1700s. The story we heard from a friend on the trip was that he originally arrived in the islands and was warmly welcomed as a god. The native Hawaiians probably believed he was a god since he had such white skin. Later, when he was leaving, his mast broke, forcing him to return. Upon returning, the natives realized he was, in fact, not a God, and in the face of some disputes between natives and westerners, he ended up on the wrong side of the native Hawaiians, and he was killed in the bay we went to see.
In the evening, a few of us went out to dinner…
…which was lovely 🙂 we ended the day by gathering and watching Shrek. Mahalo for reading!