Today we headed south on Alii Drive towards the "End of the World". But first we stopped at Ku'emanu Heiau-the only temple in the state associated solely with surfing. This spot was available only to chiefs (commoners caught surfing here were put to death). Above (and for some unknown reason to the left) is a picture of an altar still used by some for morning prayer.
The lava platform is the heiau.
They must be chiefs!
Next door to the heiau is this "little blue church"
We continued our journey south until we hit a dead end and found this battle/burial ground for Hawaiians who fought to kill their ancient religion - the kapu system - in 1820.
Just a few feet from the battleground is the road to the "End of the World" (really that's what it says on the map)-a cliff jumping spot.
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Tadah!!!! This was absolutely spectacular. We had to climb over very sharp lava and hang out by a 15 ft drop into the ocean to get the shot.
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Tim walking the "End of the World" road
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And..here it is! I can now say that we have been to the End of the World and back!
On our way to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (Place of Refuge) we stopped at the Kona Pacific Farmers Coop in the town of Captain Cook. I sampled some exotic fruits, we had a lovely lunch (which will probably be our cheapest meal on the island) and took a slef-guided tour of their fruit garden. All of the different varities of fruit trees were brought over by immigrants.
Above are Surinam Cherries-very sour!
Here they are growing on the tree
From Mexico (thank goodness they didn't taste like eggs but they had a weird consistency)
Otaheite gooseberries (Madagascar)-more sour than the cherries
Tasted like banana ice cream :)!
From Indonesia and probably the most sour of the three. Their pamphlet talked about another fruit but we couldn't find the tree and after reading about it, I'm glad they didn't have a sample. The fruit is called noni from SE Asia. "Known as cheese fruit or VOMIT fruit. Also called starvatiion fruit. Depsite its strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit is nevertheless eaten as a famine food." That say's it all.
Place of Refuge-lawbreakers had one chance to escape inevitable death by reaching the shores of this place before their enemies reached them. If you made it, then all was forgiven.
Weaving hats
There is a massive lava wall that is 1000 ft long, 10 ft tall and 17 ft thick that surrounds and separates the refuge from the palace grounds.
Tim and his buddies
Our first turtle sighting
2nd one
And the third one. This one was far inland waiting for the tide to come back in.
Solid wall of a heiau (temple) on the refuge side. Notice the size of those boulders. This waws massive 60 ft x 80 ft and 7 ft high.
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