The day started off as rainy - really rainy - so I wasn’t sure what to expect when we got in the car and headed south on 11. We decided to head to South Point, or Kalae, to see what was down there. On the way we found a coffee mill just south of Hawaii Volcanoes, where I bought an awesome tote made from a burlap coffee sack, and a black sand beach! The sun had come out by the time we arrived anywhere interesting, and, to make things even better, we saw some endangered green sea turtles!
Further South, in Kalae, there was not too much going on. We drove down a winding, one lane road through nothing but farmland until we arrived at the end. There were people jumping off the cliff into the ocean, which apparently is a tradition or something, but Jesse and I chose not to participate. Instead, we enjoyed the scenery. Dark cliffs, volcanoes, and the Pacific. From that point there is nothing but ocean between where you’re standing and Antarctica. I thought that was neat!
When we got to Kona, on the other side of the island, we stopped for lunch and wandered around the shops for an hour or so. Later, when we finally arrived back at our hotel in Hilo, we determined that our hotel faces west on the Hilo Bay. We caught the sun setting over the bay and Mauna Kea. Woohoo!
