Sunday Drive

Sunday started off productively. I stripped the sheep stall down to the bare floor, sprinkled some diatomaceous earth and rebedded the whole thing.  However, when I headed inside to accomplish the other things on my To Do List, my husband decided he wanted to take a Sunday drive down to Punalu'u Beach.  It is quite a distance, so I pulled out the camera.  I thought we were going to the public beach park where there are usually honu (giant sea turtles) but we went over by the heiau, an ancient Hawaiian worship place.  I still took pictures....

I found this bit of coral and thought it would make a good picture. 

 Beautiful sky.

 A friend and his little girl.  The kids are running over the beach bare foot...tough feet!

 My husband is fishing - we didn't catch anything.

 The kids are swimming - there is a little protected part right in front of this rock - otherwise, these seas are too rough.  Actually, the tide was coming up, and the kids had a scary moment when they were dragged through the surf. We got them, of course. This was a good lesson - don't turn your back on the ocean.

 Even in the rocks, the naupaka grows.

This is why the Big Island, at least the east side is not highly popular with beach going tourists - they stick to Maui or Oahu.

A better picture of the kids.

A close up of Naupaka.  There is a Romeo and Juliet type legend surrounding this flower - two unhappy lovers were separated.  One is banished to the seaside and one to the mountains.  The flowers are in half to show they are missing the other lover.

I couldn't find any Honu, but here's a sign about them!  They love the black sand beaches and will come to sun themselves.  Black sand beaches are very hot in the summer. 

This a picture of one of the heiau at Punalu'u.  The Hawaiian people would worship at these sites.  Punalu'u is on the path of a series of heiau and sacred sites.

A dried up old coconut.

A hiker must have brought the coconut from the grove in the middle distance behind this smaller Heiau.

The waves were fairly large.  You can see how rocky the coast line is.  Our island is still young, and there aren't many sand beaches.

A clearer view of the coconut grove and the ranch behind.

I just thought the sweep of the mountains behind the beach was beautiful!

That wave in the middle of the picture is much larger than it looks: the cliffs there are about 20 feet high.  The lava in the fore ground is a'a lava, rough lava which when it was flowing was full of gases, which left it rough and sharp.

A view of the beach from the heiau.

Part of this beach is rocks.  I love the smooth textures.  Once while camping here, I found a poi pounder.

I hope you enjoyed our Sunday drive!  The whole drive there, all I could think of was how much I wasn't doing at home - but once I got there, the beach worked its magic!