Snorkeling & Luau - Friday

Our last Hawaiian day – but a great one. We get to go snorkelling. We got on the ‘Fair Winds II’ after getting our snorkels and masks and sailed down to Kealakekua bay to snorkel. Along the way we saw a small (about 1 m across) ray playing in the harbour and some spinner dolphins putting on a show for us. The boat sailed for about an hour down to Kealakekua Bay. This is a marine preserve for the corals and fish. We were very lucky as we were welcomed by a young humpback whale who surfaced a couple of times less than 100 m away before it decided it didn’t want anything to do with all of the snorkelers in the bay. When we left the spinner dolphins put on a second show.

This bay is also important for another reason. It is where Captain Cook landed the first time in the Hawaiian islands where he was met by upwards of 10000 people who were glad to see him. He visited twice more in a relatively short time but unfortunately he was killed by the Hawaiians who had had enough of the ships and their demands on his third visit to this spot.

There was lots of marine life with corals and all kinds of colourful tropical fish. We had a great barbecue lunch on the boat then snorkelled a bit more before sailing back. We were welcomed back by three large sea turtles who had come up with the tide to the sea wall.

Back at the hotel we began packing and finished our shopping – we had to get ready for the luau! Everyone put on their best Hawaiian shirts and dresses and we were ready to go. The luau began with the digging of the whole roasted pig out from the fire pit. It was covered with dirt many hours before and sat all day roasting by the hot rocks. Then we had a feast with lots of interesting things including poi (a purple carb staple made from tarot – yuck), a tasty dish from the tarot leaf and chicken, a shashimi dish, mahi mahi, and chicken, beef, and (or course) roasted pork. We all ate too much.

The luau ended with a show of Polynesian dancing all the way from New Zealand to Hawaii. There was a ‘costume malfunction’ where one of the male dancers lost his skirt! There was also a fire dancer who did some incredible things with burning torches. Sadly the evening ended and we all headed back to our rooms to pack as we have an early morning to leave.