"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

Today we got up before the sun and drove down south of Kona.  We were originally going to rent some kayaks and go out to the Captain Cook monument ourselves but we read that they require permits to tie up your kayak and we were too late to get one (They were checking permits at the monument so we were glad we did not just tie up.)  We booked with a group called Adventures in Paradise and had a 6:45 am curtain call.  It was definitely worth getting out early.  

Heading to the monument

Pat steering the way

On our drive down to the drop in point our guide told us all about the history of Captain Cook and how he discovered the Big Island.  When he arrived there was a huge festival going on and the people there were awaiting for the return of one of their gods.  He was mistaken as the God and once the hoax was eventually up the native Hawaiians became very angry.  They ended up killing him on the land close to the monument.  We then kayaked over to the Captain Cook monument, it only took about 20-30 minutes.  We took our Kayaks ashore and did some serious snorkeling.  

Captain Cook Monument

Captain Cook Monument

There were soooo many fish and the water was very clear.  The coral was also beautiful.  We had an underwater case for our camera, which definitely paid off.  Below are a few pictures of this underwater paradise.  We even saw an eel!

Yellow Tangs, we saw several of these

Kihikihi Moorish Idol

Black Durgon Triggerfish, with Slate Pencil Urchin on the left

Butterfly Fish

Pinktail Durgon

Pat deep sea diving for fish

A rare fish known as "Hai-di-Ken'i"

Whitemouth Moray Eel

Uhu or Blue Bullethead Parrot Fish

Uhu or Blue Bullethead Parrot Fish

After the snorkeling trip we had some local burgers, a milkshake, and drove back to our hotel. 

Drive to Mauna Kea

After a short nap we went over to Mauna Kea, the sister hotel of the Hapuna, for dinner and a view of the sunset.  We were trying to see the green flash but we didn't have much luck.  Some say it is all a myth but apparently right as the sun goes below the horizon you can see a green flash of light.

The shore of Mauna Kea

Notice the two top import beers. Made on the Big Island, hmm?

Gorgeous Sunset

The sun hiding.

The sun still hiding and Pat fine-tuning his photography skills.

Shore of Mauna Kea

Tomorrow we get to sleep in (For Pat that means 7:30 hopefully tomorrow it will be a little later) and enjoy the ammenties of our hotel, before our flight back to Oahu.