September 1, 2023

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Up with the crickets again to cook our oatmeal breakfast and head up the hill again. It was 52 this time when we got there!! But this time we were dressed more for it. No new birds, just the lovely usual. Instead I took more photos of the plantings.

After a short turnaround, we headed north to the beach at Mauna Lani. We had been there before in December 2021. The water was just about as cold this time, and the walk from the parking lot at the restrooms a LONG ¾ mile because we were lugging the 2 chairs, cooler with waters, and snorkeling gear across the smooth undulating lava fields. By then it was 90 degrees, per the car. Still, it was well worth it. An easy sandy entrance gives way to many coral heads and great variety of fish. In fact, we picked up 5 new fish: including another moray eel and a “day” octopus, as compared to the “night” octopus? When I first saw him I could see about 4”. By the time David came, only about 1” square was visible in the cleft of the rock. But he counted!

The only problem was that once more there was this “sheen” on the surface of the water that may be the influx of fresh water. Once David had to push me under the water to see an eel more clearly.

After about 1.5 hours for me, and another 20 mins for David, we had lunch at the outdoor restaurant. Delicious but crazy prices – the same as we paid at Costco for all our provisions the other day. Oh well, I brought home half my pulled pork sandwich.

On the way out we spoke with a local with a great deal of knowledge, Heidi. We will follow up on her recommendations asap.

And on the way home we checked out the lady selling ahi from coolers at the bottom of the road – bought $26 for all of it, and it was SO TENDER when seared and eaten with last night’s leftover rice. Yum. That was half of it. We didn’t eat dinner till 7:30, however for we needed to download and cull the many photos, and take naps of at least 2 hours! Each day I swear I have “caught the sun,” but so far am not red anywhere. We might be the only people I see putting on reef-safe sunscreen though.

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