March 18 - South Kohala

From the tiny town of Puako, we headed down the dead-end road past many homes to a shoreline access point near the end.

The shoreline here is seemingly endless lava rocks and tidepools.

We spotted three sea turtles in the area. One just sat in the shallow water. Another was searching for something. The third was eating off the bottom and swimming back to sea. It would brace itself as the waves came in the narrow channel, then release and go with the flow as the waves went back out.

A couple local men waved us over to look at two eels that they fed mahi guts. The bigger eel grabbed the guts in a death spiral, keeping the smaller eel away from it. After a minute, both eels scurried under rocks, leaving a lot of food behind.

Back on the road, we headed for our hotel, driving through a red rock area.

At the Hilton Waikoloa Resort, it was unclear where to park to register. I think they prefer if you use the valet parking. At the front desk, we got quite a spiel about the resort. I tried to hurry her along and it took less time than the family in front of us.

I then went to park the car as Chunlin waited, but I lost the parking lot gate key card. Chunlin had picked it up and thought it was her room key. After frantically searching the car near the gate, I drove back up the hill to the lobby building to search there, whereupon I got the card back from her.

Drive to the parking lot, walk back to the lobby building, get on the resort train with Chunlin, and eventually at our room. Whew.

After sunset, we semi-escaped the resort to the local mall foodcourt for dinner. Loco moco, kapua pork, teriyaki beef.

The train at the Waikoloa Hilton is slow. After dinner, we walked the quarter mile from the lobby building to our hotel building and the train probably hadn’t even arrived at the lobby yet. The other train was waiting at our hotel, the north end of the line.

We walked along the lagoon, paused on a bridge. The bright half-moon and a million stars shone overhead. I blocked the few lights with my arms and stared into space. Stars, stars, and infinite stars. Living in the city, I don't get to see stars much anymore. Bummer.

Back at our room, Chunlin drifted asleep while a movie played. I wrote and thought about tomorrow. Last day tomorrow.