We went for dinner in Haleiwa after our trip to Waimea Falls Park. The lady at the gift shop in Waimea Falls suggested we go to a place called Cholos Homestyle Mexican Restaurant. (Well, at first she suggested that we go to a squid luau, but said that there weren't any parties for us to crash that she knew of.) Dinner was excellent and a great suggestion.
After dinner, we stopped along the beach to watch the sunset. I think it dawned on all of us that tonight is our last night in Hawaii. Tomorrow afternoon I leave to go back to New York and the rest of my family head back to the misty mountains of Asheville. Knowing this seemed to make the sunset all the more powerful.
Above is a close-up of the sunset. If you look closely, you can see the wind on the water.
Here's a snapshot of Azalea posing like a statue in front of the sunset. 
It's funny, but when I look at this picture, I'm reminded of the cover of Island of the Blue Dolphins. 
Above is a picture of Cynthia and Greg. This is right before Cynthia and I saw a strange shape moving out near a rock in the water. It was clearly not anchored and looked to be moving. From the rounded shape, we guessed it was a seat turtle. Both of us got SO excited! We both started shouting, "Honu! Honu! Honu!" ("Honu" means sea turtle in Hawaiian.)I tried to get a better look for Azalea on a place that wasn't so rocky and potentially dangerous. As we stepped onto the sandy portion of the beach, I noticed further down the beach a rock that seemed oddly smooth. In comparison to the other jagged lava rocks, it seemed to stick out. That's when I realized that it was a turtle! The beach had five sea turtles ashore, all in deep sleeps.
Above is a picture of me with the "baby" turtle in the background. I say, "baby," because it was the smallest of all of the turtles slumbering, but this baby was still pretty big and was probably a hundred or so years old.
Here's a closer shot of the sleeping turtle. I didn't want to touch it and wake it up. Azalea was a little scared of them, because a little boy playing on the beach told her that if they woke up the turtles would bite her toes off. I didn't know how true this was, but didn't want to upset Azalea (nor possibly lose any digits).
Of all the ways to end our last day in Hawaii, I could not think of a more magical hour.
5 comments:
Andrew, you were truly honored and graced to see the hono on the beach; in all my years of living and visiting in Hawai'i I have never seen them on the
How very very special. glad you had such a lovely time. Joan T
Hey Joan!
I feel very lucky and honored indeed! It was such a wonderful experience.
Maybe the next time you go back, you'll see them. We found out, as we were driving back and saw the biggest and brightest moon I've seen in a long time. It looked like a giant melon in the sky. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why they were relaxing on shore?
It was a great time! I can't wait to go back.
You are so thoughtful to let us always see what you and everyone in your familys doing Andrew. And its wonderful to see what yall are up to! Cynthia looks so very beautiful in the pic of herself in the one that you said looks like Island of the Blue dolphins. It must be so hard to leave Hawaii. I can only imagine how cool it would be to live there full time!
Hey Janet,
It's my pleasure to share my little corner of the world with everyone out in Blogland. Each of us lives different lives, unique and beautiful in different ways. I think that blogging is about sharing and in that sharing, communicating and creating community.
I know that if I lived there, I'd have an excellent tan!
What great pics! How neat that you got to see the sea turtles.
I love that pic of Cynthia on the beach. She looks so peaceful.
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