Hawaii Trip - Day Three (10/23/09): Two Step & the Place of Refuge

Each morning that we stayed at the Lucky Farm B&B, we headed up to the main house about 7:30am for a home-cooked breakfast. On the left is the main house (in blue). Behind Tomkin, down the hill about 100 feet, was the Coffee Barn, where we stayed.

We also got to drink freshly brewed Kona coffee made from beans grown right on the premises (since the B&B is located on a working coffee farm) and POG juice (made from passion fruit, oranges, and guavas), my new favorite drink! And we got toast with homemade jam--my favorite was the jaboticaba jam. So tasty! The extra-special treat every day was the amazing plate of tropical fruit laid out for us--much of it pulled right from the trees in the yard. The first morning we got oranges, passion fruit, bananas, papayas, starfruit, and dragon fruit. We loved the dragon fruit--and after we discovered that it sells for $6 a pound, we were glad we got to eat some for free at the B&B! In addition to Johnsie (above, on the right) and her dad, John, who own the B&B, there were a couple other regulars in the Lucky Farm cast of characters. John-Paul, Johnsie's boyfriend, is a beekeeper who taught us a lot about fruit, bees, and pollination. Albert, originally from Connecticut, is sort of a Hawaii Renaissance man--he used to be the artist-in-residence at the Hilton, and he studies petroglyphs and languages and was always offering to be a tour-guide-for-hire. For the first couple nights of our stay, there was a young couple from Alaska at the B&B as well, and we enjoyed chatting with them. Miss Kitty was one of the three cats that hung around outside the B&B. Oreo (who spent a lot of time on our roof) and Callie (the calico) were really skittish. Miss Kitty stayed near the house, but she didn't really like to be petted. After breakfast that Friday, we packed up our beach gear, borrowed some snorkel gear (we brought our own prescription goggles but used fins, snorkels, and towels from the B&B). And Tomkin made some sandwiches. (Beneath the main house was a common cooking area, with a fridge we all used, plus coolers and other stuff.)Then we headed to the beach! Most beaches on the Big Island weren't "beachy" in the "sandy" sense--they were mostly made of lava rock. The first place we went was called "Two Step" because it's only two steps into the water. We carried our stuff out to a spot on the rocks and geared up to go snorkeling. I'd never been snorkeling before, and apparently this was not the best place to start. First of all, the rocks were slippery, sharp, and hard to hold onto. And second, the waves were really strong. So it was a little scary getting into and out of the water (at least for me). I also made the mistake of bringing my camera along the first time, rather than letting myself get acclimated first. So I was swimming around in a rocky, wavy area, not really knowing what I was doing, getting saltwater in my goggles and snorkel, and trying to take pictures. There were lots of cool fish, so I did get a few good shots, and I also passed the camera over to Tomkin for a while. (I had brought an old point-and-shoot camera, which we put in an underwater-camera bag.) After snorkeling and swimming around for a while (probably about 15-20 minutes), we went back on shore to rest, eat some lunch, and get our bearings. We saw an older man and his dog go snorkeling (they're walking by in the picture below)--all that dog wanted to do was stay with his master! It was sweet to watch them.When he got tired of swimming, the dog walked up on some land, but he kept an eagle eye on his person until they were safely back together. (You can see the dog in the photo below.)Tomkin ended up talking with the man for a while about dogs. Eventually we tried going snorkeling again, and this time I left my camera on land. It was nice to float around and look at all the cool fishes and coral. Still, though, a little snorkeling went a long way for me. We dried off, packed up, checked out some critters in a wading pool (pointed out to us by what appeared to be a curious kid not getting enough attention from his folks), and then drove next door to the beautiful Place of Refuge. There was a time when this spot was a sanctuary for those who had been sentenced to death or needed a place to escape during wartime. It is still considered sacred by the Hawaiian people, and we thought it was a lovely, serene area. You're not allowed to snorkel (or picnic or sunbathe) here, but we could see nearby Two Step, where we had just gone snorkeling. We took the self-guided tour around the National Park and learned about the significance of different places and things. The 500-year-old rock wall (built without mortar!) separated the Place of Refuge from the area where only royals could go. And there's a small bay where protected sea turtles swim--we saw a few! None came up on shore, but we watched them move through the water and come up for air. So cool!Tomkin and I sat together under a noni tree and enjoyed the amazing view and sense of serenity. We left about 2:00 and headed to The Coffee Shack, a restaurant near our B&B with an incredible view. We snagged the best seat on the lanai, ordered some pizza (and a beer for me), relaxed, and took it all in. Then we headed to Ace Hardware, where we picked up some flypaper and Raid (which helped significantly with the gnat problem in our room) and had a long chat with one of the old Hawaiian men who worked there (who turned out to be a Jehovah's Witness). And we couldn't help but notice the Christmas decorations, which seemed rather out-of-character in Hawaii! We went next door to the Choice Mart and picked up a few more groceries (no, we didn't actually buy any Spam), then headed back to our B&B. Tomkin took the computer up to the main house (the WiFi didn't reach all the way down to the Coffee Barn), and I used our lovely outdoor shower and then went up and used the computer myself to check Facebook and e-mails. The rest of the evening we just hung out, relaxed, and read, and then we went to bed early. There's not a lot of nightlife on the Big Island--certainly not where we were staying, anyway. But that was fine with us. Most people get up early and go to bed early--and we got into that habit right away.