Dinner Party in Waimea

I'm quite proud of myself. I hosted a dinner party for 9 people without any staples. I guess I would have to count the salt and pepper that were in the cupboard as staples, so I guess that isn't entirely true. It is hard to design a menu where you don't invest that much in things you have to leave behind. I did have to buy olive oil and vinegar but the rest was just fresh. The meal had 2 bulbs of garlic, 4 bagettes, fresh thyme, 10 lemons, 3limes, Kyr was juicing all day. Not entirely true, we did manage to beach it as well. The menu was sourdough crostini, scampi with margaritas. Followed by marinated beef, baguettes, rice-blackbeans-corn salad, greek potatoes, greek salad and caesar salad plus the au jus from the beef. It was delicious. Harmen's family seemed to enjoy it and they came fully insulated against the Waimea cold by wearing their Vancouver outfits.
We have spent almost all of our time snorkeling. The last 2 days have been spent at Hapuna which has been lauded as the best beach in the state. It is a lovely expanse of sand and we were treated to the humpbacks leaping wildly out of the water in their entirety - probably some kind of mating display. All of the people at the beach were in awe. We have found some spectacular snorkeling just south of the beach - 3 rocky inlets and miles of uninterrupted coral. Unfortunately Jacques' camera has developed a leak, much to everyone's disappointment and Jacques' despair. But we still soldier on even without the plethora of documentation. Jacques can still take about 9 pictures per outing so it is almost like going back to the days of film where you had to be very selective with your photography. I'll remind him of Shackleton's photographer where each plate of film was a jealously guarded thing, but yet the photos are amazing. The only visible perils of snorkeling at Hapuna are the fishermen on the cliffs above. Once a fishing weight came into the water beside me, and this is before I was even aware that there were fisherman. When I shot to the surface to look around and see what was going on, the guy casting looked really smug and I had a horrified feeling that perhaps he was trying to get me. Yesterday I swam by a fish caught in the wierdest way imaginable. It was as though he had two wire pincers holding his thorax and riggled wildly in the pincers. It was such an odd set up that I wondered if he were bait for a much larger fish. With that horrifying thought I swam away rapidly. So rapidly in fact that the flutter kick I was doing has damaged both kneecaps and the pain of bone on bone is so intense that I am unable to sleep. Just to give some indication - percacet doesn't touch it. Ah the perils of snorkeling.
It is raining again and the rain has the quality of maybe being on the whole island. Hopefully that is not the case and we can go to the beach today and I will avoid the flutter kick and do my own invention of a kick that doesn't seem to hurt.