The Unbearable Sadness of Leaving

It is so sad to be leaving - tonight at midnight - so today we will try and keep the day as routine as possible in order to not have the feeling of hawaii end too prematurely. The feeling of hawaii is a gradual encroachment, so gradual you don't even see it happening until you think back to what awaits at home - mostly just responsibility - and then you realize that you have been operating in days where the most taxing responsibility has been making sandwiches for lunch and when to leave the house for starbucks and the beach. And the biggest worry is always the quality of the water - how big are the waves, is the water clear? I think for the true health benefits to be had one should stay in this mode for a month, maybe to tempt fate - long enough so that the routine is boring. Wouldn't that be great? I wonder how long it would take before I found snorkeling boring? Each day is so new and exciting.
Yesterday we were guests of Harmen and Donna at the beach at Mauna Kea. Normally there is public access but it is very sparse and hard to come by unless you are there at 9am. The water was great for snorkeling which was such a relief because all week the ocean has be tumultuous and it is sometimes too wild to go out and because of all the tumult definitely too cloudy. But yesterday in the good conditions I managed to see an octopus. It was very darling and terrified. It crouched in a rock crevice looking so frightened every time we dove down to see him. You could just feel the intelligence radiating from his dear little body. In fact if I had to grade them you could sense they were more intelligent then our beloved sea turtles.
We were unable to fulfill my goal of snorkeling at captain cook. The day we tried the waves were so ferocious that the intrepid (or stupid) people that had gone out were having a very difficult time disembarking their kayaks. We witnessed one double kayak that sidled up to the cement pier and just when the helpful guys leaned down to give them a hand up the 3 foot cement drop to the ocean, a giant wave came and the one being lifted was flailing in the air getting knocked on the cement and the other poor sucker was almost tossed out of the kayak. Even in the world's most perfect conditions that disembarking is too difficult for me, I can't hoist myself up in a wobbly kayak with nothing to hold on to and somehow manage to leap to the pier. Last time one of the helpful guys leapt into the kayak and paddled me around to a beach. That beach was under too much wave action to even dare approach it on the day we contemplated a trip. My only consolation was that I was able to buy much beautiful Hawaiian fabric at a store coming home from Captain Cook. Now I need a new suitcase.
We managed to rouse ourselves for the botanical gardens and we took many beautiful shots of the exotic flora. The only consolation of the rough oceans has been the boogie boarding has been good for the boys. On the day of the picture I wasn't even able to go into the water the waves were so high. Kyr says that they were often boarding in 10 foot waves. It was terrifying to watch for the mother.
Farewell from Hawaii and pray we don't have too much difficulty getting home to snow bound BC.