Place of Refuge

Yesterday we went to the Place of Refuge. The one place on the island where if you managed to make it there you were absolved of any crimes (including stepping on the king's shadow) and could escape certain death. Before hand we were caught in quite a downpour and decided to accept being wet and just snorkel. We entered in where the waves were surging on the lava outcroppings. It feels and looks dangerous but it isn't too bad having done it on many occasions. Many school children were bobbing up and down in the water just a the point of entry and made it difficult to get in and avoid them with all of the wave action. The kids were swimming back and forth to a large hawaiian canoe where they were taking turns getting instructions on how to operate these large canoes. A guy leaving just as we went in said he saw a reef shark. Joop says it was probably a large Jack fish. The snorkeling was lovely. Just a moon scape of coral with some interesting angle fish with long pointy noses.

Wandering around the place of refuge wasn't too serene with the wild teenage shinanigans of Mist and Kyr as they chased each other wildly around. I like the picture of them that looks like American Gothic.

Afterwards we raced to Waikaloa to attempt the sunset beach photos of the stuffy wedding. The crew looked dapper in all their beautiful handmade wedding attire, including Yatta with the fuchsia bougainvillea stuffed in her slit. But unfortunately the sun had set and the beach was windswept. Melissa and I were all for continuing the photo shoot but the bossy teenagers made it impossible. We'll try again today.

We were tired and it was late so we decided to eat Mexican just 2.5miles from Morning Fire. It was just like stepping into a taverna in Greece. It was open mike night so that the place was filled with locals delighting us with their musical talents. I got quite a kick of a brother duo Jeese and Jake. Jesse had the blond surfer dude hair with a fake Ausie accent and advanced to the mike saying that his brother was visiting from Wyoming and they thought they would get together and show us what they are about. It just kills me that saying. People are always promoting themselves in Nelson the same way. What does that mean - "show you what we're about"?Such presumption that the audience is just waiting with baited breath and filled with curiosity. Anyway they were quite enjoyable. Good old Jesse travels the island attending these open mike sessions. And he sheepishly said quite often it doesn't work out, he forgets the song. With his brother Jake looking on indulgently, Jesse managed to finish the songs. Jake appeared to have real talent on the saxaphone and some homemade pole he used for percussion with beer bottle caps. I was left with the sense that Jesse is quite a troubled handful and that his brothers great love and support helps keep him going. All in all it was entertaining. And then we arrived home to our own open mike session with Kyr serenading Misty with the ukulele and his version (based on the famous Hawaiian Isreal's version) of Somewhere over the Rainbow. Which he has managed to perfect in less than a day.