South Point and HOVE

Today, we made a foray further south from our "neighborhood" - and further south on the island than either of us have been before.

We headed toward Ocean View, which has also been known as "Hawaii Ocean View Estates" - someone we met the other day advised us that there would be an ukulele jam group meeting at the L&L Drive-in there. Well, the half-hour drive along a beautiful, scenic road, brought us directly to the L&L Drive-in, where a small band was setting up to perform. In the adjacent parking lot there was a flea market going on, but nowhere in sight or sound was there any jamming going on. Oh well, we had a good time meeting some "locals" (some of whom are transplants from the "mainland").

Afterwards, the day was still young, so we headed out towards South Point - the southernmost point in the United States. By itself, this might not be a very dramatic notion, but the southern tip of this island is the site of churning ocean waters, with a current that heads, uninterrupted, straight towards Antartica. It is believed that this was the entry point to Hawaii for the first Polynesians who came and settled here. The fishing is very rich, and we saw some fishermen at work when we were there today. We were most impressed with the wave action on the windward (east) side of the point.

A local collecting seafood.

Mari at South Point

Another spectacular sunset tonight:

After a trip back home and a late lunch, we decided we needed just a little bit more exercise. So we drove down the hill to Pebble Beach, so we could take a bit easier stroll on "King's Trail", out of curiosity. We could see this broad trail from up the hill, and just wondered where it went. Well, after a false start on the actual tail, which was covered with weeds, we tried a different, unmarked path, which we nicknamed "People's Trail". It led to a "secret" beach where one young couple was hanging out - he was sea-fishing, and she was lying on the beach enjoying a good book. There was actually a flush toilet installed at this secret hideaway! Further beyond this point the People's Trail merged back with the King's Trail and the weeds were gone. According to a guide book, this trail circumnavigates the entire island, more or less. 

Finally, we headed back home to unwind and relax - just in time for the beautiful sunset Ron captured in the photos above.

Boat hoist (see picture below). The concrete pad was the jumping point.

Some people jumped off the cliff near South Point, then climbed up a ladder installed near a boat hoist there. We were told the water was warm. Too bad we didn't bring our suits, huh?

There is a constant wind at South Point