Pu'uhonua o Honaunau

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau or The Place of Refuge-"Those who broke ancient Hawaii's intricate system of kapu (taboo) - perhaps by treading on the shadow of a chief, or fishing in the wrong season - could expect summary execution unless they fled to the sanctuary of a place such as this. As chiefs lived on the surrounding land, transgressors had to swim through the shark-infested seas. If successful, they would be absolved and released overnight." (taken from some Hawaii tourism website. Must be reliable, right?)

We took the kids on a little car ride over to the Place of Refuge. Mostly we went there so Dylan would know where to flee to when we'd had enough of his scowling and complaining (see below). Zing!

There was a little picnic area nearby where we stopped to eat and marvel at the amazing view. We walked out on the lava after lunch- searching the little tide pools out by the water.

(My mom brought along some Halloween tattoos that the kids really enjoyed. Caitlin mostly wanted them on her face. I thought the placement of the hat right between her eyes was pretty awesome.)

Once we entered the refuge (?) village (?) (I should know this- I was there, after all.) there were many interesting things to see including this game board with the black and white stones. The kids sat here long enough for a picture, but Dylan was not super chipper due to the heat (it was 85 degrees, you can see how that would be too much for a poor Seattle boy to endure) so he didn't want to actually learn the rules. I think it's the same game that Jacob and the Man in Black play at the end of Lost.

In the little cove behind this statue we saw a sea turtle swimming around. It never came out of the water, but we watched it for a while until it went back out to the ocean. I hear that some of the best snorkeling is to be done in the areas right around here but alas, we didn't try it.