Captain Cook and Kealakekua Bay

For some reason I have always believed that Captain James Cook (the British explorer, who discovered Australia and Hawaii for the Europeans) was killed by the natives in Australia.  (And Visotsky's song about Captain Cook certainly supports my theory.) 

It turns out that Captain Cook was killed in Hawaii, in Kealakekua Bay.  In late 1800's the British were granted a piece of land near the spot where the captain was killed and erected a monument there in his memory. 

Monument to Captain Cook, the British explorer

Kealakekua Bay is said to be one of the best snorkling spots in Hawaii.  Nick and I hiked down 2 miles to the water in order to do the snorkling and see Captain Cook's monument. 



Kealakekua Bay

At the top the trail cut through tall wild grasses.  For all you "Lost" fans out there:  the entire time the grasses made strange noises, which made me think that either someone was following me, or that someone was whispering nearby.  It felt eerily similar to some of the scenes in the show. 
The snorlking was indeed amazing.  The coral reefs seemed a lot healthier, and hence a lot more colorful than the ones we saw in Hanauma Bay.  At one point Nick and I saw an eel.  The sun was setting by the time we climbed back up 1300 feet to the road. 

Things I do not have time to blog about right now:

• whale watching near Kona--we saw several humpbacks, including a mother with a calf about a week old
• seeing an active volcano for the first time in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
• the landscape, the flora and the fauna around us
• snapping my sun glasses in half and lamenting that I failed to lear such simple things as the Reparo incantation in elementary school