Saturday in Hawaii

Our plan was to play in the water on Saturday, but it was drizzly and gray.

After much thinking and looking at the weather report, we decided to attend the Kona temple.

Brad had pointed it out to us as he collected us from the airport.

I only brought one skirt, so I put it on again and off we went. My green lava-lava was my jacket. I only took one carry on bag for the whole ten days. I was glad there was a washer-dryer. :)

Here is the little Kona temple. It is a bit difficult to find. It is on a dead-end road. We had a bit of an adventure driving there, but we arrived safe and sound. This time we knew when the session started and had planned accordingly.

Alan, Sandy, Craig and I standing in the front of the temple.

Brad and Kris in front of the temple. Brad wanted to be by the sign -- the Kona Hawaii Temple. He will always know which temple he was at. :) You can see in the picture that Brad is in flip-flops. He forgot his Sunday shoes. This is a better shot of Moroni.

Brad, Kris, Sandy and Alan.

We found a place for lunch. It was a popular spot. I had the roast pig with gravy. I love Hawaiian pig, but it was a bit heavy. I wished for more veggies when my plate came.

Then it was time to learn to snorkel.

Those that know me well, know that I am a bit frightened of the water. I am quite frightened when I can not touch bottom. The idea of snorkeling was a bit terrifying for me. But I wanted to see the fish and I wanted to conquer my fear.

So Craig got a blow-up, bright, yellow life jacket. I used Sandy and Alan's extra snorkel mask and I set off to learn how. The wind was still blowing a bit. The water was a bit choppy. The mask leaked water. I spent a lot of that first day emptying the water out of the nose area of the mask. I spent a lot of the day pulling my head up out of the water and blowing out the water in the breathing tube.

But I saw fish. I didn't get an underwater camera, and I was no where ready to use it this day, but I saw some amazingly colorful fish. Yellow Tangs were everywhere. These were the fish that you could see from the rocks. I saw parrot fish, Hawaiian spotted puffer fish, Hawaiian spotted toby, Coronet fish, reef trigger fish, Moorish idols, Lei trigger fish, 4-spot butterfly fish, teardrop butterfly fish, bandtail goatfish, milletseed butterflyflish and others. The fish like the rocks. I swam over some cauliflower coral and lava rocks and finger coral. It was simply amazing.

After perusing the internet, I found a few pictures. The Moorish Idol.

Hawaiian Spotted Pufferfish

 Parrot fish

Yellow Tang

Trigger fish

Courtesy of my leaky mask, I drained sea water from my nasal passages for over an hour after I got out of the water.

Sandy got some lovely pictures of me and my fluorescent yellow floatie. I still have to beg them from her. When I get them, I'll insert them in the post.