@Doephin At times I was in water only 3-4 feet deep with fish all around beneath. Later was switched to the other side of the pier; the waves were much rougher there so I didn't go out very far. Not going to fight waves when I can only use my arms! But even there urchins and fish. A little farther and we would have been over the reef.

After that dinner overlooking the beach, then wandering the seawall before heading back to the room. <3 dragons

@Doephin Well that was a day. The plan was to hit a few local beaches, then head up Mauna Kea for stargazing.

Started out decent, lazy slow morning. We swapped out the rental car, got lunch and checked out a beach park. Nice place but very rocky; not something I could go in right now.

Then we went towards the next beach and it went a bit sideways. This island is a lot steeper than I thought. The side of the road was a dropoff. I don't do well with heights. (cont)

@Doephin We eventually turned off the highway down the road to the beach. By this point I was a wreck. The drive down was just as scenic and steep but not as bad emotionally; more cover on the sides, and a slower pace because of the rough road.

the beach was incredible but I found it hard to really enjoy after the drive. Going up the mountain was right out after that. So I napped and we had a lazy evening looking over the water.

@Doephin This was not what I expected of today. In a good way. Woke up in much less pain, yay! We aborted going to the black sand beach after yesterday. Instead, breakfast, then shopping in the local town. After that and lunch we headed to a couple of parks. The first featured some info and demonstration of old Hawaiian farming and fishing, plus a lot of stark lava. We only went partially in here, it's a big park. After that we drove north. Great views on the way (cont)

@Doephin Lava rock and ocean on the side, interspaced with greenery. Ahead, the peak of Kohalo. Off to one side, Mauna Kea. The shield volcanos are less picturesque than Rainier, almost deceptive in a way. The slopes look so gentle you can forget it's a ~14000 foot mountain many miles away!

The ocean at the next park was beautiful. Lots of rock and washed up coral, tide pools. Then we turned around and found the path to the petroglyphs. It's almost hidden, really? (cont)

@Doephin The path starts as a concrete trail through lava rock with a cairn here and there. There's a small area with reproductions of the glypths and then it gets much rougher and you enter what felt like a very old forest.

I had many ideas of how the day was going to go; walking unaware into what felt like the holiest place I've ever been wasn't it. Moving quietly through the trees, duck branches sidestep rocks, the feeling builds. It peaks 3/4 in. (cont)

@Doephin We came to a small cave, at the side of the trail. A resting spot, shelter. Off the other side of the trail was a small circular spot. Nothing noted, no signs nothing carved but everything screamed at me that this was An Important Place. Soreth said it remindes her of the stories of man emerging from the earth.

From there the woods gives way to open scrub and I was able to recover some. Soon enough though, there's the actual site. (cont)

@Doephin An expanse of pillow lava with carvings, ancient and often quite deep. The trail circles around but only the front is clearly fenced and marked; going around was rough. Going past the fence felt like desecration, sacralige, in a way, for all that it was a marked trail.

We completed the circle, rested for a bit then walked back. The trail out felt like it took infinitly less time than the route in. The trail was rough, not marked yet never unclear.

@Doephin Soreth and I both needed time to recover after that. It's was an unexpectdly powerful place.

The rest of the day was good, if mundane next to that; she went snorkeling while I waded and rested. You'd think with a bum leg a 1.4 mile rough hike I'd be in pain but I seem to have recovered just in time. Tired, worn down but fine.

Dinner after that, the last one here, then a lazy evening. Home tomorrow.