After visiting St. Benedict’s Painted Church, we drove down the slope to the coastline and north to Napo’opo’o and Keakakekua Bay State Historical Park. This is the historical first landing spot of Captain Cook when he discovered the Hawaiian Islands. It is also the place where he was killed by the native Hawaiians on a return visit a few weeks later!
The monument across the bay marks his landing site.
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For more information on Kealakekua Bay and Captain Cook, click the links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kealakekua_Bay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook
I had to take a short hiatus from the daily travel reviews. I have been hard at work getting things ready for my high school alumni association’s annual banquet, which took up most of my evening time the past couple nights. Now, back to the daily reviews….
We drove down to Captain Cook for the local farmer’s and crafters’ market on Sunday. Bought a few things and talked with some friendly people. After that, we continued down the Hawaii Belt Road to Keokea and headed down the slope towards the ocean with a stop at St. Benedict’s Painted Church.
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After visiting Lava Trees State Monument, we drove a few miles to the south to Isaac hale Beach Park to check out the surf, as we were under a High Surf Advisory. It was well worth the stop, as we saw some impressive 12-16 foot surf breaking just a hundred feet or so from us…
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Driving back along the northern loop of the Hawaii Belt Road, heading through the South Kohala/Waikoloa region, we caught this beautiful view of the approaching sunset:
After a drive over the Saddle Road to Hilo, we drove down to Lava Trees State Monument. This is an area where lava overflowed a forest, running up the trunks of trees and solidifying, leaving behind stands of upright lava where the trees used to stand.
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To learn more about Lava Trees State Monument, click on the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_Tree_State_Monument