We woke up to a slightly cloudy, but otherwise nice day here at camp. We were going down to explore the shore some more a bit later after breakfast, but two of the students, Mike from St. Lucia and Carl from Long Island, had been invited by Jim Cassell to go pig hunting. Rather than have someone drive them down the mountain and then turn around and come back up (about 1 ½ hours out to the farm and back) we said that we would go a little early and drop them off. The boys were very excited, neither had been hunting before and Carl had never ridden a horse. It started raining when we were at the farm, so Dave loaned Mike his Australian hat. We then took a leisurely ride and stopped along the way to see whatever looked interesting. Dave stopped at a shop and bought a new cap as he had left the one he brought on the plane (it had paint on it anyway). We stopped to look at the roiling waves where the mouth of the Waimea River meets the ocean. Eben says he has seen sharks there in the past, but we saw only a mom and her two girls fishing and playing in the sand. We stopped at the Russian fort, which was a star shaped Russian fort built in 1816. Only the foundations of the walls and buildings remain. We then stopped at Plantation Cottages to post yesterday’s blog and to check email. The rain had stopped and it was getting quite warm (80) and sunny. We decided to drive to a further beach (17 miles long) and eat a quick lunch (see photo). We enjoyed watching the waves (about 4 to 5 feet) and the people boogie boarding. We then decided to drive to the end of the road at this end of the island, which is at mile 35. The road winds past the Pacific Missile Range facility. Apparently their equipment is so sophisticated, they can detect a bottle bobbling in the waves! There is a dirt road that goes about 4 miles further, but with all of the rain we have had lately, the puddles looked as if they could swallow our car! Coming back into town we stopped at a local souvenir shop to look around. We had passed a huge gathering of people just before getting there and asked the owner what was going on. She thought they were hosting a bazaar today so we decided to go. As we were approaching the gate, I noticed some funeral flowers on the ground so I asked a man near the entrance what the event was. I was a funeral. After the church service it is customary to host a party celebrating the deceased’s life. I’m glad we didn’t go in and embarrass ourselves! We stopped at the Post Office to send a few more postcards. I took a picture of a statue of Capt. Cook (a distant relative - see photo) who first landed on the Hawaiian Islands here in Waimea in 1776. Later, he died on the big island when cannibals ate him. We also stopped at the Big Save to get a loaf of bread as we are out. We are going to try to finish our food this week, as we can’t take it with us when we fly to Oahu. We hadn’t heard from the pig hunters for a ride back up the mountain, so we left the shore and went back to camp. We read for a little bit and then Dave cooked dinner and washed dishes (remember the stitches?). We are all done and the students are just starting to cook. They are making fajitas and rice tonight. After dinner they will be cleaning up around here as they are leaving at 6:45 in the morning. We will have to figure out a shower schedule, as our plan is also to leave early in order to get up on the North Shore that we didn’t finish exploring last weekend.
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