We had to be out of the resort by 10am and our flight wasn’t supposed to depart until 2:30pm, so we had plenty of time to explore this morning before heading to the airport. It wasn’t as windy as it was on Wednesday, so we drove up to Pu’ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site and it was a great visit.

We started by watching “The Foundation of a Nation”, their 27-minute film on Kamehameha’s unification of Hawai’i Island, which culminated with the killing and sacrifice of his first cousin and rival, Keōua, here as he arrived for the dedication of the Heiau. It was excellent.

Then we walked around the site itself – there are two heiaus on the property, Pu’ukoholā at the top of the hill and the ruins of Mailekini nearer the water.

There’s also a third heiau underwater, Hale o Kapuni, although its exact size and location are unknown. It was dedicated to sharks, and the priest there would lean on a post on the land and watch as the sharks consumed their offerings. The post suffered an accident in 1937; it was repaired and moved to a new foundation further inland a mere 25 years later.

Access to the heiaus is limited to Park Service personnel and native Hawaiians performing “traditional religious practices”. Pu’ukoholā is visibly defended by kapu markers and a sign warning that trespassing is a Federal crime!

Pekelane is the beach where Keōua and his companions were killed. Anyone can walk on it (and, I guess, go swimming, although there’s a nice county beach park just a few hundred yards outside the historic site).

Diane and I walked up the hill to get as close to Pu’ukoholā Heiau itself as possible.

We stopped in the visitor center to enjoy the air conditioning, then headed to Kohala Burger and Taco for a light lunch, followed by shave ice at Original Big Island Shave Ice in King’s Shops (they claim to be the best on the island, but I was not impressed by the amount of ice that they left bare of syrup).

Then it was off to Kona Airport for our uneventful, if delayed, flight home.

We might have been a little too eager to bring Hawaiian goodies home!

We started today with the resort’s Cultural Tour; as I expected, it was a walk around the restored royal fishpond at the edge of the beach. Pua was our guide again and gave us lots of information about the fishpond, the royals, and the lives of the people who lived here; we walked up to a recovered shrine and looked at pictographs that the locals had carved into the stone centuries ago.

It was a clear day – you could see some of the telescopes atop Mauna Kea with the naked eye (which did a better job of focusing than my camera did!).

After the tour, we drove into Kona to see Hulihe’e Palace, which was built for Kamehameha I and used by the Hawaiian royal family until the early 20th Century (well after Hawaii had been annexed by the United States).

We also saw where the Ironman swim starts (and the run finishes), just across the street from the Fish Hopper restaurant where we had a great lunch.

After lunch, we walked over to the Courtyard Hotel to see where King Kamehameha lived for the last few years of his life; there is a two-thirds model of ‘Ahu’ena Heiau, which was his personal chapel (more-or-less). The site is still considered sacred, so you can’t actually visit the replica.

Parking in Kona is hellishly expensive (we paid $15/hour plus random service charges), and residents are not happy about it. The docent at the palace said that locals have almost stopped patronizing the shops and restaurants because of the cost of parking; there’s still one free lot in downtown, but the parking companies have their eyes on it, too.

After touring Kona, we drove back south to Kealakekua to look at some of the stores there, especially the thrift shops. I resisted the urge to buy yet another aloha shirt!

We were supposed to see Kona Kozy‘s magic show tonight, but he had to cancel because we would have been the only audience and he really needs a few more people to have a good show. He invited us to come back and see the show as his guests next time we’re in the area…and we intend to!