Hawaii Day's 6, 7 and 8

Here I am again, giving you my once a week share on my vacation.  Don't you all love pretty pictures?  Because that is what I have for you again today.

On Saturday our 6th day on Hawaii we started our day out visiting two farmers markets.  We bought some wonderful fruits and vegetables to add to our meals and some goodies to send back home, like honey, fruit butters and I bought some Alpaca wool that I am saving for a special project. The flowers for sale were beautiful!

I took a picture of this table because one of my husband's hobbies is woodworking and I knew he would be interested to see how these woods looked finished.

After shopping at the farmers markets we had a picnic at Lahuipua'a Kaaiopio Ponds.  You can read about these large fish ponds here.  We walked all around them and saw some beautiful fish.  The plants and trees surrounding the ponds also had markers and I think I took a picture of all of them but will not add those here.

Just on the other side of the sea wall that divides the ponds from the ocean these turtles were sunning themselves.

We were standing on a dock above where they were laying on the rocks below.

We finished our 6th day at a high school graduation for the granddaughter of the lady that invited us to vacation with her.  It was a huge graduation and so different than here.  There were fireworks at the end and all the graduates received lei's of some form until they were up to their chins with them after the ceremony.   

Our 7th day was Sunday and we attended church with our friends and went the the graduates open house, it was a very restful day.

Day 8!  Our trip to Southpoint and everything in between.  First off I want to give our friend credit for taking us on our tour this day because it was Memorial Day Monday.  This trip was down the East side of the Island from the Kona area to the most Southern tip.

First stop was Kealakekua Bay where the Captain Cook Monument is.

Next stop was at the Kahikolu Congregational Church. Kahikolu means "three in one" in the Hawaiian language which refers to the Holy Trinity in the Christian faith. The church is one of only two stone churches from the 19th century.

 Henry Opukamaia, the Hawaiian who inspired the first missionaries has a historic marker at this location.

Our next stop was Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, National Park, "The City of Refuge".  I have just added a couple pictures here of this stop.  There is a lot of history to learn here with many sites to see where the Royal Grounds were and the Place of Refuge on the other side of a stone wall built in 1550 that still stands.

Next stop was Saint Benedict's Painted Church in Honaunau which is still an active parish.

 I really enjoyed this stop.  The church was lovely inside and out.  It was erected in 1899 by Father John Velghe who used house paint on ordinary wood to beautify the church, using the pictures to teach the Hawaiians that could not read.

We also walked through this lovely old cemetery finding out when we got to the top of the hill we were not supposed to be doing so.

Last stop of the day:

 South Point "Ka Lae" "The Point".  This is the most southern point of the United States of America.

Can you see the diver in the photo above?  There were a few brave souls diving off this wooden decking that you see in the bottom right corner of the picture below.

I know this has been a long post thank you for you patience.  I think I may be able to finish off my sharing next week in a couple more post.

Blessings from our home in the woods.

Brenda