Place of Refuge

 After leaving the resort, we had to drive across the island to the rental house. We had originally planned to go snorkeling, but the trip was rescheduled due to a high surf warning. That was slightly disappointing, but turned out to be fine because it gave us more time to leisurely explore.

Our first stop was a national park called the Place of Refuge (Puuhonua o Honaunau).  Lawbreakers or defeated warriors could come there for safety; no blood was allowed to be shed at the place of refuge.

It remined us a little of St. Augustine with some of the stone walls, but of course much smaller and with the wooden carvings (that look like tikis but are called something else).

The historical part was cool, but the natural beauty was even better -- there were tidepools created by the lava, and it was fun to walk on them. Matthew went exploring out to the edge, but he did come back when I told him to -- I could see the tide was quickly coming in!