In search of turtles

Having decided that we weren't going to dive every day, we were left with more time to go in search for turtles.

Naturally, all good turtle hunts begin with breakfast: today at Kalikala, a really pleasant interpretation of huevos racheros featuring local fruit.

Location 1: Kiholo Bay.
We had read that there were "loads of turtles" here. We traveled down an easy to miss dirt road for a few kms just off the highway. Parts of the road may have been better traversed with the Jeep we were offered as an upgrade but declined. We've driven far worse in 1970s cars back in Oz. Persisting at a slow pace we reach the parking lot. It's at least 34oC and very high humidity that leaves Tracey with alpaca like hair. The beach is difficult to walk and mostly consists of lava pebbles and black sand, the black making it feel even hotter.

We head south along the beach first, no turtles, no shade, no cocktail bar. After a km that felt more like 5, we turned around to try the other end of the beach...again, no turtles, no shade and no cocktail bar. We gave up after a couple of kms and returned to the car defeated (although marginally consoled by AC). We had one more place to try today.

Location 2: Anaeho'omalu Bay (A Bay for short for obvious reasons)
Having overheated at first stop, we conveniently found somewhere right on the beach serving cocktails, the Lava Lava Beach Club; a much better start at least than the previous location. We re-hydrated before again walking along a pebble filled beach, in the heat with no shade...and again no turtles.

Again giving up, partly due to heat and becoming convinced that turtles are merely a myth to boost the tourist trade, we returned to the car with the air-conditioning up high...nothing will save Tracey's hair, death by humidity [photos redacted].

Today was enough turtle hunting, time to go home and dress for dinner at Sam Choy's, a Hawaiian cuisine famed restaurant overlooking the ocean.  Within minutes of arriving two wonderful things occurred...Tracey has a Mai Tai in hand and a lovely kitten we called "George" came to say hello (he ate about half of Tracey's meal...she's a softy but look at his eyes what choice did she have).  Dinner of ribs and orange duck were both delicious - and the open-walled restaurant allowed us to savour the evening breeze :)