Monday, May 11

Hi there.  Howzit? Doing good  here. I took a rare day off today and Jess and I headed  to the Ka’u district of the Big Island to check out Punalu’u Black Sand Beach.  The weather report said the area was supposed to have some sun, but when we got there, there was no sun.  However, there were quite a few large sea turtles hanging out on the beach.  This beach is well known as a home for the Hawaiian Sea Turtle, or Honu.  It’s also pretty crowded with tour buses.  The beach was beautiful and full of very fine dark black sand as you can see from the picture. On a sunny day, this place would be ideal to spend some time.  The Ka’u district of the Big Island is near the southern most point on the island and is also the southern most point of the entire United States.  We ate lunch at a restaurant that claimed to be the southern most restaurant in the U.S. Although, I do think there was another restaurant just down the road. The turtles on this beach were some of the biggest that I’ve ever seen and I was amazed at how gentle and calm these creatures are.  They only occasionally moved parts of their bodies and couldn’t have cared less that there were about 50 people taking pictures at any given time.   So after lunch, we thought about driving to Kona, but the weather was calling for some scattered showers.  Rather than take a chance, we figured we’d just head home and relax.   However, by the time we got back into the Puna District, the sun was shining and we figured that we’d try to find Kehena Beach, a black sand beach that is pretty popular on the east side of the island.  After a quick consultation with a map, we were headed in the

  right direction.   We found the beach and as we were heading down the trail to the beach, we noticed something…….. Most everyone was naked.  Oh yeah, full on naked – running, swimming, bodysurfing, hanging upside down from trees.   There were a few people with clothes on, so we headed down to what is easily the nicest beach on the east side of the island.  It was actually one of the nicest beaches I’ve ever seen in my life and not because of the naked people.  In fact, the naked people made it a bit awkward at first, but after awhile, you just get used to it.   The waves were huge, 5-6 foot shore breaks.   I ventured out a little bit and got my ass handed to me and have some cuts and scrapes as a memory  of our first trip to what we now know is a sweet nude beach.  Hope all is well with all of you.  Aloha