Relaxing in the Central Valley

Today we got up relatively early and had a lazy beach morning.  Since the surf has been so high, we decided to stay close to our condo and go to the beach just south of where we're staying.  The guide books we have suggest that it's an okay spot to snorkel, and a good spot to see turtles.

The surf was much more tame than it has been the past few days, which made getting into and out of the water a lot easier.  However, the visibility still wasn't super great -- we could see maybe five or six feet, although when a set of waves would pop up the sand would kick up too and visibility would be poor.  Nevertheless, we did see some coral, a few small reef fix (including a pufferfish), and a small turtle -- maybe one and a half feet in size.

We spent some time on the beach, and then came back for a lunch of lau lau and hung out in the condo.

Tonight we headed away from the South Shore and went up to Pa'ia, an eclectic mix of hawaiiana kitsch and tofu burgers.  The town's two main streets are lined with stores selling health foods next to a bar advertised by Willie Nelson.  It's an interesting place to walk around.

For dinner, we ate only our third sit-down dinner and made a return trip to Zippy's.