Mele Kalikimaka!

Sunday, Dec 25
Our Christmas plans today were to rent a kayak and paddle to "the best snorkel spot in the state." It's at Captain Cook Monument in Kealakekua Bay, which is accessible by foot over a one hour hiking trail, or by boat. To get there by boat, you can kayak yourself if you have a state issued permit to land the boat on the shore, or with a tour boat. We're not big on snorkel tours, so we got up and hit the buffet breakfast before going and picking up our rental kayaks. Today's abuse of the rental car entailed strapping 2 kayaks to the roof. The rental place was a couple of miles away from the put in spot. At the put-in, a few local guys hang out helping people with their gear in exchange for tips. We didn't know about this in advance, so we only had a $20 bill. Worth every penny when they helped me down the 5' drop to the boat in the water.
The trip took about 45 minutes, including small breaks to enjoy the scenery. Apparently dolphins are common to this area, but we didn't see any today. At the other side, where the snorkelling is, there were lots of sea urchins in the rocks, but we both escaped without injuring anything. We then spent about an hour swimming around, looking at fish and taking pictures. Then we stopped for lunch and I went back out to see more fish while Rob waited on shore in the shade. There was a tour boat in the bay, which looked to be very crowded. But they had slides to get into the water and a barbeque on board.
We then paddled back and had some fun trying to get back out at the pier. Rob managed to get out, but it was too tall for me, and him and the local guy pulling on my arms didn't help. But I was able to swim to the end of the pier where there were stairs.
Back at the hotel, I discovered that the pool bar offers happy hour every day from 4-6. Half price mai-tais and pina coladas. Yes, please! So I spent a couple hours by the pool and got tipsy.
We then headed out to a sushi restaurant for our Christmas day dinner. I had lobster tail tempura rolls, rainbow rolls and ceviche. Rob had some tuna so red it looked fake, but he said it tasted so good he may never enjoy sushi anywhere else again.
And then back to the hotel for bed time.