Nov 15 2013 Place of Refuge

Fri Nov 15 today katey and I went to the place of refuge which is a national park about 30 minutes south of Kona.  The historical significance of this park is the preservation of a tribal area that offers condemned men a chance to have their crimes absolved by a priest if they are able to outrun a team of warriors bent on slaughtering the guilty member.  No blood can be spilled on the sacred ground.

We also made a quick visit to the Painted Church.  There was a statue of Mary in the front yard overlooking a cemetery, kind of resembling the wooden statues ancient Hawaiians carved out to represent their made up Gods.

All mighty God, please help me understand why mankind is so full of shit. Amen.

In the evening we drove a stones throw past the airport and met up with Neptune Charlie's Manta Ray snorkel and company.  I was really excited to go on this night snorkel because A) I've never done a night dive. B) I've never seen a Manta Ray up close and C) I borrowed the camera mask my dad lent me so I could take videos and pictures of this underwater experience. 

The calm before the hurl

What a nice sun set...BLURP...

I don't feel so good

Fish eat throw-up

 Now, I did have a chance to take gravol, but I turned it down due to the nature of how this suppository was administered.  I figured I could withstand a night time frolic with these docile ocean gliders.  How wrong I was.  I was only comforted by the fact that I wasn't the only passenger who neglected to prepare for Poseidon's wrath. Neptune Charlie has a much smaller boat than Fair Winds and we found ourselves being rocked back and forth to the rhythmic nauseating pulse of the unsympathetic barf inducing ocean.  The barfing started early in the trip and this crack team on board the Neptune Charlie had the buckets handy.  My first barf was actually in the water as we were all clinging to a raft assuming our recently learned "Superman" Manta ray position.  The mask camera seemed to be working however the battery life was only about 30 minutes and the best action happened in the last 10 minutes of this 45 minute excursion.  After making our way back to the SS Neptune, I positioned myself on the back of the boat and continued to empty the contents of my stomach.  We were told to eat a lot at 3:00 PM since snorkeling demands much energy and they don't provide any food on board.  The added gorging just prior to our departure gave me ample stomach contents for a 3rd barf in the comforting yellow bucket.  I was nauseous for the next 24 hours, and even as I write this, sitting in the last security zone in the Kona airport, It makes me Ill just thinking about it. Ok here's a picture of a McDonald's banana pie.  Its real banana and deep fried, just the way mother nature intended.

Holy F&%$ this is good!