Aloha!

Today, we spent the first hour of our morning swimming in a "hot pond" with a sea turtle--if that doesn't say aloha, I don't know what does!

Tonight is our third night on the beautiful big island of Hawaii. We are staying at The Cottage, an amazing, quirky, perfect little house on the sea that was given to us as a wedding gift by Liz and Steve Wright. It has everything we need for our honeymoon: a lazy hammock in the shade, the sound of the ocean out the back door, unbelievably fragrant plumeria trees, an island-style clothesline, snorkel gear, and both an indoor and an outdoor shower. There's even a papaya tree in the backyard! The Cottage is in a funky little community near the tiny town of Pahoa, which our guidebook describes as "the Big Island's outlaw town--this is where guerrilla farmers, dreadlock enthusiasts, FBI fugitives, and the never-bathe crowd coexist without stepping on each other's toes." From our back porch we can see the little path that runs to the rocky shore; two blocks down there is a naturally-occurring hot pond called Champagne Pond, which is a snorkeler's paradise and a popular hang-out for sea turtles.

Here are a few pictures of our adventures so far...

The tiniest gecko in the Whole Wide World.



The view from our back porch.



The path to Champagne Pond.



Ahh...heaven on earth at Champagne Pond. The water hovers around 90 degrees!



Eric in a banyan tree at Rainbow Falls.