Kona Joe's Coffee and the painted church

We had our last tourist day today and to be honest, neither of us wanted a big journey in the car. So, we plumped for heading south this time and hitting Coffee Coast. We chose the recommended Kona Joe's and luckily, had a personal tour (as it wasn't very busy) by Raphael, a Brazilian student who was studying agriculture and here on a placement.  He was a really good storyteller and teacher and kept us both keenly interested from start to finish. I can now tell you all about the coffee fruit, seed, bean, number of seeds in a fruit, what they do with the waste, sizing, what makes a good bean.  Trouble is this won't stay in my long term memory but I was very interested at the time.  We've also got free mugs each and, along with a coffee, as part of a $15 dollar tour, that ain't bad! (Although we did spend quite a lot on Kona coffee to bring home!)

We then had a wander a little further down the coast where you could see across to the Captain Cook monument. I had no idea about his influence over the island until we arrived here. History is not my best subject but it's interesting now I'm living it!  We stopped off to see a beautiful painted wooden church on the way home which had plenty of birds and butterflies in the graveyard which was rather nice.  In 1899 when the church was moved up the hill from the coast to where the villagers had moved, few Hawaiins could read so Father John Velghe taught through the pictures he painted.

The afternoon, we spent by the pool and tonight, we drove out to see the sunset from the harbour we dive from. It was pretty spectacular in itself but we also had a pleasant encounter with a chap from Salt Lake City who was going to move here with his girlfriend. Unfortunately, they split but he decided to come over here anyway and is working here.  He had cycled to the coast and was watching the sunset like us. I may blip a picture of him or perhaps Raphael on tour.

Finally, a drink overlooking the sea when we got back. Looking forward to diving tomorrow.