Black sand, guava smoothie and breaching whales

Our day yesterday was a long one. We drove past the southern tip of the island to a black sand beach, supposed to be home to hundreds of green sea turtles, but the water was cold and the sand rough and not a turtle in sight.

On the way there, however we did stop at several cool places -- an ethnobotanical garden, comprised of native and early-introduced species of plants, a painted church whose interior walls were (somewhat crudely) decorated with biblical scenes to educate the natives about Christianity over 100 years ago, a sacred lava flat with 20 foot tall tikis and a fruit stand with the most amazing fresh fruit smoothies and macadamia nut brownies ever. By the time we got to the (somewhat disappointing) black sand beach, we had had such a cool and full day of sights and tropical fun that we were hardly even fazed.

Here are a few shots from yesterday. he first few are from our balcony in the condo. That's a humpback.