We hiked north of the thatched roof longhouse and the spot where we picniced yesterday toward 'Aimakapa Fishpond. This area is said to be King Kamehameha's favorite place to fish and after some good cardio walking (in DEEP sand at a 30 degree angle!) we came to a beautiful bit of 'respite'....something like a walkway composed of volcanic boulders, edged with a beautiful succulent....
This interesting boulder, which we discovered along our path, easily measured 15 by 18 inches across. Confident it was used as a tureen for.....let's see.......turtle soup, perhaps?
Then we arrived at the fishpond, which was separated from the ocean by a barrier of about 120 feet of sand and lava rock and saw what appeared to be shallow craters on the bottom of the pond. In each of the respective craters was what appeared to be a sentry fish, guarding a presumed nest of some sort. Upon further investigation with the help of Google, it appears that these fish could be of the cichlid species of fish (most of them are freshwater but several web sources indicate they're present in Hawaii), who are known for building underwater crater-like nests for raising their young.... fascinating! We attempted to contact the National Park Service (sure hope they don't tire of our questions!)....but they'd either gone for the day.....or been 'sequestered' :(
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