Friday - the final day on the island

We spent the day relaxing and looking forward to the big luau finish. We rented snorkel gear at Snorkel Bob's and started at Lydgate Park where they have a rock wall to protect snorkelers and swimmers from surf and dangerous currents, but it allows the fish to enter in from the ocean and make their homes in the coral environment. It was a great place for beginners like us...
We decided to venture up to the north end of the island and go back to one of our favorite spots... Anini Beach. Unfortunately, they issues a high surf advisory on the windward side of the island (most of the island where we spent our time), and by the time we made the drive to Anini, the high tide combined with the high surf essentially made our beach disappear. It also was raining pretty hard, so we made our way back to the condo and Kyle and Tom went swimming at the neighboring pool. Apparently, most people don't like to swim in the pool when it is raining... so we had the pool to ourselves again; just call us quirky. We showered and dressed and made the drive to Kapa'a. The drive is normally 30 minutes... but whether the weekend crowd caused the increased traffic or as we were told the drivers on the road were rubbernecking watching the surfers tackle the high surf... the drive took us an additional 45 minutes. We were late in getting the snorkel gear back to the rental shop, so I called and the gal said to leave them under the dumpster and she would retrieve them when she returned in the mrorning. (People aren't even that trusting in Minnesota!)
We got to Smith's Family Luau on time (luckily we allowed extra time) and were very impressed. They have 30 acres on their property and can feed 450 people at a time (and we are told it is always sold out) and do the whole luau experience perfectly. The specialty is the "Kalua pig roasted in the earthen imu oven"and is incredible, along with their other specialties... teriyaki beef, Ono mahimahi and tasty chicken adobo along with the traditional poi. (Contrary to popular belief... it's not really bad. It's just a bland starch product that Hawaiians like to include with their meals.)
The theatrical show they put on after dinner, includes "the lyrical sway of the Hawaiian hula, the colorful precision of the Tahitian drum dances and the fiery emotion of the Samoan fire knife dance all speak deeply of the people who have come to call Hawaii home". (I couldn't have said it better myself.)
We straggled home afterwards and went to sleep in preparation for our long journey home.