We made the trip to the end of the road (actually the end of the hard surface road) and we found South Point Park. This amounted to a cliff overlooking the Pacific. This is way up there with no barriers blocking you from going right to the edge.
The scale on this map is a little misleading. This is a map of the southern part of Hawaii with one of the images I took at the South Point Park geopositioned. You can see from that map we were at the end of the road. There was a gravel path to the South, but we decided it was not prudent to continue in our rental car. The distance is actually short.
There were two interesting things happening at this park. The first were the individuals fishing from the cliff.
There were right at the edge of the cliff and this was at a significant height. I have no idea how they would reel in a catch of any weight. Even though the water was deep at the base, the other thing about their fishing technique was the manner in which they would get their bait away from the base of the cliff.
They were using kites to carry their line out over the water. Something like an outrigger on a boat, but much further. I have placed a box around one of the kites because it is difficult to see.
The other interesting thing about visiting the park was the group of individuals who were cliff diving. There was a sign saying "no diving" that was obviously ignored and there was a very tall ladder running up to the top of the cliff that was used by the divers to return to the top. This seemed kind of an inconsistent message.
Some of the divers were actually jumping into a hole in the lava that reached down to ocean water and then allowed them to swim out to the ocean and climb the ladder. I admit I was a little squeamish about approaching this opening, but I think I got close enough to provide a perspective.
A few miles from South Point we noticed a sign for a coffee shop so we had to stop on the way back. What coffee lover could ignore the opportunity to drink coffee at the southern-most coffee shop in the U.S.? The shop was set back a mile or so from the road, but we were truly impressed with this shop. It was surrounded by beautiful vegetation and included an orchid greenhouse. I have no idea how they get enough business to stay open. Must be a lot of folks wanting to say they have made the trek.
Coffee was great.
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