On our last full day on the Big Island, we wanted to take it easy. D was anxious to get some more snorkeling in. In the morning we went to “A Bay”, in Waikoloa. The snorkeling was better than Hapuna. I wasn’t planning to go in, but D convinced me.
Our next stop was the Black Sand Beach in Mauna Lani. D and his dad snorkeled. Again, I wasn’t planning to go in. They came back saying it was amazingly clear and that it was like an aquarium, so of course, I had to go. This time I actually used the snorkel instead of the snorkel board. The fish were so pretty!
We ate lunch at Brown’s Beach House at the Fairmont Orchid. We arrived before it opened, and it still took us a while to be seated. Turns out that the staff was busy switching out all of the chairs and setting up brand new place settings. Our hostess informed us that we were the very first customers to use their new chairs/settings. She took our picture and told us to e-mail it to the manager. I’m not sure if D’s dad actually did this, but here’s some of my pictures:
As you can see, it is right on the water. I bet it would be really nice at night. (They were all booked for dinner).
The lunch menu had an Asian bent. Here’s my kurobota pork yaki soba:
We all shared the mud pie.
In addition, the waitress gave us an ice cream dessert for free since k was “3 or under”. 
Pretty fancy for a little kid. We ate it for k, of course.
We worked it off with more snorkeling at the Orchid. This turned out to be our favorite because we saw sea turtles! One of them was following me, and I was kind of scared. D’s mom said she’s been surrounded by multiple turtles before while snorkeling, and I can see how that would be scary. Too bad I couldn’t get a picture, but we’ll always remember our encounter.
Meanwhile, k had more fun on the beach. We kept slathering her with sunscreen so she wouldn’t burn.
Our final dinner was at the Kamuela Provision Company in the Hilton Waikoloa. It was too windy to sit outside, but D captured the lovely sunset that we were able to see through the open windows:
I had a seafood pasta that was exceptional–there was a lobster tail, among other delicacies. There was another family at a table nearby with a 10.5 month old daughter. We ended up sitting a couple rows behind them on our plane back to OC!