South Point - The End of the World

South Point, 12 miles off the main highway, along a single lane black top, one comes to the end of the world, in a manner of speaking. This is the most southern point of the Big Island, at 18 degrees 54 minutes, it is the most southernly point in the United States. And it looks it. A stark, raw wilderness, desolate and foreboding, a place where the only visitor is the wind. (I stole that from Ken Follett).

The huge cliffs drop sharply to the crystal clear blue water. The waves dangerously crashing on the rocks. A kayaker trying to time his approach to land his craft safely on the rocks - at least three attempts before he wedged it in and hopped out.

Also incredible that the surfer dudes snorkel here and spear fish. There were four guys and they had a big, four foot long fish they were putting on ice. "How do they get down there?", I asked. They jump. THEY JUMP! Then they do their reef fishing - the blond guy said after he skewered his fish he came out quickly because he saw four sharks. And he doesn't like sharks. He jumps 100 feet into rocky pounding surf and he's worried about sharks? So then I asked, "How do they come back up?" - there's a ladder and there are pulley systems hanging over the edge to bring people and their small boats back up. Amazing.

As well as these daredevil fishing guys and their sleeping rottweiler there were two more sedate fisher guys sitting in chairs with their lines a couple of hundred feet out in the bay.

The water is so clear here, even from this great height you can see schools of fish in the water below. An awe inspiring place. South Point.

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