In the morning we waited for a while outside our hotel until our shuttle picked us up to go to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling. We had to watch a "safety" video about swimming around wildlife and the reef.
Once we got down to the beach and goggled and flippered up we were ready to dive in and see what we could find. The water was cold and the sun just didn't want to come out.
The fish start to appear almost immediately one you get near the reef. My goggles kept fogging up so it was hard to see at times. It was like swimming in a fish tank at a doctor's office.
I think this is my favorite fish that I saw. He was pretty big. The reef was beautiful and a little dangerous trying to swim around it in shallow water.
I saw an eel at one point that freaked me out a bit. Its jaw was snapping like he was coming after me so I swam away quickly instead of taking a photo. We stayed in for a while but it was cold and the tide was low so we got out and dried off in the air since we forgot towels.
We had to wait over an hour for our shuttle to come back so we could return our equipment and then catch the bus north. We had to transfer at Sea Life Park so we took the time between buses to check out the marine life. The turtles were coming up to the sides of the rocks and climbing up to people looking in the tank.
My friends, the penguins, were out sunning themselves in the warm mid-day sun. I saw a kid with a dolphin toy walk up to the edge and pretend he was attacking them. I wonder if penguins are scared of dolphins..
Speaking of dolphins, I went to the dolphin show as well. It was the usual dolphins-jump-out-of-the-water-people-ooh-and-ahh thing. It's still cool.
Once our bus finally showed up and we walked around trying to find the kayak rental place for a while we got to where we needed to be. We watched another safety video and then went down to the beach for our kayaks. We took a canal out to the ocean and then paddled out from the beach toward a small island.
It was much easier than I expected to maneuver in the ocean. The waves weren't a big problem. I never thought I was going to tip over like I do in a river kayak. We got out to Flat Island, whose name explains it very well, and then headed toward the other islands off the coast.
We didn't go all the way since we had to return the kayaks by a certain time but the trip out was fun. The ride back was much easier because we were going with the current so we had some time to paddle around and watch the windsurfers.
It was a good trip out even though we had a short time. I would have liked to spend more time and I think I'll try kayaking on the ocean again somewhere.
We went and caught our next bus home. It was a long ride back to the hotel. I feel like most of the day was spent either on a bus or waiting for one. So it goes when you take public transportation.
I took a walk along the ocean at night since it's my last night here. The air was warm and the weather was perfect. It was a nice night to look at the city lit up by buildings and tiki torches. I could even see a good amount of stars twinkling above the palm trees when I looked in the other direction.
I came back to the hotel and read until I was too tired to hold up my head. It was a nice and relaxing last night on Hawai'i.
In the morning we waited for a while outside our hotel until our shuttle picked us up to go to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling. We had to watch a "safety" video about swimming around wildlife and the reef.
Once we got down to the beach and goggled and flippered up we were ready to dive in and see what we could find. The water was cold and the sun just didn't want to come out.
The fish start to appear almost immediately one you get near the reef. My goggles kept fogging up so it was hard to see at times. It was like swimming in a fish tank at a doctor's office.
I think this is my favorite fish that I saw. He was pretty big. The reef was beautiful and a little dangerous trying to swim around it in shallow water.
I saw an eel at one point that freaked me out a bit. Its jaw was snapping like he was coming after me so I swam away quickly instead of taking a photo. We stayed in for a while but it was cold and the tide was low so we got out and dried off in the air since we forgot towels.
We had to wait over an hour for our shuttle to come back so we could return our equipment and then catch the bus north. We had to transfer at Sea Life Park so we took the time between buses to check out the marine life. The turtles were coming up to the sides of the rocks and climbing up to people looking in the tank.
My friends, the penguins, were out sunning themselves in the warm mid-day sun. I saw a kid with a dolphin toy walk up to the edge and pretend he was attacking them. I wonder if penguins are scared of dolphins..
Speaking of dolphins, I went to the dolphin show as well. It was the usual dolphins-jump-out-of-the-water-people-ooh-and-ahh thing. It's still cool.
Once our bus finally showed up and we walked around trying to find the kayak rental place for a while we got to where we needed to be. We watched another safety video and then went down to the beach for our kayaks. We took a canal out to the ocean and then paddled out from the beach toward a small island.
It was much easier than I expected to maneuver in the ocean. The waves weren't a big problem. I never thought I was going to tip over like I do in a river kayak. We got out to Flat Island, whose name explains it very well, and then headed toward the other islands off the coast.
We didn't go all the way since we had to return the kayaks by a certain time but the trip out was fun. The ride back was much easier because we were going with the current so we had some time to paddle around and watch the windsurfers.
It was a good trip out even though we had a short time. I would have liked to spend more time and I think I'll try kayaking on the ocean again somewhere.
We went and caught our next bus home. It was a long ride back to the hotel. I feel like most of the day was spent either on a bus or waiting for one. So it goes when you take public transportation.
I took a walk along the ocean at night since it's my last night here. The air was warm and the weather was perfect. It was a nice night to look at the city lit up by buildings and tiki torches. I could even see a good amount of stars twinkling above the palm trees when I looked in the other direction.
I came back to the hotel and read until I was too tired to hold up my head. It was a nice and relaxing last night on Hawai'i.
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