Anyway, since Christmas is coming and I'm going to need to summarize the year before long, I figured I better get cranking on some of the stuff I did the last third of the year. And it kind of seems fitting to get back to writing up my Hawaii trip since it's Thanksgiving morning and my whole family is over there. Yes, I was invited, it just didn't seem like the best thing to do to go so soon after August. Anyway...enough rambling...
August's trip to Hawaii was my first time going with friends, as opposed to going with my family. Liz and Cara came over to our house and Brandon's mom picked us up and took us to the airport.
Waiting at the airport
The flight over was fairly uneventful, watched a couple movies, etc. We landed in Honolulu, grabbed our luggage, and picked up our rental car -- free upgrade to full-size SUV! (Lincoln Navigator) (we'd paid for mid-size, but it was nice to have the extra room) -- and headed to Costco to get a few things. Then it was over to the other side of the island to George's house, where Kimi graciously had made us dinner.
Our sweet ride
And that was about it for the first night. I mean, we chatted, and played with the kids and did some setting up of beds, but with the 4 hour time change it starts to feel late pretty quick that first night.
Which is why I always like to go over to Hanauma Bay the next day or the day after. It's free (and less crowded) if you get there before 7, and I'm always waking up by 5 at the latest anyway. George was off work, so that made it even more fun as he was able to go with us.
Hanauma Bay
Hanauma Sunrise
We spent a couple hours there, and I took a few breathers along the way, but definitely snorkeled more than I have in the past. We saw several turtles (phew! I always like to know that everyone got to snorkel with at least one turtle when we go) and on George's recommendation I took a long swim out to the far end where the water was much clearer than it is where we usually are and there were some great colors of coral as well.
Turtle!
At one point there was a large (for Hanauma at least) school of convict tangs cruising around
Half-decent shot of a nicely colored wrasse (Christmas, maybe? or Pearl?)
Eventually we'd had our fill (and I'd gotten some sweet triangular sunburns on my shoulders), and we headed back home for lunch.
Post Snorkeling
In the afternoon we took Kimi's recommendation and went down to Kailua Beach Park and just took it easy, laying on the beach, reading books, and napping. Not the kind of stuff my family typically likes to do, but it was definitely nice to just relax.
Kailua Beach Park
For dinner, we went to Teddy's Bigger Burgers (Liz got something from Whole Foods) and also checked out the nearby farmer's market before calling it a night.
Farmer's Market
More to come soon. Feel free to browse all my pictures (and some of my friends') here.
1 comment:
I agree with your comment about just chilling at the beach. I think it's more mom, dad, and george who don't like to just lay around and chill. I've tried to suggest this several times during the last 7 days and all I get are scoffs.
Post a Comment