Snorkeling Paradise

After a week of hard-driving work, I was ready for something new this weekend. DeAnna and I had discussed our "list" of activities earlier DeAnna rented a video on Pearl Harbor which we watched on Friday night. We plan to go soon, but it's an all-day event to see the Arizona Memorial, the "Mighty Mo" (USS Missouri) and the Bowfin (submarine). It's been over two weeks since I donned a snorkel, so I was itching to get in the water.

Saturday morning, we got up early and checked-in at Weight Watchers. We've both still well under our healthy weight limit. Then we drove over to Hanauma Bay. This place is an amazing, reef-protected bay where snorkeling is the main event. We'd been warned that the crowds get overwhelming, but when we got there, we easily parked and by the time we got down to the beach, it was very pleasant.

When we started off snorkeling, we floated above the coral and rocks looking at fish in the clear water. At times, it was uncomfortably close. Waves would lift you up, but also bring you inches away from the rocks. After a while, we walked down the beach to a different place.

It had many more fish and some nice, deep places. I swam right through a huge "ball" of colorful fish between two underwater cliffs at about 15 feet. In our other snorkeling adventures, we'd seen the occasional fish hovering near a rock, but there were fish everywhere at Hanauma Bay!

We even saw the state fish - the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa (pronounce that: "hoo-moo, hoo-moo, noo-koo, noo-koo, ah-poo, ah-ah") - otherwise known as a reef triggerfish. There were many other bright and colorful fish to see!











Following several hours snorkeling, I wanted to clamber down some shoreline trails to get close to the pounding surf along the lava shelves, but it was clear that our shoes and flip flops weren't right for the job, so we did a little online research and headed for out to find Keen hiking sandals. Keen Sandals are made to hike in the water. They have heavy-duty gripping soles with a webbed top shoe that lets water and sand drain out - perfect for hopping rocks in surf spray.

We drove to Wal-Mart (no luck) and then to downtown Honolulu to the Ala Moana mall. After visiting several stores, we found some at The Walking Store. With treasures in hand, we headed home and crashed. I was thankful for Banana Boat sunscreen - no sunburn despite hours of bare head above the water! Sunday (posted above) we were headed for the Halona Beach Cove, Lava shelves and Blowholes!