John & Jessica Day 7

Friday was the day we purposed to hike to the top of Diamond Head. To be honest, DeAnna and I hadn't said to much about it. The hike is a little strenuous, but we knew John & Jessica would be glad they hiked to the top, so we let the even unfold on it's own merits.

The hike starts out easy enough, but ends up climbing hundreds of stairs. It was hot and windless in the crater. There were lots of people climbing with us, including many Japanese tourists. Oddly enough, many of the Japanese women wore long-sleeved shirts and layered cover-ups to stave off the sun. Seeing the older people coming down from the top was encouraging. John's shirt was soaked with sweat, by the time we got to the top.




The view was spectacular and we even managed to get some good pictures amidst the numerous people at the observation site.


Coming back down was a lot more fun because we got to see all the people huffing and puffing on the way up. I shouted encouragements and John did his best to warn people about the effort ahead!

Diamond Head was just the beginning of the day though! Jessica had been wanting to do some more snorkeling and spend some time on Waiamea Beach. John was interested in trying another game of golf. So while John made reservations for a nearby course, Jessica and I grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed back to the North Shore.

We were excited to see that the waves were fairly calm at Shark's Cove, so we decided to take our snorkeling gear down into the water. The waves were strong enough to push us around when we got into the water, but we made it out into the deep part of the cove and swam around for a while.

The currents were fairly strong and it made for some tough swimming, but Jessica soldiered on and saw lots of fish. Eventually though, it was unnerving to be out in the wave surges, so we decided to head back to shallow waters. getting back to the shore meant swimming through some large rocks and dodging the waves. It was a bit rough getting back through the rocks as the waves pushed us up and down, but we made it out without a scratch!



Once in the more protected part of the cove, we enjoyed some shallow water swimming and it was fabulous! The water was clear and there were lots of fish! Best of all, there were no waves or currents so it was far less strenuous. Jessica had borrowed DeAnna's underwater camera and took lots of pictures. We enjoyed this part of the swim for about an hour and finally picked up our gear to head over to Waiamea Bay to swim at the beach.

It was late afternoon when we parked. The sand was kind of course and warm. Having taken our boogie boards, we made for the water, but the beach was much different than the other beaches we had visited. The beach dropped off right at the water's edge and got deep very fast. The calm waves were still powerful - pushing people up onto the beach and then dragging them back into the water. We tried to catch a wave or two, but it was a lot harder. As I got up the beach to take some video of Jessica catching a wave, I caught a movie of a wave catching Jessica!


This event forced sand into every pocket and seam of her swimsuit...

On the drive home (and on the drive out), I really enjoyed some quiet conversation with Jessica. She is a remarkable person and I am so proud of her! It was so nice to have her and John around for more than just a day or so.

By the time we arrived home, it was dinner time. We'd been from the far south shore to the north shore and back again. John came home from golf and everyone took a shower before all of us headed out to dinner. We tried a new restaurant (new to us anyway). Over near Kanehoe Marine Corps Base is a popular restaurant called Pinky's Pu Pu Bar & Grill. We got in quickly and the food was great! Just so you know - "pu pu" is the Hawaiian term for "appetizer". It's still fun to say we ate pu pu at Pinky's!

Jessica's memory of the days is HERE. The next day would be their last, but we still had more adventures before getting John & Jessica on the plane...