Sunrise walk on Lanikai Beach
So pretty-photos really can't capture it right
Caught site of a rainbow at Alan's house
The first activity Alan had planned for us was a trip out to Hanauma Bay (www.hanauma-bay-hawaii.com). It was a gorgeous day; the weather was great, so even the drive was awesome. We had a great view of the ocean for most of the drive and when we didn’t, we had green mountains. I was really excited to go snorkeling, as it is something I have always wanted to try. So we get to the beach, get all of our stuff situated, and rent the snorkeling gear. Then it came time to put my face into the water and I kind of freaked out. My natural instincts were telling me to hold me breath and blow bubbles out my nose, which doesn’t work when you are wearing a snorkelling mask. Every time I would try to put my face under, I would freak out and couldn’t do it. I was worried for a few minutes that I wasn’t going to be able to do it. John had no problems, and I’m sure he was thinking I was being silly. I do get a little claustrophobic though, so I think that had something to do with it. I was finally able to put my face, very slowly, under the water and I practiced taking long, slow, even breaths, which worked best for the kind of mask/snorkel I was wearing (had a self-closing valve that would close if I breathed in to fast/hard which was pretty freaky, although helpful for diving under…which I never tried).
Drive to Hanauma Bay
First view of the Bay
Ready to snorkel!
This is where we were snorkeling-even way out beyond the buoys
Favorite-and it was on our first full day!
I was finally ready to start swimming around and I was so glad I got over my fear! We spent the next several hours swimming with all kinds of fish! This ended up being my favorite part of the whole trip. We came in for a break and decided to rent a waterproof camera so we could try to snap some pictures of all the fish. The photos didn’t all turn out, but we managed to get a few good ones. When we went out the next time, John M. spotted a sea turtle! We were able to watch him swim around for several minutes and it was seriously so cool! I would have liked to stay out in the water longer, but even with fins, it was a lot of swimming and got tiring after awhile. I had no complaints about relaxing on the beach though!
Fish
More fish
isn't he sexy? :-)
I couldn't resist capturing how awesome I look underwater
After a scenic drive home with one stop to view Rabbit Head rock (check out the photos…I don’t really see it), we had just enough time to shower and change before heading out to our next activity. We had a longer drive for this one, out to Germaine’s Luau (germainesluau.com/about.htm). I was really excited because I have been to Luau’s before during college, put on by the Polynesian Student Union, and they are always very fun and entertaining. We got there just as the sun was setting, which was of course amazing. The entertainment went on pretty much all evening, starting with getting to watch some men pull the cooked pig out of the pit it had been cooking in.
Rabbit Rock
The sun was in our eyes...or something
The men of Profit point, all "dressed up" for the Luau
L to R: Joe, Jim, Ted, John, Alan, Rich, John H., Mark, Gene, and John M.
Retrieving the pig
The food was a buffet of all sorts of tasty Hawaiian foods, so I tried a few new things and was stuffed before I could even finish. The show continued after dinner to include dances from all the different Polynesian islands. The girls even had a chance to go up on stage to learn to hula dance. I’m sure we looked a little ridiculous, but it was sure fun! They ended the show with some special holiday numbers, which seemed so strange because it was so warm there.
Ellen and Pam, learning to hula
What a fun night to end a fun day!
Luau sunset
(photo by Ellen Staniewicz)
I caught a few of the performances on video with my little camera, so I thought I would post a some samples, but it was taking too long to upload, so here is just one:
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