Hawaii - Day 3

Another great day! We are still struggling a little with the time difference, and we are sort of stuck between local time and keeping on Calgary time. Definitely a challenge for the Braun's. The sun comes up around 6AM and goes down around 6PM.

Day 3 in Hawaii brought us to Friday. Plan was to go to Hunanama Bay. One of the most popular tourist attraction on the Island of Oahu. We have been advised to go early, as the parking lot fills up and then you wait until people begin to leave. Unfortunately it's clear across the Island form where we are, and so quite a drive. As we drove, we discovered it's important to second guess google maps... The suggested route took us no where near the popular bay, and so with the help of a friendly Hawaiian UPS posty, we were again headed in the right direction. 

Traffic tends to move quite slowly on the Island, and it doesn't help that there are small cities and communities almost continually along the way. Never the less, we eventually arrived at the entrance to the bay to find the parking lot closed. What a disappointment. However, we took the opportunity to travel north along the coast and were able to take in some spectacular scenery from up in high.

This area is called Halona Blow Hole...

On one side the waves would crash into the rocks creating "blows" through the rocks...

And on the other side a tranquil bay... we would have loved to go down there but the rock was too steep and there were no trails...

We just kept driving past the entrance to the bay and when it re-opened we went in. The Bay is a truly amazing bowl formation created from a volcanic crater. From up high you can see the areas of sand VS rock bottom,

We were thankful to friends who had lent us their snorkeling equipment and water shoes. We were able to skip the rental line and go straight for the water. It took a little time to figure out how to wear the stuff...

And then we were off...

Sam had possession of the underwater camera, and when we develop that one we will add the photos to a CD so we can upload all the wonders below... We saw so many different colourful fish, big, small, coral. Just amazing. And for those who are wondering, yes, even me, the Braun landlubber put my face in and watched the fish swim about. 

We had loosely planned to visit the aquarium, but it seemed we managed to tire out the kids... hummm...

The opted to skip the aquarium. Maybe next time.