Oahu: Day 5

We spent Sunday at Hanauma Bay. There is a spectacular reef there. It's an old crater that has made the perfect protected area for snorkeling.

In this pic, that stuff you see that looks like it's scum on top of the water is actually the reef under the water. If you look really hard you can see the tiny people too. We had to walk down the paved trail (or for $1 you can ride the tram down. It cost $1.50 to ride up the hill! On a side note....Jim and I walked both directions!)

It was a really big beach so it didn't feel super crowded. I was getting worse at snorkeling at this point. Any amount of water in my mask and I hit the panic button HARD. I felt bad for Jim. He loves it and wanted to be in the water the whole time. But I wanted to sit in the sun.

I did go in the water enough to get a few pics.It's hard to get a good underwater shot when you can't see through your mask very well. But I'll show you some of the pictures that worked out.

Don't ask me to name them all. You know that kind of detail slips my mind!

 I do know that this guy is a spiny sea urchin. Cute, right??!!??

 I loved the colors on this guy. He was the biggest and brightest fish we saw.

 He came really close to the camera!

 Angel fish...like on Finding Nemo.

 We were too big to swim through the hole. Not that I would have, me being a chicken and all. I think Jim and Robert would have liked to.

 Just a hole. In the coral. On the bottom of the sea. Could be a song.

 I tried to post this pic first. But blogger is being picky this morning. Here is an aerial shot of Hanuama Bay. This island is full of surprises. I want to go back!! 

 After a while Jim started to feel the burn (I am laughing as I type that. Burn. Not Bern.) We went away from the water a bit to find some shade for my fair skinned man.

 We set ourselves under a palm tree near a grassy area. We could hear screeching and carrying on from behind the tall grass. City girl wanted to pack up and move back to the beach but tough guy was loving his shade. So we watched a couple weasels (yes...weasels) run from the cover of the grass to the trash can in search of something to eat. ICK and gross.

Luckily I found a better view and diverted my attention to less disturbing matters. Paradise. Blue skies. Warm ocean breezes. It was heavenly.

 I loved this beach. It was beautiful and I would definitely go back.

What you can't see behind my left knee is the offending trash can the weasels had staked out. But other than that this view was perfect. I was made for the ocean!