Hunauma BayNani Moku
Beautiful Island
Waking up early is going to be easy this vacation, as Aaron and I were up at 5:30 and enjoyed our Hawaiian Kona coffee listening to the birds and the ocean on our lanai (balcony). The sun was up by 6:15 and so was Maggie and Brett and Hanna followed shortly after around 7:15. We made a delicious breakfast of pancakes with coconut syrup and apple bananas. Wow, is that coconut syrup amazing! It's a mixture of sugar and coconut milk purée. Lisa, you were so right about that stuff you could put it on everything. I even put it in my coffee.
We all decided since today was going to be another perfect weather we were heading out to Hunauma Bay for what is supposed to be the best snorkeling. It was a nice drive there venturing back thru Honolulu and then getting stuck in the Waikiki traffic. Once we passed the Waikiki exit the road opened right up. Guess that was the place to be on a Saturday. On our way we saw Koko Crater and decided we will come back to hike that later. It's straight up, and I'm guessing
very challenging, but I bet it has spectacular views. Speaking of views, Hunauma Bay is breathtaking. Truely ac wonder of nature. When you think of Hawaii and it's beautiful views this is what you imagine. We couldn't wait to get in that turquoise water. As soon as we stepped in we had fish all around us. Maggie and I immediately had two Humahumanukanukaapua'a swim right by us. For those of you that don't know that is Hawaii's state fish, aka the trigger fish. For a couple hours we swam with the fish thru the beautiful coral reef and then then moved further down the beach and it got even better...two sea turtles right below us. It was truly amazing to have them within inches of us. Truth be told, Maggie and Aaron broke the number one rule...they touched the turtle! They couldn't resist. We were all worried about Brett and his water phobia, but he had the most awesome time snorkeling in that bay. It was so much fun watching he, Hanna and Maggie loving it so much.As if that wasn't enough fun for one day, we drove on to Makapuu Point to hike out to the
lighthouse. We all decided we needed food first, and since I missed the Whole Foods in Kahala, (Lisa and Becky I am so sad about that) we drove down to the Waimanalo Beach area and ate an awesome roadside shack that served great fresh food. We had pulled pork and fish tacos and I had an amazing Hibiscus lemonade. We passed a steak and shrimp shack that Hanna and I were game for, but it was a no go for everyone else. On our way to Makapuu Point we bought fresh mango. It was gone in seconds! Yum!!The 1.5 mile hike to the lighthouse was wonderful. We set out at 5:00 so it was cool, no sun blaring down on us. Thank goodness because the backs of all our legs are as red as tomatoes. On our way down from the lighthouse we had another amazing sight..humpback whales swimming very close to shore. I even got a picture of one breaching, although my family laughed histarically at me for it...because I was so proud of it...I still was the only one to get it on camera! We saw two more groups of whales as we ventured further
down the trail. Wow! Wow! Wow! Is all I can say about that.Poor Brett wasn't feeling well on the drive back. He though it was all the salt water he accidentally drank while snorkeling, maybe it was the pork or maybe the jeep ride, but he was miserable and Aaron told him to puke out the window and not in the rented jeep If he had to. Well, as we pulled into Ko Olina he did and not a little...a lot. All over the outside of the white jeep..and I mean all over it. Poor kid. But as luck would have it right as we pulled into our parking spot we noticed a do it yourself car wash hose. What the luck! We all laughed and Brett felt better too. Fun Times!
Miles Traveled: 4337 from Whitehall to Oahu
Wildlife Report: too many tropical fish to count, 4 sea turtle, a few humpback whales, lots of spiders on the Makapu Trail, and some wild chickens and cats
Funny saying: Aaron made up a new Hawaiian word...Ass-a-hole-a-hole! I'm not going to tell you who got called that, but we are all
using it now.Hawaiian Trivia: Did you know there are only 12 letters in the original Hawaiian alphabet? All the vowels are included and h,k,l,m,n,p and w. Every consonant is followed by a vowel AND every word ends in a vowel. Plus to help sound out Hawaiian words...and trust me that can be difficult..everything is broken into single syllables. So for example, that crazy Hawaiian state fish I mentioned, try it this way: Hu-mu-hu-mu-nu-ku-nu-ku-a-pu-a-a. And that a'a is always pronounced ah-ah.
Funny of the day: Our legs were so sunburnt and we were so luck and happy to find a ton of fresh aloe growing at the trailhead to Makapuu Point. The girls and I planned on picking a bunch before we left. After we picked it we noticed Aaron and Brett talking to the ranger at the gate and we weren't sure if we broke rule about leaving things as you see them so we shoved the broke off leaves (and some were at least 10 inches long) into my bag and confiscated them passed the guard. When we got back to the condo we scooped out the gel and rubbed it all, over all our legs.
Sandy Beach Park
| Joined | June 15th 2010 | Trips | 2 |
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Aunt becky
non-member comment
My favorite place on Earth!
You re-lived one of our favorite days. I return there in my daydreams often!! So happy for your perfect day! Sorry about the barfing, though. ?