So, I realized that there's actually 2 days missing from the Hawaii report...This is a long report...sorry. But I hope you enjoy the pics!
The last day of Cbog40's conference was just breakfast, so I went downstairs to have my own brekkie. It was quite pricey, but the view was fantastic!
Now, I had decided earlier in the trip that I wanted to do something we've never done before while we were in Hawaii. A friend of mine had told me about her first time snorkeling (which happened to be in Hawaii as well) and suggested that we try it. I was nervous about it because I don't like swimming in open water. Since I had done fairly well with the water earlier in the trip, and through the amazingly helpful concierge who told me about a fantastic spot for beginners, we had booked an excursion for late morning (so we'd be sure that Cbog40's brekkie would be finished). We got changed for our excursion and head off to our meeting spot. Before we knew it, the van pulled up and whisked us away to Hanauma Bay for our first-ever attempt at snorkeling.
Prior to letting us loose out of the van, our driver (who had been talking up the sort of creatures to look out for the whole way up) gave us some instruction about how to wear the gear, as well as the basics of how to become acclimated to breathing with the snorkel and then he handed out the equipment. We were instructed where and when to meet back and we were free to go. (side note: the really neat thing about this particular excursion was that there were several scheduled return times available and you could choose which one you wanted to go back on, depending on space in the van. We chose the one that would allow us to take our time, yet still get us back to our hotel in plenty of time for our hotel change and evening plans)
What wasn't included in the price of the excursion (but we knew about it ahead of time) was the entrance fee to the park. Once we paid our fees, they shuffled us into a room to watch a movie about preserving the reef and the do's and don'ts of swimming in the reef. We started to make our way toward the bay (which was quite a hike down). Our driver had told us that there is a cart that takes people up and down the hills since it's so steep, or you can choose to walk. We chose to walk down and ride back up. The catch is: the cost of the trolley going down was 50 or 75 cents...but $1 to ride back up. Those folks knew what they were doing.
(probably the best $2 we spent though)
We had been assured that if we needed any additional assistance, there would be people around that we could ask...but surprisingly, I had not trouble at all breathing with the snorkel. I tried dunking my head in the water to practice a few times, and I was good to go. Unfortunately, Cbog40 had more difficulties with it. I felt badly because as soon as I saw my first fish, I was off on my own adventure. We weren't too far from each other (the safety guidelines said to use the buddy system), but I kind of left him in the dust. With my handy-dandy waterproof camera in hand, I set off to take a few pics of my first snorkeling adventure.
I couldn't tell you what kind of fish I saw, but I did manage to see an eel. Apparently (at least it's what I was told) they only really come out much later in the day, so I was lucky to see it. He definitely startled me and I did my best at staying out of his way. But I managed to snap a few pics of him (or her).
Look out Mr. Fish!
Notice the urchin peeking out from the hidden Mickey...
At one point, I ended up much farther out than I ever intended to go and a wave came along and threw me into some large rocks that were almost to the surface of the water. In that moment, my mask was loosened a little and water began to get into my mask. I couldn't see, was being thrown onto the rocks and I was trying not to touch them because I didn't want to kill any coral, was in a deeper area where I couldn't just stand up, and I was waving to Cbog40 to help me. He thought I was just waving at him and kind of gave me the 'way to go' thumbs up. When I finally made it back to where he was, he realized something was wrong. I ended up with a few small scratches, but was fine. To my surprise, I wanted to go back out...normally something like that would have scared me from going out again...ever. But because it was getting kind of close to our departing time and we had to change and make our way back up (and it was kinda chilly since it was cloudy), we decided to get out of the water. I headed over to the lifeguard station to get some iodine and band-aids to clean/cover my scratches with, and the lifeguard put me at ease saying that it happens all the time...boy those things stung like the devil!
We made it back up with no problem (other than the 10 minute wait) and also managed to take some additional pics of the area.
Hanauma Bay (the beach cannot be seen in this pic)
On our way back, our driver passed out some tootsie pops to help us get the salt out of our mouths. We encountered a heavy downpour on the way back to the hotel, so it was a good thing we had left when we did. We decided to grab a Dole Whip before walking back to the hotel. That caramel sauce on top was really tasty!
When we arrived back to the hotel, we gathered our bags and took a taxi to the hotel we would be staying at for our last night in Hawaii. It was sad to say goodbye to such a beautiful property, but there was no way we were able to extend our stay there, so we found another place not too far away. We got checked into our new hotel and proceeded to get changed for our dinner cruise.
The view of Diamond Head from our 2nd hotel:
There was even an "ocean view" from our room...
(yep, right there between the palm trees in the distance...)
Not quite like the poshness of our beautiful pink palace, but it'll do for a night...
We went out to our meeting place for the cruise and the bus came and took us to the appropriate dock. Along the way, our guide (who ended up being a performer in the show on the cruise) got everyone pumped up by teaching us a chant. What we didn't know at the time was that this was going to be part of the show later.
Our catamaran for the dinner cruise:
It turned out that there were several people from Cbog40's conference on our cruise too. Since the seating was large tables, we asked if we could all sit together. So we all had our own table...and I think we were the party table...
The food was good and was served buffet style.
After dinner, we had a little bit of time to explore the boat before the show started. The show consisted of dance styles and costumes for each Polynesian nation that made up the early inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands.
Let the show begin!
The chant came into play later on in the show when there was a competition to see which 'bus' was the loudest....honestly, I don't remember who won, so it probably wasn't us.
The show ended with a giant conga line around the entire floor. (I cannot confirm nor deny my participation in said conga line)
We headed back to the hotel after a very long, but exciting day.
On our last day, we were both so beat and only had a few hours before heading to the airport, that we decided to take it easy. We originally planned to go check out Aulani and Pearl Harbor...but given the amount of time it would have taken to get there and back, it wouldn't have left us much time to explore. Plus we were exhausted. So we discovered that there was an aquarium close by and we decided to check it out. The aquarium is located in a park, and we passed this banyan tree on the way there. I never realized how majestic and beautiful these trees are until I saw them in person.
The building wasn't much to look at, but inside was great! It wasn't a large aquarium, but the tanks they had were well lit and very colorful. There were inside as well as outside areas to explore as well.
Hawaiian Monk Seal
Yeah, we did the touristy thing and got our pic taken...
Look what was on the walls in the gift shop! (besides the security camera...)
It was time to head back to the room and get over to the airport for our long flight home. It was sad to leave...especially when we came home to this...
