Today we are meeting up with Dianne and her girls to go snorkelling at Hanauma Bay. This means a very early start, parking is limited at the bay and Dianne has recommended we get there about 8:15 to ensure a space. Once the car park is full there are very few options other than going and finding another bay. We are there at just after 8:15, there is plenty of space, though later on we do find out the car park was full by not much after 9.
Hanauma Bay was formed in a volcanic crater, it is almost fully enclosed and therefore very protected, there is a vibrant reef in the bay and it has become home for many reef dwelling species including fish, squid, octopus and turtles. The Bay is now a protected national park and is available for snorkelling, though strict guidelines apply and you have to watch an introductory video on how to snorkel safely for both you and the environment before they will let you any where near the water.
The bay is fantastic, clear still water, soft sandy beaches and plenty of space to just swim in the warm sea water if that is what you want to do. There was limited shade in the bay however and we therefore decided that we should only stay until just into the afternoon to ensure we did not burn again, though as we were in the water before 10 this was hardly a problem.
We spent almost two hours solid in the water before we took a break, whilst the snorkelling inside the reef line was not as spectacular as we experienced on Lady Elliot Island it was well worth the effort. We saw numerous species of fish: Threadfin Butterfly Fish; Eyestripe Surgeon Fish; Palenose Parrot Fish; Convict Tang; and Hawaiian Sergeant to name a few. I also managed to get a bit of reasonable video for use on the web site, though my skill as an underwater photographer leaves a lot to be desired.
After our first spell in the water we took a break and grabbed a spot of lunch, Baggage enjoyed playing with Dianne’s girls on the beach. Dianne had another girl with her today, Hannah, who is 11 (nearly 12) and one of her Girl Scouts and a friend of her girls. You really would not believe Hannah was 11 however, she looked far more in place when playing with Katherine who is 13 rather than Baggage who is 11.
One more visit to the water, snorkel on head before we left the Bay, this time though the waves had come up a bit as it was high tide and they were washing over the reef, as a result visibility in the water was significantly reduced.
On the way back to the house we stopped off at Don Quijote, a ‘sell all shop’ in Kailua, it is Father’s day next weekend in the UK so we wanted to send something back for my Dad. I picked up a couple of fixed price packages from the post office as we also want to send a backup of our recent photos back to the UK and they would not fit in the package with the present we have bought my Dad.
Dinner tonight is Chicken Fettucine Alfredo courtesy of a packet of Chicken Helper, I know cheating! It may be cheating, but was very nice.
For supper I washed it down with the last couple of bottles of the Wheat Beer.
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