Hanauma Bay

This is a funny photo to start a Hanauma Bay post with, but first things first.... little baby boys must take baths!  Little Mr. LOVES his baths, however, the time between getting out of the tub and being fully dressed again is not his favorite. :)  It seemed silly to give him a bath when we had plans of spending yet another good chunk of time at the beach, but a little one can only handle a certain number of sunscreen and salt water layers before they need a meeting with some soap and a wash cloth!

Oh, so we're happy now?

We're done and now he's ready to go!

We got our car from the lift lot and made our way towards one of my favorite Oahu destinations.

On the way, we stopped to see some scenery and there were quite a few surfers out too.

The view from this area was spectacular!

On the way there we made a quick stop at the Diamond Head Crater.

People walk to its highest point, and I zoomed my little camera as far as the lens would go to catch this shot.  I should have taken a photo of how far the path was to this structure, it's pretty far and all up hill!  We stayed in the car. :)  You can see some cool photos of the crater here.  If we visit again, this could be something I might want to tackle, as it seems pretty cool.  There are bunkers from WWII along the trail as well as tunnels and an amazing 360 degree view of Oahu.  You can look at an outline of the trail here.  You can see part of the view here.

The coast near Hanauma Bay.

We've arrived at our destination!  Hanauma Bay!

Things have changed since we were there 10 years ago.  There is now an informational museum-like area that you walk through after you pay, and then you watch a little video about not stepping on the coral or feeding the fish.  If you plan to come back within the year you sign a paper and then you don't have to watch the video when you come back.

Wow.  I will never tire of this!  The beach and reefs are beautiful!


Snorkelers enjoying the amazing Hanauma Bay reefs.  This was a fairly low tide.

Ready to go swimming!  "Isn't the beach that way mommy?"


My guys out for a swim!  The water was warmer here than it was on the North Shore.

Getting dried off after his swim.  Hanauma bay has a couple of nice shady grassy areas that are great for kids.

This was my favorite bird out of all the birds we saw in Hawaii.  It is a Red-Crested Cardinal.

This information booth down by the beach is a great resource.  There are people that can answer questions and give you hints as to where to see certain fish or animals.  There are also posters listing popular fish and sea life so you can identify what you may have seen while snorkeling.

We both saw a ton of fish while snorkeling.  We took turns going out with the snorkel gear and later used these posters to compare what we think we saw.  A lot of the fish are quite big, especially that one second from the left on the top row.  I saw a huge one of those.  That might sound scary, but for some reason it isn't scary at all to see the fish. If I would have seen an eel I think that would have scared me though.

I saw a lot of these.

And a couple of these that were quite big, but probably still less than a foot long.

I had a fun visit with some nice old men at the information booth who told me that there had been several sightings that day of a Whitetip Reef Shark that was around 4 feet long.  I guess they are harmless and basically resting during the day, but I still kept far away from where they said he was.  I don't think I ever went out past where I could touch the sand, but I know The Mr. went way further out and was rewarded with seeing a sea turtle.  I was envious!

Part of the reef showing above water in low tide.

Little Mr. taking a nap.  He fell asleep while watching the waves.  This is RARE!

I covered up his legs in case he wasn't wearing enough sunscreen.  He looked pretty cozy.

I miss this view.  It is stunning!

Next up we visit the Honolulu Zoo!