5th day called for some snorkeling!

 

 

When we booked our PCC tickets with the activities guy at our

hotel he asked us what our plans were for the rest of the week.

We both kind of stood there and said uhhhhh, good question, we don't know!

We did want to snorkel but didn't know exactly where.

I have been to Hanauma Bay before but didn't think it was anything spectacular.

The guy agreed then HIGHLY suggested we do this 4 hour snorkeling excursion.

He said it was the best snorkeling spot on the island.

So we booked our tickets.

The only downfall was that we needed to get up at 6:30 and we went to bed

really late the night before. But once we peeled our eyes open and threw on a swimsuit

we were good to go!

This excursion would bus everybody from our hotel to the boat harbor in Ko'Olina.

Ko'Olina is where the new Marriott hotel, condo and Disney resorts are.

I had looked into staying there but once again, it was big $$$.

 

It was an absolutely perfect day weather wise.

At first a little windy but still enjoyable.

We all walked down to our boat the Kai'oli'oli.

 

 

There was a girl who was the boat photographer.

She looked to be in her early twenties and was absolutely hysterical.

She was definitely a free spirit and had us laughing all day!

I wish I had a picture of her!

We bought a cd at the end so most of these pictures came from her camera,

 including the under water ones.

 

Once everybody was on the boat they did  brief safety instructions then we were off!

When we first set sail the crew said there were muffins from a local bakery for all of us

as well as an ice chest full of soda and aloha juice.

The views were incredible.

A picture of the crew and captain.

They were all so nice and it was fun getting to know them.

A fun job they have I might say!

Manny the photographer let us go up to the captain's chair for a bit.

There were 45 people on our voyage.

At first we didn't know how they were going to fit everybody on.

But once we got going and everybody spread out it was perfect.

It was fun standing at the front of the boat and getting splashed as we cruised.



After about 45 minutes of sailing we came upon the dolphin cove.

There were TONS of dolphins! I want to say at least 40 of them.

They were swimming right in front of us and all around and under the boat.

It was the coolest thing watch.

You would see them flipping out of the water all around you.

 We watched them for about 30 minutes then starting cruising to our snorkeling spot.

In the meantime they had everybody start putting on our gear.

Right when we jumped in we saw a turtle.

They warned us not to touch the turtles because they are extinct and there a huge fines

if you do. I had no worries because deep sea life freaks me out a little and I wasn't about to go touching anything! Surprisingly the fish didn't really bother me. Getting used to breathing out of a tiny tube and trying not to inhale water was  the tough part.

 

 

But we got the hang of it and started getting brave.

Getting a little deeper.

Casey got the farthest down out of the two of us.

We were shocked how bad our ears would hurt not even going down that far.

 

 

We snorkeled for an hour then got back on the boat.

On the drive back in to shore they served us a fabulous lunch!

I wish I had a picture but it was the traditional kalua pork and grilled chicken,

rice, macaroni salad and fresh pineapple!

 

It was such a FUN adventure!

We got back around 2 so we decided to spend the rest of the day at the beach at our hotel.

There are rental booths lined all up and down the beaches.

All week we had been watching people do the stand up paddle boards so we decided to try it out.

We thought it would be fun to rent one and go out together.

Haha, it's not as easy as it looks!

They suggested the lighter person sits in front and the back person is on their knees with the paddle

until you feel comfortable standing up.

I was able to get up without tipping us over, probably because I am lighter.

We did take turns swimming behind the board in the water while the other was standing up by

themselves. It was really fun. And a workout!

 

We stayed on the beach till the sun went down then walked along

the Waikiki beach line. Casey spotted a Mexican restaurant so we ate dinner there.

It was pretty good. We had a hard time finding an ice cream shop so we went into an ABC store

and got some pints of Ben and Jerry's then headed back to our room for a movie and ice cream in bed! We were bushed so it was a nice ending to another perfect day!