DAY 7-Hanauma Bay, Waimea Falls & Shave Ice

This day started off at 6am. Travis wanted to get a early start for Hanauma Bay. We left Cooper with Grandma and Grandpa and hit the road around 6:30 am. We got to the bay around 7 am. We were some of the very first visitors there that day. We were directed to a building where a park ranger gave us an overview of the bay and the do's and don't of snorkeling. After that, we made our way down to the bay. It's a steep walk down to the bay. We went and rented our fins, snorkels and masks and headed to the beach. There were only a handful of people there. The weather was breezy. We got our gear on and headed to the water. It was pretty chilly. I decided that it was too cold for me and so did Brielle and Lainey. Travis was brave and decided to go for it. He really, really enjoyed snorkeling. The girls and I layed on the beach, under a palm tree and took a nap while Travis snorkeled. I told the girls not to complain to Travis that they were cold and that they wanted to go because this was something Travis really wanted to do. He snorkeled for about 3 hours straight. He had an underwater camera and took pictures of the fish. Around 10:30 am, the beach and water started getting really crowded with people. We decided that it was time to go, but Brielle and Lainey decided that they wanted to try snorkeling. Brielle went first. She held on to Travis and they snorkeled for 10 minutes or so. Then it was Lainey's turn. She snorkeled for about 10 minutes too. We gathered up our stuff, returned out equipment and made the long hike back up to the parking lot. It was one of Travis' favorite part of the trip even though he was only able to do it for a short time.

Travis and the girls at Hanauma Bay

Jillynne and the girls
Out in the water.
This was right when we got there. It really was quite chilly. The girls got all of their gear on, but decided it was just too cold.

Travis has a blast floating around and looking at all of the cool fish.

Travis

Lainey on the beach trying to keep warm.

Brielle finally decided to give it a try. She was so glad she did.

Lainey had fun too.

A view of Hanauma when we first got there.

A view on our way back up to the parking lot.

See, there were a lot more people when we left than when we first got there. With all of the people, Travis said the water was kind of getting murky.

Another picture of the water.

After Hanauma, we headed back to the hotel. We got cleaned up and decided to go and eat lunch. After lunch we went back up to the North Shore to see Waimea Falls. I believe it's a State Park. From the parking lot, it's about 1 1/2 miles up to the falls. The scenery going up to the falls was beautiful. There was even an ancient Hawaiian hut. We finally made it to the falls and we were kind of disappointed. It was more like a "water trickle" than a "waterfall". There were two lifeguards there who told us that they were going through a drought and that is why there wasn't very much water. We had the option to swim in the pool under the waterfall, but we were told that there were quite a lot of bacteria in the water so we decided against it. We stayed at the waterfall for about 15 minutes and then made our way back to our vehicle.

Getting ready to go up to the falls.

A REAL ancient Hawaiian hut.

These birds were all over. Some type of cardinal. There were also some with brown heads too.

There were a lot of different trees and flowers on the way up to the falls.

Flowers

Grammy and Grampy with the kids at the "Water Trickle"

The fam.

Another hut. This one isn't original.

When we made it back down, we saw this peacock.

Before we went to Hawaii, we were told that we need to stop in Haleiwa and get a "Shave Ice". Yep a shave ice NOT a shaved ice. After Waimea, we went to the General Store in Haleiwa. They were AWESOME. They put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the bottom of the cup, then the ice, then the flavoring and then they squirted sweetened condensed milk on top. YUMMMMMMY!! We'll definitely make a trip back to the General Store in Haleiwa if we make it back to Oahu.

Enjoying Shave Ice

Brielle and Lainey. Yep, we agree that it's Hawaii's Best Shave Ice!!

On the way back to our hotel, I took these pics. I was taking them in a moving car so they aren't too great but I had to take pictures of these pine trees. I never knew they had pine trees in Hawaii, but they do.

Another picture from the car. Mountains and pineapple fields.