We all wanted to go snorkeling and snorkeling at Hanauma Bay we were told was a must. We had to go online to try to get reservations and I was able to for all of us but it only let me pick up to five kid spots and 5 adult spots. I thought that was weird and confusing especially since adults were considered 12 and up. According to them we had 1 kid and 9 adults, 10 not counting Kefford who didn't really count since he wasn't going to be snorkeling. So I just picked the 5 kids and 5 adults and didn't worry about it.
We had some time in the morning before we needed to be at the Bay and I wanted to get family pictures since I thought this might be the last time our family was going to be together before Ryker went on his mission so we did family pictures at Sandy beach. I will do a separate post on that one so I can put in all the pictures. But Kefford took off his boot for the pictures and Kenedy and I helped him hobble back when we were done.
Kelsey rented all of our snorkel gear and when we got to the bay check in area some of the kids tried theirs on to check on the fit.
When we got to Hanauma Bay we waited in a line for our time slot and then went in to give them our reservation umber. We explained to the guys who needed to look at our reservation as we were driving in the problem I had with reserving our tickets and they seemed to think it would be fine. But when we got to the girl who needed our reservation number who was going to let us in did have a problem with the way I did our reservation. Apparently we should have had two of us doing it so that we could have entered the right number of adults and kids and since I didn't do it right we were not allowed entry. I don't understand the problem and why they couldn't just let us in since we had the same amount of people but they wouldn't do it. They did tell us we could come back at about 12:30 and they would be able to let us in then. Again, none of it made sense but they gave us an opening and so we took it. We left and found a spot that had a blow hole to look at and it was fun to watch it for a little bit.
We then found a beach to park at and enjoy and it did have signs that said beware of Man-o-Wars and that made us a little nervous but I think someone talked to a life guard about it and he said to watch for foaming water which would be a sign of Man-o-Wars but other then that it should be fine. I was still a little nervous and sat on the beach for a bit while the kids went in, Kelsey and Brit sat on a log and Kefford sat there for a bit also before he went up to more grassy parts so he wouldn't get sand on his boot. After a little bit of being bored and telling sorry for my self about being alone I gave myself a mental slap and jumped up and ran into the ocean to play with the kids and it was fun. Nobody got stung and we had fun playing in the Hawaii Ocean.
Asher found a crab which they all thought was pretty cool and he put a glove on so it wouldn't pinch him and let all the kids look and touch it.
After we were done at the beach we were all feeling super hungry so we went back to a food truck we saw at the first beach we went to to take pictures. Kelsey thought it was just a shave ice truck but I told them I saw that it was selling food to se we went back and got some yummy chicken and HotDogs.
Before we left to go back to Hanauma Bay I got a shave ice and I couldn't believe how huge it was, almost as big as my head! Brit snapped a picture of Rylee and Qiana and where they chose to eat their food, silly girls.
Finally it was time to go try snorkeling again and when we got there they had us wait off to the side on a grassy hill. About half the group wandered off and while they were gone we were told that 5 could enter now. I wanted to wait for Kefford and Kelsey was the only other one there waiting so he went with 4 of the kids, I think it was Asher, Brielle, Qiana and Rylee. About 15 minutes later they said the rest of us could go in, we went inside and watched a shore movie on how to act within the Bay because it was a Nature Preserve and then we took a tram down to the water.
We got our snorkel gear on, figured out how to breath and walk in the gear and headed to the water, but not before a picture. Kenedy brought a disposable camera with her to take some pictures with and wanted me to take one of her in her snorkel gear with Avy and Rylee. I was holding the camera and holding the button halfway down so I could be ready to snap when she was ready when all of a sudden it clicked and the picture was taken. Kenedy was frustrated because she wasn't even looking at the camera and I felt really bad knowing that I ruined the picture for her. but then I remembered I grew up with those kind of cameras where you have no idea how the picture will look until you get it back and also that she has a cell phone to take as many pictures as she wants and can see what they look like so it was ok, I still felt a little bad.
When I got down to the water I walked in as best I could in the flippers and when I got to about knee deep it was getting really hard so I just went down and floated off. I have never been snorkeling before and it was really easy for me to get used to it and I absolutely loved it. It was so peaceful and beautiful in the water and I loved seeing all of the different fish. I really wanted to see a shark and a turtle which did not happen but I saw amazing colorful fish and I loved it. I spent a good couple of hours in there just swimming and looking at all the amazing undersea things. I would find a really pretty fish and just follow it around and watch it do its fishy things. When it finally got too cold I emerged out of the water and went to sit with the rest of our group who were also done.
\Brit, Elizabeth, Brielle, Qiana, Rylee, Avynlea and Kenedy
Kefford and Avynlea spotted a Ferret wandering around and really got a kick out of that.
When time was up and we had to ext the Bay we caught the Tram back up and took a couple of pictures with the beautiful background. I am so glad we were able to make this work and that we got to go snorkeling, it was magical and amazing and one of the highlights of the trip for me. I can't wait to get to do it again!
When we got back to our condo we showered and then Kelseys family came over. We ordered food from Kono's and then taught Kelseys family how to play werewolf. It was a good night and a great end to such a fun day.
A rainbow was going over our condo building which made for a pretty picture
