LAST DAY IN HAWAII - EAST COAST TOUR

We woke up to a beautiful clear morning - it had been raining a lot the day before.  We decided to drive to Diamond Head.  We had breakfast at Eggs and Things.  Kind of a big breakfast.  We got to Diamond Head park at about 9:30.  This wasn't a unique idea - even the place to wait for a parking place was filled up.  We were told to go away and come back another time.  I guess for us, that'll be another Oahu trip.

From there we drove around to see Hanauma Bay.  First, the bay itself is gorgeous.

Hanauma Bay seen from the parking lot.

Charlie just before we snorked

Me too

An Hawaiian white egret - another parking lot bird

Beyond the parking lot was a ticket office, a store, and a restaurant.  We weren't permitted to walk down the hill to the bay until we had seen a 9 minute video about preservation of the corals and sea life.  At the bottom were showers, changing stations, life guards, places to rent snorkeling equipment, and best of all - the bay itself.  Charlie's hip is very sore, and since my operation 20 years ago, I've really had trouble snorkeling.  We decided to give it a go anyway, and rented fins, snorkels and masks.  Wow!  Am I glad we did.  Somehow, I was able to breath through a snorkel without problems (first time in years) and Charlie, although a bit slow, was able to use the fins.  Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay is like snorkeling in an aquarium.  We saw Convict fish, Trigger Fish, Parrot Fist, lots of others as well.  Our problem this trip was the weather.  When we got to the bay itself, although it wasn't particularly cloudy, it was misting rain.  We snorkeled for about 2 hours, and I got cold.  When we went onto the shore to "warm up"  misty clouds began to pull off other clouds, like cotton candy.  It was getting wetter, and darker.  We opted to leave - but I definitely plan to return.  What a wonderful spot!!

By the time we got back to the car it was full on raining.  We stopped at Halona blow hole - but it was too wet to appreciate.  We drove on around the east coast.  We drove to Waimanolo Beach.  We drove along a suburban street.  Each little road perpendicular to it said, "beach access".  What a gorgeous beach - even in the rain.

Me - apres snorkeling on Waimanolo beach

From there we drove to Kailua.  We had a bit of trouble finding the beach.  We did find the center of the small town of Kailua and a marine base.  Eventually we found the beach.  Another beautiful spot - but it was teeming rain here.  We found a group of guys that were parasurfing.  At least one was.  The rest were sitting with their equipment getting drenched.

This guy was tearing around with that sail on his surfboard!

His buddies hiding from the rain

We continued our damp journey to Kaneohe Bay.  Not really for swimming but very picturesque.

Above Charlie is standing next to our lime green Kia.  It was easy to drive, and easy to spot in parking lots.

Some scenery along Kaneohe Bay.

We drove back to Waikiki.  I was chilly, but our silly hotel had barely lukewarm water.  At least I got the salt off.  We went back to Cheeseburgers in Paradise - oddly not as good as last night.  We then went to the Moana Surfrider hotel along the beach for some wine.  Back to the hotel -

We flew home on Sunday - Charlie's birthday.  Lovely trip - ready to go back!