Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Chris’ favorite thing to do in Hawaii is snorkel. And the best place to snorkel is at Hanauma Bay. But one needs to fuel up before going snorkeling, so we stopped at the Liliha Bakery on Nimitz for breakfast. Apparently, so did everyone else…. There was quite a line. I should have know it would be busy when they had their own parking lot attendant directing traffic. Wow!

But since we were willing to sit at the counter, we only had to wait about 20-30 minutes. Not bad and it gave me a ton of time to stare at all the gorgeous bakery treats in the case!

After receiving our breakfast, I know why there was such a line on a weekday morning. The food was AMAZING! I should have known the butter rolls would be out of this world when the waitress poised the question “you want a butter roll?” more as a statement than an actual question. Holy smokes! I could have eaten 10 of those babies! I would not have been able to walk all the way to the car, but it might have just been worth it… ;o)

I thought it was busy when we got there but when we left, I discovered what the parking lot attendant’s real job was…

The next pictures should be of Hanauma Bay, but by the time we got there around 11am they were closed because the parking lot was closed. But the weather was nice and we were already out, so we just kept driving along the South Shore.

First stop: Halona Blow Hole. There was a ton of people there! Probably more Hanauma Bay rejects… ;o)

Sandy Beach Park in the distance

It was really hard to catch at just the right moment!

      

I finally got the shot!

Sandy Park Beach looked so nice from the viewpoint that we decided to stop and enjoy the sun and the water for a bit…

Next stop would have been the Makapuu Lighthouse, but the trail was closed for repairs…

Right there on the side of the road was this beautiful quiet beach that looked perfect for swimming, the sun was out and there was no one else there. So we just parked along side the road and jumped in…

Eventually the clouds started rolling in and it started to rain. The great thing about Hawaii, it doesn’t matter one bit! Swimming in the rain is still a blast!!!

    The other great thing about the rain while we were in Hawaii? It didn’t last very long…

It did rain on us quite a bit on the way to Kailua to get snowcones, but it was nice to finally wash all the salt water off the windshield and see again!

The weather wasn’t that great in Kailua, so we ate our snowcones and headed back along the South Shore towards Waikiki…