Hawaii- Oahu

We got a late start on our planned snorkeling trip back to Hanauma Bay due to the hotel experience of the previous night. The jellyfish had moved on from the bay and we had our first shot at snorkeling in Hawaii. We saw such a variety of fish in the short time we were in the water. The coolest was the giant school of trumpet fish (narrow and long, eel-like fish) and the giant parrot fish. I wanted to stay longer, but we had to get back to the crappy hotel to shower and check out before noon. We did so and left the hotel, very glad to be out of there and on the road again. We once again met up with the Beckham’s and caravanned to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We met Natalie Horrocks at the Dole plantation and Chelsea had a fun time catching up with her friend. We enjoyed some amazing pineapple ice cream and then boarded the Pineapple Express, a train which took us around some of the pineapple fields. We walked around the grounds and bought a pineapple, said goodbye to Natalie, and then headed up to a surfer town just up the road on Natalie’s recommendation for some good “shave ice” (not “shaved ice”, as one might think). Cameron and I walked in and out of no less than seven surf shops while the girls chatted at the shave ice shop. We then said goodbye to the Beckham’s and continued our journey north to check out the 20 foot waves that had been predicted for this day on the north shore. We were not disappointed. We sat on the beach as the lifeguards warned all swimmers not to enter the water beyond the knee as the waves were a 9 out of 10 on the wave scale. Our time on Oahu was coming to a close, so we drove to the Honolulu airport, dropped off our rental car, and shuttled over to our terminal for our inter-island flight to Maui. My parents picked us up, gave us a sea shell lei greeting, and drove us to Mahina Surf, a set of beach condos that my family has been staying at for years. We drove into Mahina Surf and mom and dad took us down to the rocky shore to spot a few sea turtles that they had discovered the day before.