Saturday, J and I went on a fantastic Mother/Son adventure. It has been a while since I had some special one on one time with this precious boy and I was missing those illogically silly, yet super fun, uninterrupted conversations one can only hold with a tween. I allowed J to pick our destination and threw out swimming with dolphins, paddle boarding, hiking.....within the limit of reason (ie. mama's feet do not leave the elements that make up our earth's surface and I absolutely REFUSE to climb in a sharks cage) the choice was his :o)
He requested that we go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve :o)
I did a bit of research and learned that for water clarity (as well as parking!) Hanauma bay is best visited in the early morning. So at 6:30 we hopped in our already packed car, hit the golden arches drive-thru and headed east :o)
(Quirky HI note: One can actually order spam and rice for breakfast at McD's, not our dining dream, but....)
Once there we got our tickets, were shown a short safety film (which included a lovely shot of a fanged eel aggressively darting from within a hole, eek!), and then started our hike down to the water.
This was our first time snorkeling in a real reef and oh my! It was incredible!!! I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed an activity this much, since my horse back riding lessons in IL. It was breathtaking and beautiful!
I will confess that there were some unnerving moments. Instances when the current was a tad stronger then I would have preferred for J. Spots where the coral was a tad too shallow for comfort (after that eel shot!). Plus one disturbing encounter with a rather grumpy looking and extremely large fish, who obviously hadn't been properly educated in the etiquette of personal space ;o) But overall, amazing!
We were thankful for the excellent advise to go early, as the beach did get extremely crowded as the day stretched and our later swims yielded only a small portion of the exotic beauty we saw on earlier dips. But by later in the morning, our kickers were spent and we just enjoyed warming ourselves in the sunshine, while J built a sand kingdom masterpiece :o)
At noon, we packed our bags, began our hike to the top of the crater and visited the little snack shack for some yummy Hawaiian style fare.
It was a perfect morning with my wonderful treasure :o)
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14
3 comments:
How glorious!! Such beautiful photos...
I was just catching up with you and your precious family! Off to read more!
Love,
Sue
HEY!! We were just there last summer (I think you were in Ethiopia!) I am not a good swimmer or snorkeler, so I basically laid on the beach 0 but my hubs saw a giant sea turtle there. Still claims it was the coolest thing he's ever seen :-)
HOLY COW! Jealous! Looks like SOOO much fun. I do want to come there...but I have this one little grumpy kid that for now seems to sap all the fun out of everything! lol! Glad you had such a good day with the older one!
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