While the beach wasn't anything to get too excited about, the snorkelling was fantastic! We saw a sea turtle as soon as we stepped into the water. Every few meters we'd swim, we'd be greated by something new. Sometimes the water was deep, and sometimes the coral was just centimeters below us.
The fish must have known that they were no longer off the menu for me, because whenever I'd try to swim up to one, it would frantically swim away. I saw a few puffer fish (my absolute favourite...not to eat) but they were especially shy and would hide on the other side of coral from me. We swam all over the place, out deep, in close to the shore, and everywhere in between. The best spot was near this big breaker by shore where the water was particularly rough. There was lots of food being churned up by the waves, and therefore lots of snacking fishies.
We really only spent about an hour in the water, but it was enough time for us to have seen heaps of fish and have really enjoyed ourselves. By the end our masks were starting to bug us and we were both coming up to dump water out more and more frequently, so it was time to go. We returned our gear and headed back to the resort to pick up the parents.
We got to the resort right on time, but the parents were nowhere to be found. Pat and Maya decided to go wander around a bit, and I stayed with the van in case they suddenly emerged. Nope. Eventually we found them, talking away with the sales team. "Uh oh... They're buying something!" Sure enough, they'd signed up for a time share. Us kids weren't sold on the decision until we got shown one of the units and had the system explained to us. Instead of having a particular time share in one place, they have access to time shares all over the world. And, we can book them and pay cash at a discounted rate instead of using their points. Hello awesome! I plan to take full advantage of this the minute I'm no longer a starving student (and possibly sooner).
All the while, John was back at the condo, watching football and nursing his sliced up foot. When we got back to the condo I realized that at some point I had sustained a gash to the underside of my foot as well. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as John's, but it did mean that I would be joining him on the sidelines for that afternoon's trip to Mauna Kea Beach.
Mauna Kea Beach was beautiful, and seriously not rocky. It's located within a private resort, and there is only a small public parking lot, which means it's not overly crowded, but if the parking lot's full, your SOL. We came later in the afternoon when people were leaving. The water looked so great that I was regretting not just bringing my surf shoes. Fortunately, we came back here later and I was able to enjoy the water.
I'm not sure why exactly, but after the beach we decided to continue driving north to check out a little town whose name I have completely forgotten. It was in the hills, so everything was this incredibly lush green. And they had an organic grocery store, where I picked up some Aloha baked tofu (which was not as good as I'd hoped) and vegan ginger cookies (which were amazing). Pat proved for not the last time this trip that he'll eat anything, paying over $5 for a bag of sea vegetable chips.
When we finally returned home, we decided to give the parents a break and cook dinner. John headed to the BBQ with our Costco bag of Mahi Mahi and a pineapple. Maya and I made some vegetables and rice, and Pat took off to have a shower, returning just in time to set the table. It was a delicious meal and we hardly had any leftovers at the end of it. After dinner we hit up the Queen's shopping complex where I picked up a hat and a rash vest, thereby saving myself from getting a sunburn during subsequent ocean activites, which was another goal I had for this trip.
Next time, the Luau!
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