Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Day 3 - Kahalu'u Beach, White Sands Beach, End of the World, and Catamaran Cruise

The next day we had a scheduled Catamaran Cruise with the Speed Queen group in the evening, so we decided to go snorkeling for the first part of the day. We headed to Kahalu'u Beach. It is supposed to be a good beach for beginners, which was really good for me. :)

Kahalu'u Beach

It was a great experience! Definitely good for first time snorkelers. Lots of beautiful fish and we saw several turtles, too. We wish the water had been a bit clearer, but it was still awesome. Here are lots of pictures from the experience. Daniel was the sole photographer of the underwater pics. (With our new underwater digital camera! :)

Damselfishes

Raccoon Butterflyfish

Red Pencil Urchin in coral

Stripebelly Pufferfish

Ringtail Surgeonfish

Sea Turtle

Lined Butterflyfish

Damselfish and Lined Butterflyfish

Me trying to communicate with Daniel



Yellow Tang

Orangeband Surgeonfish

Coral and Red Pencil Urchins

School of Ringtail Surgeonfish

Stripebelly Pufferfish

Sea Turtle



Sailfin Tang

Collector Sea Urchin

Sea Cucumber - they're kinda gross looking



Yellow Tang and Coral

Some cool Brain Coral

Wrassesfish, Parrotfish, and Yellow Tang

Bluespine Unicornfish - "Can you see me?"



Ornate Butterflyfish - They look like they could glow in the dark!

Pennant Butterflyfish

Sea Turtle

Orangespine Unicornfish

A school of Damselfish

A school of Yellow Tang


After awhile we decided to drive a little ways up the road and visit this White Sands Beach. The sand was so soft. It is some times called Magic Sands Beach. When there is rough water it pulls the sand into underwater caves, but when the waves calm down it brings the sand back. Pretty neat! You can see in some of the pictures the "ledge" of sand on the beach while it's being washed away.


The waves were pretty rough that day. We had hoped to do some snorkeling there, it's supposed to be a good spot, but it was too dangerous. Oh well. See all the sand in the water there?

Can you see the beach is in the process of being washed away?

The waves were pretty strong that day.

I'm trying to prepare for them. :)

Splash!

Coming back to shore.

Daniel told me to sit there for some pictures. The waves were so powerful I had a hard time staying holding a position.

When the wave went back out it turned me right around with it!

It was a really beautiful beach! One of my favorites.


There is a place called "the end of the world" where people will go cliff jumping. We went to check it out, but the water was too rough for any jumping. See the sign.

We decided to walk in there and see what the place was like.



That's Brenda way over there on the rocks.

Yeah, you don't want to jump into that.

Still beautiful, though.

Check out the crashing waves.


Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the catamaran cruise and dinner.

Some of the bluest water I've ever seen!

The mast and sail

Daniel and me

We watched another amazing sunset while we were on the boat. Here's a couple pics, but they don't even come close to actually being there.



Then we headed to land for an outside supper with live music.