Diamond Head and Hanauma Bay

Two of my favorite places on Oahu -

 

We had a really fun time hiking Diamond Head and snorkeling in Hanauma Bay!

 

 

Diamond Head is a dormant volcano. 
Here is the park in the crater of the volcano before we started the hike.

And here we are 23 years ago in the same park!
Leigh Ann, David & me - December 1989!

At the start of the hike David pointed out these caves built in the side of the hills.

About half-way up, looking out at the beach

About half-way up - beautiful, beautiful views!

A look back at Honolulu and Waikiki

And on the other side of the volcano - back towards the Windward side of the island

From the very top - a look down at the homes and water

sooo pretty

And on our way back down - see all the people walking the trail above us?

Diamond Head Lighthouse

 

 

We spent half a day snorkeling, swimming, and relaxing on the beach at Hanauma Bay!

It's now a nature preserve and we had to watch a video about preserving the coral reef.

I've been here on days when it is absolutely packed.

We were there on a great day.

The reef is just beautiful and makes for some great exploring.
We saw beautiful colored fish and lots and lots of coral.

Thomas doing his favorite thing - building in the sand.

Brennan and David on their way out to snorkel.

 

 I'm uploading a couple of videos of our time at Hanauma.  If you're reading this in a reader or email, you may have to switch over to the blog to see the videos.

 

 Here are David and Brennan snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

Eventually Brennan got to go way out into the reef and explore.  Here we were just starting out.

 

 

Thomas playing in the sand at Hanauma Bay

 

 

My 360 view of Hanauma Bay when I wasn't snorkeling

 

Beautiful days exploring Hawaii!