Hanauma Bay and Sea Life Park

Friday, June 26th

For those you who do not  know, I am in Hawaii.  I accompanied my friend Betty Murphy to the International Lions Club Convention in Honolulu.   We left yesterday on  a  7:30 am flight from Philadelphia and with two flights and a delayed layover in LA, we arrived at our hotel last night around 7 pm Honolulu time.   Since they are 6 hours behind us, it was about 1 am back home.  We were exhausted!

Today was the day we planned to head to the windward side of Oahu to Hanauma Bay.  This is a  natural preserve noted for great snorkel.   I had called ahead and wrote down in great detail how to catch bus 22 to this beach.   Unfortunately I asked the hotel staff and they told us to take bus 23.  That was not correct, but a  kind bus driver helped us find the correct bus stop to catch 22.  However by this time we missed the 8:00 bus and found out the next bus wasn’t until 9.  After sitting for about 15 minutes, a guy in a not so great looking van pulled up and said he would take us to Hanauman Bay for 5 bucks each.   I decided to jump on the chance, although I could tell Betty thought I had lost my mind.   The van driver stopped at several bus stops trying to get more passengers and finally a guy from Belgium was added.  In  our conversation with him, we found out he was a policeman.   Then Betty ( and I ) felt much better.  I am happy to report that we got to our destination just fine and a lot faster because of my rash decision!

Hanauma Bay was once a volcanic crater and is now just a visual delight!  You really didn’t have to swim very far to be over reef with  lots of colorful fish.  I loved every minute of this place and wished we could have stayed longer.

We had to catch the 12:30 bus for Sea Life Park, about a 15 minute drive from the bay.  Betty had signed up for a session to swim with the dolphins at 3:15.   We did have time to take in a dophin show and a lion show before her swim.  I watched and  was the designated photographer.  Luckily their was a real photographer on hand as well.

We caught the 5:00 bus back to our hotel and were quite pleased with ourselves for our first day’s adventure.  After a dinner  at a restaurant down the street, we were once again exhausted and called it a day!   We did everything we had planned.   So far, so good.   Stayed turned for Day 2 of our Hawaii adventures!