Let's set sail

We took a sail boat ride out into the ocean on a catamaran. We had breakfast and spent two hours out in the middle of the ocean.

 Here I am trying to stay out of the sun. My burn was very apparent and I was in pain!

 After we got sailing, the breeze was so cool enough that I was able to sit outside of the boat.

 On the boat they had these really cool nets that you could lay or sit on. The nets had holes so you could see right down into the ocean while we went sailing.

 Here is what we saw
while sitting on the nets.
The green water was water that was closer to the shore. The
farther we got out in the ocean the water turned blue.

 We saw schools of fish

 And we were lucky enough to see a family of dolphins.

 We spent a lot of time at the front of the boat. Usually the boat ride is calm, but for some reason there was a ton of huge waves! It was so fun getting splashed. I left the boat soaking wet.

St. Patty's day Hawaiin style

On St. Patty's day we decided to hike up Diamond Head.
Diamond head is a volcanic crater that was left by an volcanic explosion. The volcano is now extinct, but there’s just something empowering about walking up the side of an extinct volcano

The 99 stair climb sure made our legs burn.

We finally made it to the top.

The view was amazing!

I still can't believe how clear and beautiful the water was.

 Crater

 After we climbed back down from the volcano, we stopped and took a rest on some park benches. All of a sudden these birds cam up to us. I decided to crumble up some of my granola bar and feed them. Sure enough they jumped right in and started eating out of the palm of my hand.

 Some would climb right into our hands and we could hold them.

 After our hike we went to
Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling. It was so much fun! I have never done anything like it before. I'm bummed that I didn't use all of my film from my underwater camera to have it developed. I got some really neat pictures of a ton of cool fish. 

We had a nice three hour relaxing time at the beach. So much so that we fell a sleep on our towels for about 30-40 min. The result was a cooked Melissa lobster.

After our snorkeling adventure, we went to Germaine's Luau.
Here we had authentic Hawaiian food. They had a roasted pig, poi, fish and potatoes.
This table was set on the sand. We used mats for chairs.

 You can't see me in this picture, but I was up on stage learning to dance the hula.

By the time we left the luau I was super red from the lovely sunburn I received from my relaxing day at the beach. 

Polynesian Cultural Center

At the PCC we were able to learn about the different islands of Polynesia.
Here at the island of Samoa we learned how to make fire and how to climb trees barefoot.

Here is the tree climber. He makes it look so easy.

 Morgan making smoke, not fire lol

 Pig roast

 We were able to take a canoe ride around the islands.

 In Tahiti, Morgan was taught how to throw a spear and hit a coconut.

 In Tonga we had a good laugh at the drum show.

  I loved seeing all of the cool plants and palm trees here.

Even the trees were fascinating.

After our tour of the islands, we got to taste some authentic Hawaiian food for dinner and we got to see a showing of The Breath of Life. I have to say it was fabulous! I was sad that photography was prohibited. 

Day two of paradise

Day two of our adventure started off by taking the 8 hour Oahu city beach tour. It took us around the entire island.

 We went and seen all of the popular tourist sites. It was a lot of fun. We decided to go on this tour to find out where we wanted to go back when we had our rental car.

First up was the Blow Hole.

 Molten lava tubes from a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago formed the natural blowhole. The lava tubes extend to the ocean, and when the surf is right, the blowhole can shoot water up to 30 feet in the air.

 It's hard to see, but there was a huge sea lion on up on the shore.

This was the only day that we had rain. It only rained for about 15-20 min and then it was blue skies for the entire rest of our trip!

Along our tour we came across what looked like a pineapple growing in a tree. Our tour guide even told us that it was a pineapple. I was so confused because I had thought that pineapples are grown from the ground. Sure enough after I took my picture and got back on the bus, the tour guide spilled the beans and told us it was a fake!  

Here is some bamboo growing in the jungle.

One of our stops was at the macadamia nut factory. Can you say yum! They had about 7 different flavored macadamia nuts.  

At the nut factory we saw this beautiful flag. A local who was selling coconuts had this up because his son plays football for the University of Utah. At this moment, we felt like we were home lol  

At the Dole plantain, I took the advice to try their pineapple ice cream. Can you say wow! It was so yummy. In fact, writing about it makes me want some right now!

Here is a real pineapple. They grow in the ground not in a tree. 

Sunset Beach

One stop on our tour was to the Laie Temple. By the raise of hands on the tour bus, Morgan and I were the only members on the bus. So different from being in Utah.

The Temple grounds were beautiful. We didn't have much time to spend at this stop, so Morgan and I went back and did a session the next day. It was gorgeous inside too!