Several months after coming back from our honeymoon in Hawaii, I finally took the underwater disposable cameras to develop. Sadly, the results were not what I expected. The water was very deep and we didn't get to see many fishes. We were basically floating since the life jackets made it impossible to go deeper. We saw a couple of turtles while we were snorkeling. Hawaiian green sea turtles (Honu) are an endangered species and they are protected. You can't touch them and you must keep a distance from them. If you want to see the pictures from outside the water click here.
Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle
Our Catamaran
The Diamond head in the background
We have an upcoming excursion to snorkel with the Manatees in Crystal River located about one hour north of Tampa. Before revealing these pictures I was planning to buy more underwater cameras. I'm excited to see how close we can get to the manatees. Supposedly, they are very friendly and you are allowed to touch them if they come near you. I would love to be able to take a few (nice) pictures of them. I don't want to spend a lot of money in an underwater camera. Can anyone recommend a cheap/good one available?
Our last half day in Hawaii we spent the day snorkeling at the beach by the hotel. All the guests are allowed 1 hour of free rental snorkeling equipment daily.
After out last swim, we checked out and drove to the airport which located around 1 hour away from the North Shore. We said good bye to Hawaii and got ready for a 8 hour flight to Chicago, a 3 hour layover in Chicago, and finally a 2 and a half hour flight to Tampa. Hawaii is too far away to go every year, but I know that we will be back!!! I was worried that maybe Andre wouldn't like it or that he would not consider Hawaii worthy of the long flights. He said it was better than he ever imagined. That was the same feeling that I had when I traveled to Hawaii for the first time. Pictures don't show how amazing it really is. If you are considering a trip to Hawaii, you wont be disappointed.
I'm so sorry that I have been slacking with the Hawaii posts. We went away for one week to Ecuador and leaving means a lot of work before and after taking the days off. I think I'm finally catching up with everything and I can continue with the last honeymoon posts.
This was our last full day in Hawaii. The honeymoon was coming to an end. The whole time that we were in Hawaii we heard a song in the radio that I couldn't get out of my head for days after we got back. We decided to upgrade our rental car for a convertible for the last few days of our honeymoon. We listened to a really good local reggae radio station while we were in Hawaii. I wish that there was one in Tampa.
The view from our room
The first stop was Sunset Beach, my favorite beach in Oahu. We stayed for a few hours and then we drove to the town of Haleiwa for lunch.
Sunset Beach
On our way back, while we were driving on Kamehameha Highway (83) we saw a crowd at the same beach were I saw a huge Hawaiian green sea turtle 3 years ago. Here is a picture of the turtle from my previous trip to Oahu. We stopped to see what was going on. We finally saw turtles up close during our trip. We didn't see any of them laying in the sand, but there were 4 or 5 swimming next to us. I'm sure that they didn't want to get close to the sand because of all the people standing on the beach.
Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles
We spent the late afternoon and our last night in Hawaii at the Polynesian Center. We got the ticket for the Ali'i Luau and the evening show. This was a different show than the one I saw 3 years ago. The Polynesian Center is definitely worth a day's visit, but unfortunately we didn't have enough time.
At the Luau
We only had half a day left on our honeymoon and we were not ready to leave Hawaii.
We spent half a day in Oahu in a Catamaran snorkeling. You can see the pictures from that day here. In Kauai, we wanted to do a sunset sail preferably with a view of the Napali Coast. We used the concierge of the hotel to book the catamaran. There were several options for the sail with similar prices. We chose Captain Andy's Na Pali Sunset Dinner Sail. The catamaran departed from Eleele located about 1 hour away from Lihue. The first hours of the day were just relaxing by the pool of the hotel.
View from the our breakfast table
We considered doing a zodiac tour since many locals recommended doing this in Kauai. The only reason for not doing it was because we didn't have enough time. After the catamaran ride, I was releived that we did NOT go in the zodiac. First of all, the water was ROUGH, and we had several zodiacs pass by us to know that it was not a good idea. The boat is small and people seat on the border and just hang on to a leash. The ocean in Hawaii is not the place to test your swimming abilities, so for all adrenaline junkies that is the perfect tour. For the less coordinated folks, we shouldn't be riding a zodiac in the Napali Coast.
The route - picture taken from Captain Andy's website
The following pictures were a challenge to take because of the bumpy ride. The the mountains are impressive and the pictures don't really show how wonderful they are.
The Start of the Napali Coast
Polihale Beach from the water. The pictures of the beach are here
On our way to the Napali Coast, some Hawaiian spinner dolphins were playing next to us. The crew was nice and they stopped until we got a few shots of the dolphins.
Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin
Another catamaran for proportion and these are the small mountains at the beginning of the Napali Coast
Can you see the kayaks?
A close up to King Kong's face
We got very close to the coast. Many zodiacs came in and out of those caves
Beaches only reachable by boat
This cave was in a scene from "Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides"
One of the many waterfalls
Close up
After we went to the end of the route, the food was served. They also had an open bar. On the way back, we had a nice sail until probably the last half hour. We didn't get sick, but most people were in the back really sick. They advised us to get some sea sickness pills, so if you get sick in boats it's a good idea to get them. I'm glad that we didn't have too many drinks!! We decided to sit in the back just in case.
This was an unforgettable experience. I would definitely recommend that if you visit Kauai, take a Catamaran tour of the Napali Coast since it is not reachable in any other way, except by air. The beauty of this island is incredible and the Napali Coast is probably one of the most beautiful things that I've seen in my life.
