Honeymoon Day 2

We took advantage of our time difference and woke up early every day. Everything in Hawaii opens early, so it is perfect. The first thing we did in the morning was to ask if our bag arrived. The bag arrived the night before, and we were relived to have it with us since we were leaving for Kauai the next day.

Our second day in Honolulu was our only full day to see this side of the island. Months before our trip, I suscribed to the groupon emails for Honolulu. I bought one for a Catamaran ride to go snorkerling with turtles. We went from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. The ride included breakfast and snorkeling in Turtle Canyon. The breakfast offered was coffee, fruit, and donuts. We also had 2 drink tickets. The actual snorkeling time was about 1 hour. We saw a few turtles, but not as many fishes as I expected to see. I actually forgot about the underwater disposable cameras until now. I want to see how the pictures came out. It was hard to take pictures of the turtles. They were far, and we were swimming in an area where other 2 catamarans stopped. The other catamarans didn't make people wear lifejackets. I know it's good to wear them, but it is hard to swim with them. There were 2 lifeguards that were always watching us, and making sure that we didn't get too far. I felt safe, and I was glad that the current was not too strong. I know how to swim, but I'm not a great swimmer.

We used Makani Catamaran. I got it at 50% off from groupon, but the regular price is $64. According to their website, the package that we took was the Waikiki’s Turtle Canyon Snorkel/Sail Combo (9am –12pm, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays Only). They say that includes Snorkel Gear, Lifejackets, Breakfast Pastries, Fresh Fruit Salad, Complimentary Coffee, and 2 Complimentary Beverages. I will definitely recommend them, the food was not great, but the crew was extremely nice. They recommended one Catamaran company in Kauai that we ended up using. I will post those pictures in a later post.

Before sailing

The Diamond Head

The deep blue Hawaiian water

After the snorkeling and the nice ride in catamaran, we drove towards China Town. We drove a few streets that our book said were the most important and we were not impressed. I did buy a Lei from one of the many shops in China Town. This is the cheapest place to buy leis.

After China Town, we started our drive towards the south east side of the island. I loved this side of the island 3 years ago. The road has scenic stops where you can pull over and take pictures. You do want to rent a car in hawaii to explore the island and get lost on purpose. Everything is beautiful. Driving the coast with many beautiful beaches or heading to the mountains.

One of the most see places along the east side is Hanauma Bay.  I have not done snorkeling here, but it's supposed to be one of the best places in the island. it looks very crowded so I haven't been very tempted. I love to see the spectacular cliffs on the east coast. It is probably my favorite side of the island along with the North Shore.

Not so crowded at the end of the day

I made this video while we were driving around the East side of the Island.

By the blow hole that didn't blow too hard, but the volcanic rocks are a sight not to miss

Halona blow hole

Someone trying to jump!!

Another scenic stop along the way

When I was planning the trip to Hawaii, I saw this post from Kristin from Camels & Chocolate about the Byodo-in Temple. I didn't hear about this place until I saw the amazing pictures that Kristin took. My favorite part was the giant Zen Garden around the temple. I wish that they let people move the stones in giant sand box.

The Zen Garden

After the temple closed we continued driving north to see the beaches on the east side. It was almost 6:00 PM and the sun light was almost out. We stopped to take pictures of the "Chinaman's hat" from the Kualoa Beach park.

On our way back, we drove between the mountains instead of the coast. I couldn't stop looking at the different shapes of the mountains. This was a long day and we were ready for dinner and bed. The next day we only had until noon in Oahu and we wanted to make the most of it.