Aloha Hawaii 2012 Day 5

I'll take this one day at a time to make uploading the photos much easier.  

I mentioned that Hawaii is pretty crowded right about now.  I've been here a few times this time of year and have never seen such crowds.  Crazy.

On Monday we decided to take the kids snorkeling at Hanauma Bay where it would be so great for them.  We would avoid the crowds by leaving early . . . we arrived at the bay by 9:00 a.m. and the parking lot was full (no other parking for miles).  No way!  

So we continued on to the BlowHole.

 The BlowHole is a hole in the rock that water shoots up through like a geyser. 

Here it is just starting to blow

the water can really explode through if the tide is powerful enough.

The lookout is gorgeous and it's another beautiful day in paradise. 

We decided to get out of dodge and go back to the North Shore for a less crowded experience.

We met our friend Roy (who lives there), got to visit with him for a while, then went to lunch at the Kahuku Grill, which is in where else but Kahuku.   Our friends the Hannemanns own this grill.  They are from Newbury Park and moved back to Hawaii a few years ago.  They have 7 gorgeous sons so they opened this restaurant to give the boys a place to work so they can get through college and missions. 

 Just as we were walking up, we ran into Brother Hanneman and one of his sons (Seek).  What great timing.  He was surprised to see us, it's been a really long time. 

When we went up to order our food, the girl told us that she was told by the Prez to give us sundaes on the house.  Yum.  Huge burgers and chocolate chip coconut banana bread sundaes.  We were so full for a long time.

Then we found a quiet beach that the locals know about and is great for snorkeling.

It was a lovely walk through sugar cane fields and jungle-like trees, which opened up to this beautiful bay.

Christian and Ashlyn loved collecting coconuts.

It was a real gem.  We saw four huge (huge like as big as Brooke) turtles and enjoyed the afternoon soaking up the beauty.

 Then we headed over to Turtle Bay for more snorkeling fun.

For dinner, we stopped at Ted's bakery for plate lunch and chocolate macadamia nut cream pie, which came highly recommended.  It was great, especially with a rainbow overhead.