6:00 a.m. Time to leave for Hanauma Bay!!!! Things have changed a lot when it comes to Hanauma Bay – it has become quite the tourist attraction and everything we read about it said if you don’t get there very early in the morning the park fills up and they close it once it is full. It is no longer the quiet little snorkeling bay it used to be. It didn’t cost anything to go when we were here 30 years ago now it is $1 to park and $7.50 to get in. It is all built up with a visitor center, food vendors, and a video that you are required to watch before you head down to the beach. They no longer allow you to feed the fish either. That is a memory that is burned in my mind of my sweet little grandmother bending over with her mask on to watch the fish around her as she fed them bread when she visited us in Hawaii 30 years ago. Oh Grandma I wish you could be here now – you loved Hawaii sooo much too – maybe that is where I get my love for this island! Well we watched the video and headed down to the bay, found a place to set up and headed out to snorkel. We had stopped at a local shop on the way to buy a mask and snorkel because we figured we will be using them several times while we are here and rather than rent them at $12 a shot, Greg bought them for $9. Mask and snorkel on, water shoes and we were ready to go. We waded out a short way and within minutes started to see fish. We were watching a brightly colored pair swim around all us and all of a sudden without warning the bigger of the two swam fast at me and side swiped my leg just below my knee and drew blood! It startled me and I let out a yelp! I don’t know what caused him to do that – all we can think of is I had a small sunburned spot right where he struck me and maybe the red patch scared him – let me tell you it took me a while to relax when I saw fish after that!! Greg had bought an underwater camera and took pictures as we were snorkeling – can’t wait to take them into town and get them developed and see what we got! We snorkeled for about an hour and were starting to head in – off to my left I saw a brightly colored fish and memorized the markings so I could see what it was at the visitor center when we went back up. He had a yellow double line “V” on his tail and a very pointed nose and was blue and yellow and brown. We got out of the water and dried off and went over to the lifeguard station just to make sure that the wound from my aggressive fish experience wasn’t anything to be worried about. They gave me some Betadine and said just to keep it clean. So we went back to our spot and sat and soaked up the sun for a couple of hours. I have not felt that relaxed or at peace in a long time! The breeze keeps you cool so it doesn’t get too hot – makes it easier to stay longer. And YES for those of you wondering – I applied sunscreen SPF 30 – 3 times while I sat in the sun. Unfortunately my husband thought he would be okay and only applied it after he had been sitting for an hour and from the looks of him now - he is gonna be one hurtin’ puppy by tomorrow! We left around 1:00 and found a nice breezy beach park to have our picnic at. We had sliced leftover barbeque chicken sandwiches on Hawaiian sweet bread, macadamia nuts, pineapple and those yummy green tea cookies for dessert. While we were eating we saw a newlywed couple still in their wedding attire getting their pictures done at the beach. I snapped a few from a distance. After lunch we took the long drive back up the coast to the cottage and unpacked and relaxed until dinner. Greg is sleeping now – but when he wakes up we are having grilled hamburgers, fresh island sweet corn and creamed potatoes for dinner.
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