Hawaii- Day 3

We decided that this would be the day to explore Hawaii! So we rented a Jeep and off we went map in hand. We planned for our first stop to be Hanauma Bay which is supposed to have some of the the best snorkeling in Hawaii, but when we got there they had the road to turn in blocked saying the parking lot was full "DO NOT STOP" so we just kept driving. That was 9 am! Oh well! We stopped a few miles down the road and got some pics at a scenic point.

Then we got back in the Jeep and continued on our journey to circle the island. I tried to take the best pics I could out the window as we cruised by beautiful places.

Once we got half way around the island to the North Shore we got our chance to Snorkel. We actually ended up at a place our waitress from a couple of days ago told us was her favorite place for snorkeling. It was called Sharks Cove. Don't worry it isn't named that because of sharks, but rather because the cove is jagged like a sharks bite. We don't have any pictures since car break ins are pretty common in the area we rented a locker and locked everything up, including the camera. We really enjoyed the snorkeling here. There were lots of different kinds of fish and we even saw some pretty big schools of fish. It was a really neat area.

After expending so much energy we decided to stop for lunch at the Surfing Capital of the World in the Historic North Shore. We ate at a little mexican restaurant which was really good, but unfortunately the baby wasn't very in the mood for mexican and gave me a bit of a hard time.

Our next stop was Waimea Valley where we were able to hike through some beautiful wildlife and see a waterfall. We saw all sorts of different kinds of plants and it was really a beautiful place.

Finally we got to the top and to the waterfall. The lifeguard explained to us that it was freshwater and it was about 70 degrees. We were free to swim and enjoy it! Brad went in but I stayed on the sidelines since the life guard also said that there can be bacteria in the pond sometimes.

Brad is directly under the waterfall in these photos. What a stud!

Swimming back to the shore...

After the hiking we got back in the car and continued our drive away from the North Shore and back toward Honolulu. Our last stop was at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. On the way up to the plantation you just see fields and fields of pineapple plants.

This is how pineapples grow. I had no idea!

Me as a pineapple....

And in case you were wondering, here are the FAQs about pineapples. I know you all have been up at night just dying to get your pineapple questions answered.

At the end of this day we were utterly exhausted!!! We turned in the car, headed back to the hotel and hit the sack! We did SO much! Almost everything that was on our to do list got accomplished today. Since we did so much, relaxation is on the menu for tomorrow!