Hawaii, Part VII: Snorkeling

Amid all the adventure-taking, we did lay low a few times at the beach. Why is it so wonderful just to play in the water or lay on the sand reading a book? They are the simple pleasures that really make the trip.

We snorkeled at Two Step on Kona.

The real name is Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (Place of Refuge). I prefer to use the name Two Step and it is supposed to be the best snorkeling on the island. The lady who rented us our snorkeling equipment told us that after she and her husband moved to Hawaii, Two Step was the first place they went. And...they swam with dolphins. Yep, she said they knew right then that they had made the right choice to move there. I would say so! Though we didn't swim with dolphins, :'(  It was still awesome. 

The land is all dried lava, no sand really. You made your way across the lava to Two Step which literally had two easy steps you could take into the ocean. It was like a little seat to get your gear on and then push out from. There were quite a few snorkelers and it was a blast. One guy was getting out as I was getting in and chatting on how they had seen tons of sea turtles. I hurriedly got in. Only to realize that Spencer had taken my fins! So I had a pair of huge fins that flipped off my feet. That would never work. 

Thankfully, I got his attention out in the water so he came back and switched me.

There was lots of cool, colorful fish & bright coral. I tried to catch a fish but they don't like to be touched. We all snorkeled together and had a blast. (Except if you swam out too far, it got really cold and dark, and there were no cool fishies, and I felt like a shark would come out at any second and eat me, or I would be dragged to the bottom like in "The Abyss" and then the pressure would crush me. So I swam back. The ocean both fascinates me and terrifies me.) Trying to get back on land was a little tricky. We had to put our feet in front of us to grip onto the Two Step, and...to keep from jabbing our hands onto hundreds of black sea urchins. Scary. It took the lady in front of us almost ten minutes to get onto the step. Which was quite inconvenient and hard since the waves kept pushing us toward the step. A little stressful but all was well and the sea urchins remained on the step and off my body.

We had a little picnic after snorkeling. So yummy. We had really worked up an appetite. A couple stray, nasty dogs were hungry as well, and kept begging. Scott gave them the evil eye a few times. 

Dad had to chase them.

Scott was thinking, "I got my eye on you dog. You stay away from my KFC and Nillas!"

These pictures I did not take but show what Two-Step looked like. Snorkeling was such a blast and we all wish we could have gone again. Oh well. There's always next year! ;)