Hawaii: Part 3--Snorkeling and a Bus Ride

This day was Adam's and Spencer's to plan.  They started off with a morning of snorkeling and their original vision for the afternoon included an activity a little higher on the adventure scale, but, alas, the ATV tour they wanted to do ended  up not being available, which is how we all ended up on a bus tour of Kualoa Ranch instead.   In all honesty, it was probably for the best since Lucie wouldn't have been able to come on the ATV tour, meaning that we would have to split up otherwise.  I was happy to stay together and I loved seeing behind the scenes at Kualoa Ranch.   

Kualoa Ranch is an amazingly beautiful 4000 acre private nature reserve on the Eastern coast of Oahu that has been owned by the same family for many years.   They've pledged  to keep it private, though the land is estimated to be worth over $1billion today.   They use it to film movies, grow sustainable crops, and bring people on tours.  There weren't any movies being filmed there currently (that we knew of), but we very much enjoyed getting to appreciate that lush, rich beauty up close and personal. 

Here's a recap of our day.  

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25

• Adam had a  zoom call with a temple worker from the Hawaii Temple to touch base and make sure  he was ready for his appointment for live endowments later that week. 
  
  
• Ate breakfast and gathered our snorkel gear

• Snorkeled at Shark’s Cove.  We had heard that Shark's Cove was the cheaper/less crowded alternative to snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.   For the most part, we agree with that assessment, however with a few caveats from someone who's never been to Hanauma Bay.   The fish and turtle viewing was pretty spectacular at Shark's Cove, however the shoreline is pretty rocky and I think it would have been better at high tide. I definitely recommend wearing neoprene socks or some kind of protective gear for your feet whenever you go.   Even still a few of us got a little scraped up, though I think it was well worth it for the experience and it was very nice that it wasn't overly crowded.   

 PS  for the family record:  I have a slight phobia of oceans and rivers (moving water), so my snorkeling session lasted all of 5 minutes after which I was scraped up, a little freaked out, and ready to be on Lucie duty!  

• Shark's Cove is literally 5 minutes from our AirBnb, so we just headed back when we were done snorkeling to grab lunch and to get ready for our bus tour. 

• While we were there, we did a taste test different flavors of Hi-Chews.  If you haven't noticed a trend yet--we decided to do a taste test per day in Hawaii.  As a family, we really like food and and it was fun to take turns choosing and planning what to taste test each day.    

• Beautiful drive to Kualoa Ranch along the north and west coast--we hadn't been to the windward side of the island yet and we were amazing by the extra gorgeous scenery through there. 

• Bus tour of Kualoa Ranch--we especially enjoyed seeing the sites for a few well-loved family movies--like Jumanji, 50 First Dates, Jurassic Park, and Jurassic World 

• After the ranch tour, we drove to Halaweia for dinner at Halaweia Joe’s --it was pretty expensive, but the food was excellent.  I highly recommend if you're looking for a nice place to eat on Oahu.
  
  

I got the grilled salmon.  😋

• After dinner, we walked to Scoop of Paradise for some ice cream.  It wasn't the best ice cream ever, but it was decently good and the perfect way to round off a lovely day!

• After we got back to the AirBnb, we played a few rounds of Pit, I wrote some postcards, and enjoyed the sunset!