Snorkeling at Pu'uhonua

The kids had never snorkeled before. We rented gear from a local place called "Snorkel Bob's" - great place. They fit you for the sizes you need for fins and mask, and give you de-fog goo for the masks, very nice. It took us a while to find a place that was open - the tsunami damage is pretty bad on this side. We finally ended up at Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (the spot that was closed the other day and we couldn't get in. Well, there is a nice little bay right next to it, and there is a public access beach and boat ramp. Lots of people with kids snorkeling, so we thought we'd give it a try. I must say, neither Bill nor I had a lot of hope for this activity. We had no idea if the kids would take to this or not. And, the water was very cold. That was a surprise. I wasn't sure if Bill would go all the way in or not (he has a funny story from when we were in France swimming in the extremely cold Atlantic, but you'll have to get him to tell it to you, as there is no way for me to tell it here in a family-friendly way). ;)

Well, all it took was news from me on my first attempt that there were a lot of beautiful fish nearby, then a turtle swimming right between Bill and I, and we were standing close enough to touch each others' shoulders (I thought it was going to touch us, completely amazing), and they were properly motivated to get over the cold and breathe through the mouth. And, once you got in all the way, it didn't seem cold at all.

Bill and I took these shots with a digital camera in an specially designed underwater camera bag.

[If you've been reading this blog, you were probably expecting to see whale pictures today. We called to check in Saturday, and the lady told us that we had to go Monday, so we came today as instructed, but the guy said no, it's tomorrow. So, we'll try again tomorrow. :)]


Anemone:


Josie:


Mitch:


Samantha:












Fuzzy green sea turtle, left of center:


More fuzzy green sea turtle, just left of center:


Saddleback wrasse, center bottom:


Spotted pufferfish: (and maybe a small camouflaged fish on the rock just to the left of the pufferfish?)


Numerous unidentified fish (white with black stripes), Little Bitty Yellow Tang (that's what our guide card says), and Saddleback Wrasse (blue with red stripe behind the gills, to right and left of yellow tang):


Seen, but not photographed: Moorish Idol (long, white, trailing dorsal fin, beautiful)

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