While in Hawaii, Jon and I had the opportunity to visit Hanauma Bay, a beach on Oahu known for its snorkeling. I’ve only been snorkeling once, on our honeymoon in Mexico and it was gorgeous.
Hanauma Bay is a state park in Oahu and it offers an up close view to the coral and fish. Upon arriving, you are asked to watch a 10 minute video on the the bay and things to watch out for while snorkeling. You have an option to ride a trolley down to the actual beach, or you can opt for a 3 minute walk down the hill. At the beach, the park has places for renting snorkel gear. Thankfully, we came to the beach with Jon’s cousin, who happened to have snorkel gear of her own that we borrowed.
Jon and his cousin went out into the Bay first and explored. I stayed on the beach to watch over our stuff. Theft is a common problem and I wasn’t willing to let someone walk off with my camera and wallet.
After about 40 minutes or so, Jon and his cousin came in and then he and I headed out. I will say, borrowing snorkel gear was the way to go. I had a swim shirt, gloves, booties, flippers, life jacket, and fancy mask to make my snorkeling time a lot more enjoyable!
I followed Jon out through the coral and shallow areas, out into the deeper part of the Bay. We brought our GoPro and took some videos. We saw a small octopus, lots of fish, and a sea turtle. Jon was determined to get a selfie with the turtle, but he wasn’t cooperating too well.
Our time at the bay was really enjoyable. The current wasn’t strong and it was slightly overcast, which made for easy swimming and it wasn’t too crowded at all.
Hanauma Bay is actually fairly close to KoKo Head trail where we hiked the ridiculous amount of stairs a few days prior. We parked in that lot and walked over to Hanauma Bay since the park’s parking lot was full for the day when we arrived.
Here’s a few of my favorites from our snorkeling time at Hanauma Bay in Oahu.
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