I got up this morning with the full intention of hanging out on the beach and trying snorkeling for the first time in my life.

I went to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. It is a beautiful place with turquoise blue water around the coral reefs. It was a volcano at one point in history nut one of the sides collapsed and let the sea and it’s treasures in.

I got down the hill to the beach and made my way toward the farther end where there were a lot fewer people. It was a beautiful day, sunshine and warm, and a great day to be on the beach and go snorkeling.

After I found a spot on the beach in the shade I got into the water and made my first attempt at snorkeling. Even in the awkwardness it was quite the experience – it was like swimming inside an aquarium. Crystal clear water, coral reefs, and brightly colored fish. I really enjoyed it and will be trying it again. It makes me wonder about scuba diving now.

One entertaining thing I saw on the beach made me laugh out loud. A family of what were quite obviously tourists were going snorkeling. Imagine this… two adult parents and two teen boys dressed in giant onesies that were black with colored stripes down the side from top to bottom. The dad’s suit had baby blue, the mom had pink, and the two sons had yellow. To make it even better, they had matching masks, booties, and gloves. Immediately I thought of them as the Power Rangers. It was absolutely hilarious. Of course I had left my camera/phone in the car so it would not get stolen on the beach so I have no pictures, but it was really funny.

After a few hours I was tired after snorkeling in the hot sun. I left and headed back toward the bunk house to find some lunch. I hit the Rainbow Drive-In again for a double cheeseburger, then it was off to Genki Sushi for the next course and they snuck some raw fish in on me but it was okay (imagine that… a sushi place with raw fish…). After that it was off to Leonard’s Bakery once more for some dessert. Mmmmm.

I got to the bunk house to start getting all my stuff together and packed for my flight tomorrow. We were going to go out one last time for dinner and last night we talked about a place called the Side Street Inn. Three of us from the bunk house walked down the street to the restaurant and met the fourth person.

This was a nice place, and the menu was pretty diverse. Two people had been there before and they said it was all good. We ordered stuffed mushrooms, and they were pretty good. The next thing that came was spicy garlic chicken. It, too, was pretty good. The third thing was my favorite of the three – fried rice. It is hands down the best fried rice I have ever had. It had some veggies in it as usual, but also had some kimchi and Portuguese sausage in it. The flavors were incredible.

It was a good night hanging out with friends and eating good food. Of course I got to eat lots of good food this trip and would love to come back to do it all again.