Spitting Caves

Posted on October 22, 2013 by sandersnm

On Saturday, we drove around the West side of the island and stopped to enjoy the views. We spent awhile at Spitting Caves and saw a few turtles since it was so calm. There were also three people that jumped, so that was awesome! We also discovered that there are multiple peacocks that live in the house near the path to Spitting Caves. As many times as I have been there, I’ve never discovered that!

Huge turtle in the water!

Jan enjoying the views.

Someone jumping!

Splash!

Random peacocks.

Sunset Beach and Banzai Pipeline

Posted on October 21, 2013 by sandersnm

On Friday, we headed up to Sunset Beach for a beautiful sunset. Added to the awesome evening were the HUGE pipeline waves and tons of surfers and bodyboarders. It was awesome! It was my first chance seeing the pipeline and I was amazed at the power of the waves and the surfers that successfully conquered them. We stayed until it was almost dark out and people were still surfing and bodyboarding. It was so awesome that we went back on Sunday to catch the waves during the daylight hours. They were just as amazing, if not bigger and there were even more people out. It’s hard to imagine that they get even bigger as we head into the winter months!

Beautiful sunset!

My mom and I enjoying the sunset.

Love the sky.

Love the clouds through the trees.

Giant waves!

Surfing!

Shark’s Cove Beach Time

Posted on October 21, 2013 by sandersnm

This past week, we headed up to the North Shore of Oahu for some snorkeling at Shark’s Cove. Unfortunately, the waves were HUGE so we didn’t get too much snorkeling in. However, we had some great beach time and really enjoyed watching the amazing waves hit the rocks.

Big waves! Hard to imagine we were out there a few months ago.

My mom requested a selfie.

John watching the waves.

John and Jan walking up from snorkeling.

Jan putting her toes in the water!

Sisters admiring the ocean.

My mom. Love this shot!

Diamond Head Round Two

Posted on October 20, 2013 by sandersnm

Last week, I hiked Diamond Head for the second time with my mom and Josh. It was great, because the last time I hiked it, it was super rainy and the views were not all that wonderful. This time it was a HOT and sunny day, so the views were great and it was a decent workout! Afterwards, we headed to Diamond Head Cove Health Bar for my favorite açai bowl and then to Diamond Head Beach Park to see what it was like.

Great view of Waikiki.

My mom and I with Waikiki in the background.

Josh and I at the top of Diamond Head.

A helicopter landing. Pretty cool.

So many boats!

Lots of stairs!

My favorite Acai Bowl!

Diamond Head Beach.

Conquering My Fear

Posted on October 2, 2013 by sandersnm

At the end of October I will work on conquering one of my biggest fears: the ocean. I am set to get my scuba certification in three quick days. Gear has been purchased (so I can practice and get comfortable with it). Fingers crossed I don’t panic!

USS Missouri

Posted on September 25, 2013 by sandersnm

Our final stop of the day from our tour of Ford Island on Sunday was the USS Missouri. Last year, Josh, my mom and I toured the USS Midway in San Diego (which was awesome) and this was pretty similar. The Midway was definitely larger than the Missouri, but both were pretty cool experiences!

I thought this was a cool shot.

The spot where the instrument of surrender was signed to end WW II.

Instrument of Surrender.

Captain’s Room.

One of the many dining areas.

Josh. Taking vegetables seriously since 1985.

Marines office.

Marines bunking area.

So narrow!

Dentist.

Post office.

View from the deck.

Steering wheel.

Plaque in honor of the marines that served on the USS Missouri.

Ford Island

Posted on September 24, 2013 by sandersnm

This past Sunday, Josh and I ventured to Ford Island to wander around and see what was there. I knew there were memorials, but wasn’t sure where they were or what to expect. Our Sunday turned out to be an amazing day. We were able to see the USS Utah (still in the water from when it sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor), the USS Oklahoma memorial, the USS Missouri (which is where the instrument of surrender was signed during World War II in Tokyo Bay) and finally the Pacific Aviation Museum. We also had a great view of the USS Arizona Memorial. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful way to end the weekend!

Our first stop was the USS Utah. The Utah, like the Arizona, remains in the water along with the crew that went down with it during the attack on Pearl Harbor. There was only one person rescued from the USS Utah.

Driving over the bridge onto Ford Island.

The plaque for the USS Utah.

The USS Utah memorial.

Amazing.

The panoramic of the ship. The white buoy marks the end of the ship.

From the distance.

After the Utah, we drove to the other side of the island and took in some of the views there.

Views of Pearl Harbor.

A plaque for the USS Oklahoma.

Next, we headed to the Pacific Aviation Museum. We didn’t go in the museum, but walked around outside checking out all of the old aircrafts. Pretty cool.

All of the planes, helicopters, etc. at the museum.

Inside of a rather large helicopter.

Our final stops before touring the USS Missouri (more on that in the next post), were the memorials for the USS Oklahoma and viewing the USS Arizona from shore.

USS Oklahoma memorial.

USS Arizona memorial.

Kauai: Trip 2 – Day 2

Posted on September 17, 2013 by sandersnm

On Sunday, Josh and I got up super early to hike to Hanakapi’ai Falls. The hike is about eight miles round trip and we wanted to have enough time to come back and shower before we checked out. We were both really excited to be back on the Kalalau trail for the first time since our “first date”. We had MUCH better weather this time…no rain at all! The first two miles of the trail, we had already hiked when we hiked to Kalalau beach last year. The views of the Na Pali coast are stunning even a half mile in.

The start of the trail..the first half mile is all uphill on these boulders.

View of Ke’e beach (where we began the hike).

Beautiful morning.

The first glimpse of the Na Pali coast. Never gets old.

This was a much steeper drop off than it seems in the picture!

Hanakapi’ai Beach. This beach didn’t exist when we hiked last time.

We made it to Hanakapi’ai Beach in about an hour. It was amazing to see the beach as it was completely covered by the ocean in the winter when we hiked last year. It was practically empty when we got there.

We took a picture of this sign on the way back from our hike last time. It marks the number of people who have lost their lives at the beach.

Last time we crossed this river we had a rope tied around our waists holding us together. We also had water up to our chests and there was nothing but rushing river water and open ocean. Terrifying.

So calm.

Looking at the river on the day we hiked, you would think these signs weren’t necessary!

Hanakapi’ai Beach.

After we crossed the river, we veered to the left instead of the right to hike to Hanakapi’ai Falls. The hike itself wasn’t too bad…we crossed the river about three more times on our way to the falls and it took us about an hour and a half to get there. The waterfall itself was absolutely amazing. The most beautiful waterfall we have hiked to yet (and we’ve hiked to A LOT). It was HUGE! Definitely worth waking up early for! We spent about 15 minutes at the falls and then started on our way back. Most people hike there to swim and enjoy the pool, but we didn’t have time to stay that long. Maybe next time!

An old wall at the beginning of the trail.

The valley we were about to hike in.

Giant frogs everywhere!

HUGE bamboo. Tons of different groves of it.

More warning signs.

The first glimpse of the falls.

Amazing.

There was one other person there. He is standing closer to the falls. I took a picture with him in it to show how large the waterfall is.

We found a cat on the trail back. So sweet!

After we finished our hike, we headed back to the hotel to quickly shower and change. We were both starving, so we visited Kauai pasta. It was so delicious, but we were so hungry I completely forgot to take pictures of our amazing food! After stuffing ourselves, we headed north again to visit the Kilauea lighthouse. We visited this last year, but it was under renovation. I wanted to go back and see it now that all the renovations were completed. Surrounding the lighthouse is a bird sanctuary. It’s absolutely stunning with water on all three sides of the lighthouse and beautiful birds flying all around!

Kilauea Lighthouse.

Birds flying everywhere.

Nene!

So beautiful!

After that, we headed to the airport to catch an earlier flight than planned. We were exhausted and ready to come home!

Kauai: Trip 2 – Day 1

Posted on September 16, 2013 by sandersnm

This past weekend, Josh and I took our fourth trip to Kauai (which I believe we have 100% determined to be our favorite island). This time, we ventured there to take a boat tour of the Na Pali coast and to hike to Hanakapi’ai Falls.

Our Saturday morning started out bright and early as we had an hour drive to the boat harbor where we would be departing on our tour. We left at 7:00 a.m. and headed towards the Na Pali coast. Our guide told us that there had been a really large swell the past few days that made it impossible to go in the caves and snorkel as well as, made the boat ride an extremely rough one. We lucked out! We were able to do all of the above and had an amazing experience.

One of the things I was incredibly excited about was the chance that we would get to see Hawaiian spinner dolphins. I have wanted to see dolphins out in the open water since I’ve lived here, but hadn’t gotten to experience that yet. I definitely fixed that on this trip! We saw TONS of them on multiple occasions. Our first encounter provided us with a small pod that had a few babies in it. One of them was the size of a football and was so incredibly cute. They were on all sides of our boat and periodically jumped out of the water to spin. It was amazing!

You can see the tiny baby between the two bigger dolphins. So cute!

Right on the side of our boat. Amazing!

Another baby dolphin and the mom.

RIGHT in front of our boat.

We were surrounded by them.

Leading our boat. They also liked to surf on the wake behind us.

Showing off a little further out!

More showing off!

After getting to experience the dolphins, we continued on to the indescribable beauty of the cliffs of the Na Pali coast. To see it from this angle was, to put it mildly, absolutely stunning. Every time I see this landscape, I always think I’m prepared because I have seen it multiple times before…and I will no longer experience the awe of what I am taking in. However, it never disappoints. Every single time it nearly takes my breath away.

The privately owned island of Niihau.

You can see in the rocks where the earth cracked and then new lava filled in. Pretty amazing.

First glimpse of the cliffs.

Waterfall along the coast.

Kalalau beach. Much prettier than when we hiked to it.

Kalalau valley.

The absurd red hill that we had to claw our way up b/c it was a mudslide when we hiked it!

The scary part of the hike…crawler’s ledge. Looks much less scary on the boat.

After we made it down the whole coast, we turned around to head back. On our trip back, we got to venture inside the sea caves and get a little closer to the coast.

Sitting inside the first sea cave.

We went in one entrance and came out of another…we came out practically under this waterfall.

Sea cave. We went in one entrance and out of the other one.

Kalalau valley.

This part of the coast is called the cathedrals.

The entrance to the sea cave framing the waterfall.

This cave was open on the top. Years of erosion from the water hitting the top of the cave made it fall in.

The rock in the middle was the top of the sea cave at one point.

After touring the sea caves and taking more pictures of the coast, we were able to stop and snorkel for a little bit. Oddly enough, only Josh and I snorkeled out of the six people on our tour. It was a little rough, but there were some pretty big fish. Josh also got to see a HUGE sea turtle. I unfortunately got out about five minutes before he did and missed it! He got great footage of it though!

Na Pali Coast Snorkel

Needle fish.

The biggest turtle!

After having some snacks and drying off, we headed back to the harbor. On our way back we came across about five times as many dolphins as we had encountered in the beginning of our tour. They were jumping out of the water everywhere, surfing our wake and just swimming all around us.

I love that they just look like they are loving life!

So happy and so free!

Literally surrounded by them.

After seeing dolphins for the second time, we made it back to the harbor around noon. We were both pretty exhausted and starving. We made it back to our hotel and grabbed a bite to eat. After that, we took a ridiculously long nap (I had taken dramamine and was seasick and we were both exhausted from lack of sleep). We woke up, grabbed dinner at the restaurant we ate at after we hiked the Kalalau Trail last year and headed back to our hotel. We packed up our stuff and headed to bed in preparation for another early morning!

Dead Man’s Catwalk

Posted on September 7, 2013 by sandersnm

Today, Josh, Becca, Ben and I hiked to Dead Man’s Catwalk in Hawaii Kai. It’s a quick hike that is paved for most of the way and is almost entirely uphill. It has a really unique, beautiful view at the top and luckily for us, it was a gorgeous day. Definitely a fun, efficient hike I would do again!