Tag Archives: beaches

Sunset Beach

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Last night, Josh and I went to watch the sunset at Sunset Beach. I had heard it was a pretty phenomenal sight to see (as so many things are in Hawaii), and it definitely did not disappoint. First, the beach itself was huge and incredibly beautiful. The houses along the beach were amazing (and now if I had a bazillion dollars, I would choose this as the place to purchase a home). There were a few people surfing, swimming and stand up paddleboarding as well as, other people that were there to enjoy the sunset. I would say this sunset is the best I’ve seen in my life and was jaw-droppingly beautiful. I’m not sure the pictures can do it justice!

Walking with our chairs to watch the sunset.
Beautiful houses!
The beach is huge!
Surfer and swimmer.
The clouds were incredible.
Josh was forcing me to take multiple pictures. I was over it.
Stand up paddleboarding.
Moon!

Cousin Fun

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Along with the adventures that I’ve already blogged about, Bailey, Kyle and I spent time hiking, going to the beach, eating tons of good food, enjoying the pool and touring Oahu in general. We had such a great time and I miss them already!! I’m so thankful they were able to come visit and I got to spend such quality time with them :).

Lani Kai beach the first day….first of many beach trips for them.
Pretty sun shining through the clouds.
First açai bowl!
Bailey and her giant smoothie from Lani Kai Juice.
Makapu-u Lighthouse…at the top of the trail.
Bailey and I at the top of Makapu’u Lighthouse trail.
Hiking to Manoa Falls.
Hiking to Manoa Falls.
Manoa Falls from a distance.
Bailey and Kyle at Manoa Falls.
Bailey in the bamboo forest.
Sushi! They were venturesome. Kyle tried sushi for the first time.
Bailey’s favorite açai bowl from Diamond Head Health Cove.
Our matching bracelets from the North Shore.
The Hula Pie from Duke’s. Incredible! Seriously ridiculously good.
Bailey and I having smoothies in Chinatown.

Shark’s Cove

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Today, we went out for our second round of snorkeling at Shark’s Cove on the North Shore. Neither Josh nor I had been snorkeling here, so we were excited to go and check it out. From everything we had heard, it was a million times better than Hanauma Bay. It definitely did NOT disappoint! We saw tons of beautiful fish and coral and got to swim with a sea turtle. It was significantly less crowded than Hanauma Bay as well, so we basically had the area we were snorkeling in to ourselves. Plus, I continued to conquer my fear of the ocean :). I compiled all of our video footage into one video (it’s long but great footage of the turtle!).

Shark’s Cove

Hanauma Bay Round Two

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We ventured to Hanauma Bay last Friday so Bailey and Kyle could snorkel and see all the beautiful sea life. This was my second time here, but this time I really got to explore and enjoy snorkeling myself (last time I was on a field trip). We saw some amazing things! TONS of beautiful fish (some were HUGE) and Bailey and Kyle saw an eel! It was the second time using our Go Pro and I got some pretty cool videos (some of them ended up being corrupted…still learning 🙂 ).

Hanauma Bay Video 1
Hanauma Bay Video 2
Hanauma Bay Video 3
Hanauma Bay Video 4
Hanauma Bay Video 5

Bailey and Kyle preparing to snorkel!

The Day of the Honu

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This past week, I had friends visiting Oahu after the wedding in Maui. On Saturday, we did the tour of the North Shore and on our way stopped at a beach close to Haleiwa to check out all of the sea turtles (Honu). There were probably about 20-30 turtles in the water that we could see and many of them came up on the shore. I hadn’t ever seen anything like it and am so happy I got to see these unique creatures up close while I live here!

Loved this one!
Turtles of all sizes in the water.
Thinking about going back in….

Maui: Trip 2 – Day 4

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On Tuesday, Josh got up SUPER early and left for Honolulu so he could go to work (sooooo sorry for him). I stayed for the rest of the day to spend some quality time with my friends. I got up and had breakfast with Brent and Colleen and then we hung out at the pool and the beach until it was time for me to go home.

My view at the pool.
Frozen grapes! One of my favorite snacks and they were handing them out!
The beach at the resort. So peaceful.

Maui: Trip 2 – Day 3

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Laura and Jim’s Wedding Day!!!

On Monday, we woke up and headed down to have breakfast at the resort. After that, Josh and I drove to La Perouse Bay to hike around and see what it was all about. It was beautiful, but very windy. Snorkeling is supposed to be great in the bay, but the ocean was pretty rough. On our walk, we saw several goats just hanging out on the beach and in the wooded area. It was kind of hilarious to see goats hanging out on the beach. I feel like that would happen only in Hawaii.

The bay.
Looking towards Haleakalā.
A little sea arch.
Tiny beach. I loved this little beach. It looked so small compared to all of the black lava rock around it.
Goats!
Goats like the beach too.
One day he will learn to like having his picture taken.
Looking at the storm clouds coming in.

After we got done with La Perouse Bay, we went back to the hotel to grab lunch at the pool bar and then got ready for the wedding! We went to the wedding around 4:00. It was in such a gorgeous location! Everyone looked so beautiful and it could not have been more perfect! I am so incredibly happy for both of them :). Towards the end of the night, Laura and I even got to dance to our song (Wouldn’t It Be Nice by the Beach Boys). The night could not have been more perfect for the two of them!

The backdrop for their wedding.
They did it!
Colleen and I.
Josh and I.
After the ceremony.
Rainbow!
First dance.
The food was amazing!
Me, Laura and Colleen. Boiler up!

Maui: Trip 2 – Day 1

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On Saturday, Josh and I arrived bright and early on Maui to celebrate my friend Laura’s wedding. Our plan was to meet them around 9:30 to do the Four Waterfalls hike on the Road to Hana. Since we landed a few hours before that, we decided to stop in Paia for breakfast and to kill some time. However, before we even made it out of the airport Josh’s bag decided to quit on him. In a matter of 30 seconds he had all three straps break. First, the carry strap, then he picked it up by the handles and one of them broke and then finally we started walking again and the last one broke. He had to carry it the rest of the way without any handles. This early in the morning, we found it absolutely hilarious as it just disintegrated in front of us.

Josh and his disintegrated bag in the Maui airport.

Josh and his disintegrated bag in the Maui airport.

We headed to Charley’s in Paia because we were starving and it had great reviews for breakfast. I ordered the breakfast burrito and Josh had an omelet. We had planned on sharing (thank goodness) because mine was HUGE. I ate about 1/4 of it and made Josh eat the rest. All of it was delicious and I would highly recommend it to anyone. To top it all off, it is Willie Nelson’s favorite place for breakfast and we are 98% sure he walked in as we were finishing and hung out at the bar.

Delicious Orange Juice.
My giant breakfast burrito.
Josh’s Omelet

After breakfast, we changed and headed towards Hana to where we would start our hike. The hike would take us to four waterfalls. Two of which you could see staying dry. If you wanted to see the third and fourth waterfalls, you had to swim. We came prepared with our dry bag so we could take our camera to take pictures. We met up with everyone (SO HAPPY to see some of my best friends) and then started the hike. There were about 20 people total of friends and family that had come for the wedding. We hiked to the first and stopped for a bit to take pictures, then continued to the second to take more pictures. After that, we hiked up a ladder (with the help from a few ropes) then boulder hopped to the stream where we had to jump in to swim to the third waterfall. It was a BLAST!!! We all jumped in and swam up to the third waterfall. After that, we had to climb the falls and boulder hop again upstream to get to the final and biggest of the falls. It was beautiful! But I will say, the journey is what made it so fun. It was a great hike to do with a big group of people. See the pictures below!

The first waterfall with everyone hiking over boulders.
The view downstream from the first waterfall.
The second waterfall.
Brent and Colleen at the second waterfall.
Laura, Colleen and I at the second waterfall.
The beginning of the boulder hopping.
People starting to boulder hop after climbing up the ladder.
The fourth waterfall.
Swimming at the fourth waterfall.
We were a large group!
Fourth waterfall.
The beginning of the hike was almost all bamboo forrest. It was beautiful.
Loved this picture looking at the sky.
A little bridge we had to cross over to get to the first falls.

After returning from the hike, we changed and drove back through Paia for lunch. We stopped and ate at the Paia Fish Market. It was delicious! Josh had a sandwich and I had blackened cajun fish. We then wandered around the town and headed to our hotel in Makena to check in and take much needed showers.

My blackened cajun chicken. Delicious!
Josh’s fish sandwich.

We checked in and then headed over to Big Beach to hang out with everyone for the rest of the day. It was beautiful and the sun was setting. After that, we headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We all met at the bar in the hotel to just hangout and eat. I had one of the best cocktails ever (Dancing Koi). I don’t even know what was in it but it was fantastic. After hanging out and dinner, we all called it a night and headed to bed. It was a long day!

Big Beach
Laura and Jim hanging out on Big Beach.