Just Life: Hawaii Part two

The botanical gardens on the way to Wiamae Falls.

I loved the beautiful flowers. I took too many pictures of flowers this day. Our battery died at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Luckily it was towards the end of the day.

Wiamae Falls. It was a little low.

The Polynesian Cultural Center was one of if not our favorite thing we did in Hawaii. The put on a wonderful production and you get a feel of many different cultures. We got there about 1:00 and we stayed until it closed at 9:00. We did not even see everything we would have liked to see.

Once a day there is a show on the river. Six of the Polynesian Islands are represented and each boat does a dance specific to that island. It was great. Once one or two people fell in :-)

Chris really wanted to do a hike to Manoa Falls, but we did not judge time wisely and we arrived at the parking lot around 5:45. In Hawaii it gets dark around 7:00. On top of the time it was also pouring rain. I did not really want to do the hike but Chris really did so we threw on ponchos and trudged up the mountain. The hike was only a mile each way so we made good time. As we walked it felt like we were walking in a river because a lot of water streamed down the trail. I reached the car before Chris and as I was opening the door he came running to the car. He stated that he could not find his sunglasses (the bran new Oakley's we bought a day before we left). We searched to car to no avail. By this time it darkness had fallen. We went to a gas station and bought flashlight. Once back at the trail we walked the entire thing again very slowly looking for the sunglasses. We did this there and back and could not find them. Below our our sad pictures. I told Chris the next pair had to come from Wal-mart, but he actually got new ones for his birthday. The first picture is the falls before the catastrophe happened.

We went snorkeling twice. The first was at Sharks Cove and the 2nd at Hanauma Bay. These shots are in Hanauma Bay. We liked Sharks Cove a little better, but this was fun as well. Chris really loved snorkeling.

We went ocean Kayaking to the island. It was tons of fun. The only hard part was carrying the kayak to the water. We carried in on our shoulders. I was dying and Chris said it wasn't heavy. Well the next day I had a huge bruise on my shoulder to prove that it was heavy! We kayaked almost to the island and then decided to ride some waves between this island and another island. It was tons of fun, but exhausting. Chris then got the brilliant idea to Kayak around the island. Of course I complained because I was dead, but we did it and made it. It was definitely a good work out.

We decided to explore the island. The is on the back side of the island. We had to do a lot of climbing but we almost made it around the entire island; however, with just a little left we reached an section where it was impossible to not get in the water. The problem was I had the camera. Luckily I had it in a zip lock bag.

This was the section that we had to swim. You had to jump off the cliff to get around. I could not do that because of the camera so I tried to slowing ease my way into the water; however, that was not easy because there were a ton of waves coming in. We could not go back because we did not have time. We had to get back to Waikiki because we had a sunset cruise that night. Luckily I made it in the water and to the other side without getting the camera wet. I think that they only thing out of the water was my hand and camera. Everything else was submerged.

After the camera made it to safety I decided to have some fun on the cliff. It was a scary one for me because you had to jump out over a lip. It was not very big, but I don't like having to clear anything.

After that adventure we got back to our kayak and looked at the time. It was 4:00 and we had to be at the boat for our sunset cruise at 5:o0, 5:30 at the latest. We paddled back as fast as we could. We made it back to the car and had to figure out how to put the kayak back on. That took awhile and we were not looking good on time. We realized that we were not going to be able to go back to our hotel. We had to go as we were, sad covered and all. We had pre-paid and would be charged if we did not make it. The woman I spoke to on the phone said that we could walk there. When we got back to our hotel to drop our car off the valet person said we could not walk, it was too far. I had left the address in our room because I anticipated having more time. I ran to the hotel and had to wait for the elevator to go 23 floors. When I got back down to our car it was 5:27 and Chris was no where to be found. By this time I am getting very worried and upset. I looked for him for a few minutes and then left to go to the pier. I wasn't going to go on the cruise without him but I wanted to make sure we did not get charged. I did not have my phone with me. I left it in the hotel so Chris could not get a hold of me. When I got to the pier I was in tears and they said they would not charge me. I called Chris and of course he was a little mad. The boat was still there and I asked them if it would be there a few more minutes. They said yes and I begged them to wait. They agreed and I drove to get Chris. He had walked towards the pier. I picked him up and we barley made it. It was our 2nd to last night and they did not have anymore sunset cruises so we were thrilled we made it.

The fireworks over the ocean that we watched from the cruise.

This was our last day and we went to another beach to body surf. This beach had big waves and we got pushed around a bit. One more thing we wish we would have done and did not do it rent boogie boards. It would have been awesome to ride the waves all the way in! Below Chris is about to get slammed.

That is me right on top of the wave. It was fun.

The Dole plantation. We mainly went for the Dole whip ice cream. It was good; however, it was one of those things that was over-hyped. I had been told how incredibly good it was so when I got it I was somewhat disappointed. It reminded me of my first experience with In-n-Out