Lanikai Beach – SarahRuthSeeks

I wish I had taken more pictures… I know, I know, the photographer didn’t take a lot of pictures!

Overall I think my parents had a great time (or so they said). I guess it’s hard not to here… but they only got a couple beach days and we had the luau and Pearl Harbor trolley tour cancelled because of COVID. I think they most liked the warm water, turtles, and beauty of Hawaii.

We picked them up from the airport and gave them the proper greeting with a couple of leis and of course rainbows on the drive home as we planned (ha). We ate a take out meal for Christmas that was decent. Then the next day my friend had an 8 hour layover coming home from Australia, so we all hung out at the beach after eating breakfast and then got lunch. I don’t think we did much after that, except maybe watch Moana later in the day.

Dad joined me for my sunrise walks, and was treated to two really good ones. He met all my friends.

Tuesday we were supposed to go to on the trolley tour. Instead I brought them to a few places at Pearl Harbor. There’s a big park on the harbor that has a lot of displays, they could see the Arizona Memorial. I brought them to the USS Utah wreckage (not talked a lot about, it’s on the opposite side of Ford Island). And to the USS Oklahoma Memorial. We then visited Brian at the boat and brought him dinner since he was on duty.

Wednesday we went driving around to a few lookouts and the halona blow hole. Halona blow hole parking was a shit show… Brian didn’t even get out of the car and was a little bummed… but we will go back so he can see it at a quieter time. At night we went to the Show Aloha lights. It’s a drive through Christmas light show with a little walking section. It was very cute. I’m glad we went after Christmas, it was quiet.

Thursday we played golf at the Klipper golf course on the Marine Corps Base. It ended up being a perfect day because it was overcast but not raining, and it wasn’t hot. There was a nice breeze. This ended up being my highlight of the trip. It was something active, I hit the ball well just not in the right direction. I think it was enjoyable for all, and my parents took home some golf balls with the shaka and aloha on them.

Here’s us at the end of their famous hole 13.

Friday was one last sunrise walk and then packing and cleaning and head to the airport!

Anyway, I think they’ll be back. Glad to have some peace and quiet again though!

Ok, just kidding, I’ve only been to two places. Secret Beach on Marine Corps base and Lanikai, the beach right by our apartment. I prefer the one next to our apartment; so far we’ve seen sea turtles every time, we don’t have to drive, and Secret beach was quite barren with fish. Lanikai feels like you’re in the cast of Finding Nemo.

Brian bought a Go Pro previously for his scuba diving in Guam. It’s a really old version, the 4, but it’s still kicking so we brought it out with us today. Right off the bat was a bit “slow”, we tried out a new section where we heard there were turtles, but there were not many fish like we’re used to. However, before long the turtles did show up. We saw one, then a pair. We chased them for a bit back toward where we’ve seen the most fish. You’re supposed to stay 10ft away from them. We did our best once we saw them. There are two videos after the pictures. I’ll save you some time and say you don’t need to watch them and there’s nothing too exciting after the first 20 secs or so.

This video of Brian chasing the turtle might make you dizzy to start but it evens out.

Once we moved back toward Lanikai there were plenty of fish to see. Here’s a small sample. I didn’t realize how far zoomed out the GoPro is, you can’t preview the image on the GoPro so… these are amateur hour. I cropped and zoomed a lot when editing afterward. But will improve!

Finally, you can’t go home without a few selfies.

Shaka is the friendly gesture Hawaiians give each other, and it means “turtle”

The first time we went in Lanikai, I felt INCREDIBLY nauseous afterward. Bizarrely, I haven’t ever really experienced sea sickness. I read up about it, and it can happen if the waves are a bit rocky and you pick your head up a lot (It was my first time, so I was pretty nervous we were in the middle of the ocean a lot when really we were like 20ft from shore… so I kept lifting my head to check for shore and Brian). I have definitely improved, and the second time we went in Lanikai I was fine… the waves were much quieter. Today I felt woozy again, but not as bad, and it was REALLY hot, so I don’t think heat helps. Brian is very helpful in cleaning off the gear and letting me shower and lie down when I get home.

The second time I ever went snorkeling was with Megan at secret beach on the Marine corps base. It’s really really shallow, even out 50 feet or so from the shore. Very calm. The population of fish was very low, but there was a ton of beautiful coral. I think if we went again we would go to the sides. You also should time this correctly to go during high tide. You already should try to find the channels between reefs otherwise you risk hitting them with your knees kicking, and damaging reef is bad. If it’s low tide, It’s almost one way in, one way out. High tide you can sneak over them.

You can see the reefs through the water here, I will try to get a better picture to show what I’m talking about when I say channels, but it’s simply sand flooring between reefs.

Still plenty more places to snorkel and I shall report back with my expert opinions, of course. Also stay tuned for me to convince Brian to get the GoPro 9.

Parents visit!

The definitive guide to snorkeling on Oahu