hawaii day 4 snorkeling and waimea falls

                           

 we knew that low tide was early in the morning and that by 9 it was heading towards high tide. we woke up and got moving. every morning we at breakfast at home. we had cereal or toast. something that we were used to eating. we drove up to waimea bay. they also had wild chickens. everywhere! at waimea bay we tried to do some snorkeling. i found the water pretty murky and we didn't see anything.  we were debating where to go next. instead of going to hanauma bay. again it was across the island and they only let 3000 people in a day. so we decided to go shark's cove, which was just up the road. we very happy with our decision.

we went out with just our water shoes and then we got snorkeling equipment. we rented our equipment from where we were staying. it was just over $30 for the 2 sets for our whole visit! we by the rocks kind of in the middle/left of the picture above. with the tide coming in and this rocks are really sharp! i got all cut up. i don't think andrew got cut at all. 

all my reef cuts. one was from the day before at paul's and i got my index finger on my left hand good. it was the one that hurt the most. paul gave me some iodine swabs for my cut. so i didn't have to go and buy stuff to clean them. 

andrew looking at all the really cool fish. he took his phone out with it's waterproof case and took some video of the fish. i will get those up soon, i hope. 

while waiting for andrew to get done, i got sunburned on my upper legs. it was painful around my hips, but with aloe lotion that i had brought with me and some pain killer i made it through the rest of the week. andrew also go burned on his back. the middle of his back was the worst spot. 

andrew out there floating and looking at the fish. 

andrew riding a wave while checking out the wildlife. 

after we were done swimming in the wonderfully warm ocean, we got lunch at Ted's Bakery. i can't remember what andrew got but i got their garlic shrimp plate. it was delicious! remember those chickens that are everywhere….this is where one pecked me on my foot! we also bought a blueberry turnover and a mango danish. we were so full that we had to eat these later but they were also good. 

after lunch we went to waimea falls.  it cost way more than we expected. we figured it was free but it was about $16 person. the whole way is paved and you walk through a botanical garden, so we understood why it cost so much! 

pineapples!

dominican bellflower (cubanola domingensis)

waiting for his wife to be done taking pictures.

andrew liked how the leaves were on this trees. they have a great pattern (like a braid) and then have these huge leaves on the ends. 

beehive ginger (zingiber spectabile) 

those are flowers, not bugs. i couldn't get closer without leaving the path, which we weren't suppose to do. 

we thought quincey would like these pink flowers. 

this is one of those times when i wish i had a better zoom on my camera. can you see the lizard? i had a bee in it's mouth. 

Waimea Falls! 

because my legs were in pain (darn sunburn!), i didn't want to get into the water. andrew said it felt good though. 

i loved how these birds were doing the same thing and made a heart. 

 BANANAS!

check those spikes out! i think this was the tree that said the fruit was poisonous!

calliandra emarginata. we found these in 2 colors. they looked like something quincey would wear in her hair. 

we loved these umbrella trees. they grow tall and then spread out. 

we thought sterling would like these little red flowers and that quincey would like the purple ones.

the one above is an orange bird hibiscus. the one below is another smaller hibiscus. 

and a peacock!

we drove home and soaked our burns with earl gray tea and did laundry. we had to do 2 loads and i was pretty much out of laundry except what i was wearing! we had dinner with ashlan, jon and his parents- phil and pat. gus and marah also joined us. gus is the one who would be officiating the wedding. after some visiting and discussing the next days activities we went to bed. we had to get up really early on friday!