Sep 2005

Ok, here's a more boring post, but some have asked.... so all shall see. =o)

A picture of our housing unit. And all it's red dirt! It's a 2-story unit with 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.

And I didn't take a picture before I built my little front patio, but I did take one after... but before I add flowers and stuff... I bought 20 of the 16" brick paving stones and made a patio. C built my Jack & Jill chairs w/ table thing for it. I now spend about 70% of my time at home sitting there. It's perfect! The weather is always fabulous, and I can watch the kids while they're playing and riding bikes.

I'm going to add flowers in the dirt surrounding it, and on that one red brick spot in the corner I'll put a pretty potted plant.

Here's our new car - 2004 VW Jetta:

And last but not least, I took a picture out of the car window while driving the other day.... it took 3 attempts before I actually got a decent shot... but this is one of the mountain ranges by the house.

What an adventure THIS was! We had tried to go the weekend before, but by 9:00am the lot was already full! Though this time when we went, I learned something about that. The lot attendants close it up periodically, and the reopen it again. So if you're really ready to snorkle that day, don't drive away... just stop on the side of the road and be ready for when they re-open the gate. Just a tip. =o)

Once you get inside and down to the parking area, you have to stand in a really long line for the ticket counter. Island residents get in free to the beach and stuff, but you still have to get in line to prove you're a resident. Once you're thru there, they give you tickets to attend a mandatory movie viewing. The film is about 15 minutes and gives you history of the area and lots of safety stuff... they want you to preserve the area, take care of things, etc etc. You only have to view the movie one time per year. When we left, we signed a returning guest log, so we're in the computer now for the future.

It felt like a long time before we were actually let loose in the area! But we were finally free! There is a tram you can pay $1 per person to ride down to the beach, or you can walk.... we walked. And I took pictures down the whole way. Of course. =o)

Here're the first views!

It is a pretty steep walkway... but very doable. Once you're down there, you kind of spill out onto the beach. There are a lot of people there... nothing private about THIS place!! But the scenes are still gorgeous!!

We headed immediately to the left edge of the crater and dropped our stuff. Our snorkling gear came out right away and we went right into the water! It was amazing how GOOD the kids did at snorkling all around!! The coral reefs are everywhere and we saw ALL sorts of colorful fish! No sea turtles on our first day, tho.

After the initial excursion, we alternated between laying/playing on the beach and snorkling.

You can see C and E out there floating around! They're pretty deep there, tho you can't really tell it.

The water here is soooo clear... you truly can see down to the bottom and all the fish in between. The coral reefs were really interesting. I was a little creeped out at swimming SO close to it all... I'm not all THAT into fish and other sealife... but ya know. LOL It was a great day all in all.

It is about a half hour drive to get there, or so, depending on traffic. You have to go thru the Waikiki district (tourist hell) to get there. But for residents, it just costs $1 per car and the rest is free. Tourists and visitors are charged $5 per person to get down there.