Snorkeling and Paddle-boarding on Oahu

Watersports Hawaii Style

I previously posted about going submarine in Maui, but that was actually in a submarine.  On Oahu we took a different approach and decided to get our hair wet by checking out the aquatic life of the Hawaiian islands by snorkeling.  We traveled to Hawaii on a cruise from Vancouver, and after visiting Maui, Kuai, and the Big Island got off on Oahu for a few days of fun with my brother who lives there.  

Diving down to check out fish sheltering near a pile of rocks.

The absolute first thing we did after my brother picked us up from the cruise terminal was go snorkeling.  Our original plan was to snorkel at Hanauma Bay east of Honolulu where I read online snorkeling was awesome.  We drove out to the park only to find it's not open on Tuesdays.  In reality there are lots of great snorkeling beaches in Hawaii.  So instead we just drove down the coast until we saw an inviting beach with what looked like areas of hard bottom (rocks or coral platforms which usually attract fish) parked, threw on our gear, and got in the water.

A plethora of fish scavenging food on the rocky bottom.

The water was warm and inviting.  Aside from having to wade through some surf to get into deep enough water to swim, the snorkeling was relatively easy.  It took us a few minutes to find the hard bottom areas, but once we did we were not disappointed.  Not only were there a bunch of fish to entertain me, but even a sea turtle came by to wave hello.  As it became apparent when we went paddle boarding later in the week, this was not a rare occurrence.  

A sea turtle swam in a circle around me slowly as I quickly snapped photos and tried not to freak out in excitement.  

We all owned our own snorkel gear, and parking was free at the beach making it a rather affordable excursion.  The only expenses were gas to drive to the beach, refreshments we bought on the way, and lunch on the way home.  A quick aside, we ate lunch at the Kona Brewing restaurant outside of Honolulu, which had not just a beautiful patio view of a marina, but great food and beer.  Kona Brewing's main restaurant is on the Big Island which I posted about previously.  Click here to read that post.

Don't forget to equilibrate those ears on deeper free dives.  

Taking a break for a peak at the beautiful mountainous landscape.  

More fish swimming amongst the rock mounds.  

My boyfriend and I stayed in Waikiki in downtown Honolulu which offered no just seriously good Asian food (yes really) but easy access to a beach with paddle boarding, which we did our last day in Oahu.  At a rate of less than $20 an hour we were able to rent a paddle board and paddle to explore the nearshore reef.  While my brother and his fiancé chose to each rent their own paddle board my boyfriend and I decided to share one, with me sitting on the front enjoying the ride, while he stood in the back steering us with the paddle.  

Paddle boarding selfie with my personal chauffeur.   All I had to do was sit down, relax, and not fall off.   

I thought paddle boarding would be somewhat lame in such a busy area compared to the secluded beach we snorkeled at earlier in the week.  I was wrong.  In addition to a thriving reef filled with fish, we saw so many sea turtles swimming around the reef and its outlying areas I lost count.  Being so elevated above the water made the turtles easy to spot, although we could not always catch up with them to watch them for very long.

My boyfriend and I managed to both stand up on the board at the same time.  We toppled over seconds later.

My brother Alex and his fiancé Bethani paddle board around the Waikiki Beach looking for sea turtles.

After returning our boards an hour later and rinsing off in the hotel pool we sat down to one of the many beach bars for some Mai Tais followed by a Back Scratcher (actually comes with a back scratcher) while we watched the sun set.