Our first full day in Hawaii was Sunday so we didn't want to go totally crazy seeing everything. The first thing we did was attend a welcome breakfast put on by our travel agent group, Aloha VIP Tours.
At the breakfast they told us about some fun tours to go on as well as some cool sites to see. We had already booked our tour to the Polynesian Center so we decided to book our Pearl Harbor Tour through them as well so that we would be ensured a ticket in. After the breakfast, we hitched a ride on the bus up to Beretania Street to check out and attend a Hawaiian ward.
This church was so beautiful! It really looked more like a temple grounds. Little did we know that this church was one of the original church buildings in Hawaii. It is the mission home and also the Tabernacle. The church was set up in a circle around a beautiful garden area shown below. You would walk inside for Sacrament Meeting and then back outside to get to your classroom or the bishops office. All of the hallways were outside.
We just walked into the closest Sacrament Meeting room and sat down. We were the only white people in the whole congregation except for the missionaries. Apparently we had joined the native branch rather than the English family ward held a the same time. That was okay because the Fast and Testimony meeting was actually pretty cool. The bishop encouraged the ward members to bear their testimony in their own language. Everyone that bore their testimony seemed to speak a different form or dialect of a Polynesian/Hawaiian language. A few spoke English, like the missionaries, but for the most part we could only understand a few of the words spoken. That was okay though because it was still cool and the Spirit was still there! It was fun to listen to all of the languages and hear all of the greetings they say before they start talking.
Outside the church was this really cool tree. They vines or runners or whatever they were coming down from the tree reminded you of the vines Tarzan swung from in the jungle. In fact there were kids using the vines as swings!
This plaque outside the church told about the first Mormon missionaries who came to Hawaii to share the gospel. One of the missionaries was my ancestor George Q. Cannon.
After church, we walked back to our hotel and had lunch. We decided to spend the rest of the day doing a little site seeing. We got back on the bus and headed to the east side of the island. We were going to hike Diamond Head but soon realized we got on the wrong bus and the nice bus drive told us it would be closing soon anyway. So we decided to head to Hanauma Bay instead.
Hanauma Bay was so beautiful! We had a great time chilling on the beach and enjoying the sunshine.
The water was so warm and so nice to stick your feet in! I thought we were just going to hike so I didn't bring my swimming suit. I liked just wading in the water and feeling the warm sand between my toes. Russell was more prepared and enjoyed swimming in the ocean.
Russell also rented some snorkeling gear and had a great time snorkeling along the reefs in the shallow water. He said he saw so many fish of so many different colors. He snorkeled for about an hour and a half all along the Bay. He said there were fish right by his face he was so close to them. He could have reached out and touched them if they weren't so quick to swim away.
In the picture above, the mountain is called Koko Crater. There is a hike that goes to the top of that mountain that we thought about hiking. We were going to until we saw the trail going straight up the side of the mountain from our bus window. The trail is about 3/4 of a mile of steep stairs straight up the side of the mountain. When we saw it we decided to skip that hike thinking it would put me into labor! Everyone we talked to said it was a rough hike but a great view at the top.
As we were getting ready to leave Hanauma Bay, we walked over to some black rocks near the beach. On the rocks we noticed a whole bunch of black crabs just hanging out on the rocks. We almost didn't see them until they moved because they blended into the rock so well. They were kind of ugly looking things but still amazing to watch as they scurried about on the rocks.
We got back on the bus and headed back to Waikiki. We stopped at Teddy's Bigger Burgers for dinner. The hamburgers were huge and really good.
After eating, we walked back to our hotel along the Waikiki Beach. We watched the sun go down as we walked though the sand. It was a beautiful sight and a good end to our first full day in Hawaii.
Aloha!
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