We had been planning to go to Hanauma Bay on this day. But the night before we did some time planning and it was just to far away – an hour and a quarter – and with us not wanting to leave the house until 1030ish, and the Hudsons not wanting to be out from noon-3 (the sun is VERY burny), we couldn’t find a plan that worked.

So Duke and Jamie picked another beach – Kuilima – which is right out the front door of the Turtle Bay resort on the North Shore. We took 2 cars, to help with the plan.

This was a nice beach! It’s very well protected from the high surf that you could see very clearly. There were some good rocks at the entrance to the bay that kept it away, and were also very nice for looking at fish under. The bay bottom was mostly sand, with a few scattered rocks and it had a variety of depths so you weren’t (in my case) skimming with only 5 inches between my chest and the rocks. I also found a great little coral forest on the left side, just where the waves started to get a little more choppy.

The price for the beach though, is that it was quite popular, being right out of the hotel. There were hotel-only shaded beds and chairs, and a shack where hotel guests could get towels and snorkel equipment. We had to suffice with our own towels, and sitting under the shade of a tree (which moved).

Here’s a couple photos.

I blew up the floaty chair and Miranda sat in that with Ava, which looks super relaxing, while I pulled them around the bay a bit. Then I took off to explore the rocks, which was nice.

We came in, showered the salt off us all, and sat under our beach umbrella trying not to burn. There was a beach-side restaurant which wasn’t guest-only, but charged $24USD for a burger. I bought a “kimchi ahi melt” for $25 since it sounded cooler. They wanted to charge $25 for a grilled cheese, which was madness. We bought a couple expensive things, ate well, and then Miranda, Ava and I packed up and left.

It seems weird to do it that way, since there was a lot cheaper options in the greater world, but we wanted to sit on the beach and enjoy it for a bit, and we wanted to go straight from the beach to home and put Ava down for a nap.

Ava fell asleep on the 15 minute drive home, which pains me because I’ve never successfully transferred her from the car to her crib. She’s always woken up, and then been angry that I was trying to get her to sleep more – she was done sleeping!

We formed a plan. Stop the car, unbuckle the car seat, carry it in, and transfer. As I unclipped her from her seat, she woke, and she opened her eyes, and then as I placed her carefully into her crib, she closed them again! We celebrated very silently, as parents do.

Miranda and I had a peaceful afternoon, while the Hudsons and Ruthie stayed at the beach. Apparently they had a wonderful time there!

Dinner was leftovers, and following that we stayed up and talked for several hours. We find this with the Hudsons – we rarely leave their house when we expect, because the conversation just flows super nicely, and it’s hard to find a good place to say “ok, we need to leave!” Which is part of why we thought they’d make great vacation partners. 🙂

This morning Ava woke up very early, 4:30am, and was whining a lot. I took her to the grocery store to buy a couple small items we needed to finish out our trip, and then she went back to sleep. Usually Mia is awake around 6am, which is when Ava is usually awake as well. However, I’m writing this at 8am and there’s no Mia, no Duke, Jamie, no Ruthie. And Ava is having a good nap (albeit an interrupted one – she woke for about 25 minutes in the middle of it). So Miranda and I are just interneting at the kitchen table. 😛

Today is our last day in Hawaii. I have a couple more posts — one for today, one for all the beer I’ve consumed, one for “lessons” and hopefully one for “favourites”.