Hawaii Day Seven

One of the coolest things about our trip to Hawaii was introducing Skyler to all these new experiences. Although all of us adults have been to Hawaii before, this was Skyler's first experience in a "tropical" locale. Boogie boarding, snorkeling, whale watching, etc, were all "firsts" for him. We were so excited because he loved everything we did! Well, except whale watching, but that was cuz the whales were lame. :( Since he loved snorkeling so much, we decided that with our last full day we would snorkel in Turtle Town! We snorkeled around the bay for about 30 minutes and were disappointed with the sealife (or lack thereof). After relaxing for a bit on the beach the boys decided to give it another go, and were rewarded with a sea turtle sighting. Waaay Cool - as Taylee would say.
Our "campsite" at Turtle Town

The bay where we snorkeled
I posted ugly pictures of the boys in their snorkel gear on my blog, so it's only fair I put an ugly picture of myself in snorkel gear, right?
After we had our fill of snorkeling we headed back to Big Beach. We grabbed lunch from the food truck in the parking lot, which has apparently been pretty good in the past. Not so much today. Two burnt quesadillas, a couple flavorless tacos, a burrito, a shave ice, a smoothie, and SIXTY dollars later, we headed for the beach.

As we walked down the looong tree-lined path to the beach I could hear the waves crashing on the shore. I thought that was odd because I hadn't noticed that the last time we came. When we came out onto the beach, we saw that the surf was extremely high. There were signs posted all over the beach about the dangerous riptides and shore break. I'm no good at judging the height of waves, but these had to be at least 20 footers! Okay, not really, but they were BIG. Much, much bigger than they had been on our previous visit. However, we weren't to be deterred from our fun in the ocean, and we braved the high surf. We did have fun, and each of us did get tossed by the waves a few times. Poor nana made one attempt to come out and play with us (past the break), and got flipped end-over-end by the first wave. That was it for her ocean time. :( We were a bit abashed when the lifeguards used their bullhorns to warn all "inexperienced" swimmers to please get out of the water, as the conditions were very dangerous. I will say there were much bigger idiots out there than us! Hard to believe, I know!

We had to find other ways to entertain Taylee, as she wasn't allowed in the ocean today. Not even in the safety of daddy's arms. Just too scary for me!
She did a great job entertaining herself in the sand, cooking dinner and serving it to all of us. Strange, I know, but she's two, so what can I say?

By the end of the day we were all roasted, toasted, and sunburnt!

We had some great Chinese takeout that night from China Boat. There are very few choices for Chinese food in LaHaina, and we were pleasantly surprised with our meals. A relaxing evening "in" after a big day at the beach.