From Water to Rock and Everything In Between

Well this past labor day weekend reminded me of the reasons why I love going to school in Hawaii! The entire adventure started off early Monday morning...very early. At 6:30am I got up and ready to go snorkeling (we were supposed to leave by 7). Well I sat out side for a while waiting for my ride and finally about 8 they picked me up and we finally left for the day around 9am. Now that is standard Hawaiian Mormon College Student time, but the sunrise was beautiful, and I don't usually see a lot of those, so it was nice.


Our destination for the day was Electric Beach on the west side of the island. I have heard many a rumor that this was a good snorkeling spot so I was really excited to go. I was not disappointed! It is called electric beach because right off shore there is a working power plant. One byproduct from the plant is hot water. They pump this water out into the ocean in 2 15ft wide tubes. So we set off to find out for ourselves if electric beach could hold up to its reputation. After snorkeling in the wrong direction for about 15 min. we finally realized that the tubes were exactly in the opposite direction, so we turned around and swam for a while in the other direction. All this trouble was definitely worth it!

We reached the tubes and were pleasantly surprise with a rush of warm water. The tubes were covered in tons of coral and schools and schools of fish were riding the currents around the tubes. One of the best features was swimming right above the tubes where the hot water came out. The warm water would swirl around and form all these mini whirlpools and as you were floating these whirlpools would come and engulf you and turn you around. All the while in the most perfect water temperature that I have ever felt. The only downside was once the swirl moved on you were suddenly thrust back into the regular ocean water which was about 15 degrees cooler. It felt like jumping in a pool after being in a hot tub, it was a bit of a shock because this happened over and over and over all in a matter of minutes! All in all it was one of the best snorkeling spots I've been to. We saw tons of fish and 4 turtles!



After all the excitement snorkeling we decided to hit up the hotspot of Oahu...Wal-Mart. After a few basic college necessities (candy and conditioner) we decided that our labor day was not complete yet. In order to really celebrate our last day off from school until Thanksgiving we needed to go rock climbing! We met up with another group up at Ka'ena Point which is the northern most tip of Oahu. Once we got there we climbed up a mountain and at the almost top of the mountain is a big band of rock in the form of a cliff. This is what we climbed. The view from this spot was one of the most beautiful and truly breathtaking views I have ever seen, on Oahu or the Mainland! You could see for miles down the coast all the way to Waimea Bay and at least 20 miles out to sea in every direction. I was told that it is one of the best places to see the whales in the winter so I'll have to go back!

After trying to take the whole scene in we started to climb...well some of us anyway. Due to traumatic experiences as a child (car + cliff + dad with no depth perception) I might have a slight fear of heights. While climbing is safe, I will definitely try it the next time, for this trip I left the mountain to the experts. I did climb about 5 ft up the mountain without ropes and this for some reason seemed like a less dangerous activity than climbing 20 ft actually connected to something. Anyway I had the best time! We had 2 ropes and the place that we went is very well known for climbing, so the routes and the clips were already set up, so all you had to do is pull your rope through. It was really nice and really really fun!

When daylight started to fade we decided to pack up and head out

After some major fun activities were decided that real life was calling us and we had better head home...of course not without stopping and eating the most delicious food that has ever been cooked on this planet! We had dinner at Haleiwa Eats of course. The green curry makes my knees buckle every single time. I could eat thai food for the rest of my life and die the happiest girl in the world!


Anyway we got home around 9 o'clock and boy was I tired! after a 15 hour adventure I was ready for bed! I had some really fun times and it was a great way to start the year off!