Laniakea

We drove up to Laniakea on the North Shore today! I think North Shore may be my favorite part of Oahu. I had heard nice things about Laniakea, but when we went looking for it before it was later in the afternoon and the tourist crawl (a rolling traffic jam of all the tourists doing the 'drive around the island' day trip) had already made traffic in that direction unbearable. Remembering this, we got up really early so we could beat the crowds. 

There were tons of these tiny little crabs. They were the exact same color as the sand and you only could see them if they moved.

 Even their eyes are sand colored!

 These were some adorable little shore birds. They are super fast and stay right on the edge of each wave as it breaks on the shore but never get hit by it! They are called Sanderlings but the Hawaiians call them Hunakai. It means 'sea foam' and if you watch a large flock of these on the sandy part of the beach that's exactly what they look like.

 I'm so impressed with my camera for this shot.

 As we got further down the beach we went from super fine and soft sand to a beach made almost entirely of crushed shells! I want to go back and get pieces for a puka shell necklace.

 Notice how empty the beach is! We are excited to come back later on and do some snorkeling here. The water is crystal clear.

I live in a postcard :)  Can you see the little sail boat? 

 Here is another Where's Waldo shot. Can you find the little fish sneaking up on Richard's foot? (It's hard to tell because it's so clean, but the water is coming up to his ankle.)

 This is a Pacific Golden Plover. I was taking its picture because we have never seen one with this neat calico pattern. Turns out it's just transitioning from its winter to summer plumage.

 Richard says, "Hey! whats that?" I respond, "I think a rock...."

 NOPE! It is a Hawksbill Sea Turtle!

 She was feeding here in this very sallow section of the reef.

 See the sea grass/lettuce in her mouth?

She was so beautiful! We hung out with her for a while, and then she decided to go back to sea.  

Back here at the apartment, Richard installed our little AC unit into the wall. It was a lot of work but as you can imagine he did a wonderful job. This will be the first night since March 1st that we won't have to bring ice packs to bed to try and get it cool enough to sleep! Yippie!