KoOlina Lagoons

As a rule, the east side of the island doesn't have the best beaches. However, in the spirit of tourism, the state made some lagoons right outside Kapolei. It is a bit hard to find where to park because they are hidden by the 4 huge resorts that moved in. (One of these resorts is the brand new Disney resort. They just started a big ad campaign; you'll probably see their ads all over the internet and TV soon.) 

Anyways, after talking to a few friends and doing some online research we chose Lagoon 4. It has the most parking and is the furthest from the resorts. Here is a map:

Here is an aerial photo. Lagoon 4 is in the front:

Here is the actual lagoon:

As you can see they are beautiful! They are calm and clean. There are showers, nice bathrooms and a beautiful paved 1.5 mile walkway that connects all the manicured parks and lagoons. We are going to go back with the long boards. I'll take the camera and fill you in then. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach. Because of the good parking and location, it's kind of a locals beach. There were several families and lots of little keiki playing in the warm calm water. It made me really want a baby!

Though the beach is sandy, up by the barricade where the water is refreshed, it gets rocky and is chocked full of sea life!

We brought along the snorkels on a whim and ended spending most of the time in that little section circled in blue.  It's no Hanauma Bay but because its a lagoon there are no waves so it makes it really great place for beginners. There were hundreds of urchins. I got a spine stuck in my thumb! OUCH! We saw at over 10 different species of fish including angels, humuhumunukunukuapua'as (no I still can't pronounce it), triggers, some trumpet fish.. and a flounder! We hadn't seen one of those in the wild yet! We also found some beautiful shells. 

This was the biggest Cowrie shell either of us had ever seen. It looked empty so we brought it home:

I set it down  on the other side of that line then went to go clean up. When I got out of the shower it had moved to where it is in the picture. We stared at it for a few moments and ...

POP! out come his body and antenna! 

 We safely returned him to his home :)

These lagoons are our closest beach, only about 10 mins away, so we'll definately be spending more time at them :)