Wave extravaganza!

Remember how much we love snorkeling in Sharks Cove? 

That was Summer's Sharks Cove...

This is Winter's Sharks Cove:

The life guards shut down most of the beaches on North Shore because of these waves! The camera doesn't begin to do them justice. We just kept staring and saying WOW.... WOAH!!! OH MY GOODNESS DID YOU SEE IT!! OOH OH OH LOOK AT THIS ONE!!

Yup that's not a little cumulus cloud sitting on the ocean. That is the spray of a HUGE wave!

Here is some video Richard took:

This one he zoomed in a little for us:

Richard found this freshly molted crab. It was crazy how soft and squishy it was! Felt almost like the consistency of an eel.

and I found this adorable hermit crab!

This little brackish pool doesn't usually have enough water to even be a pool but today it was overflowing and even had it's own waterfall!

I got this series as a HUGE wave came crashing in:

That one didn't even clear out before it was hit by another!

It was impressive how clear the water was, even with all the turbulence.

Check out this shell completely embedded in the rock:

On the way back home we stopped by Haleiwa Beach Park. 

We got to watch this little sail boat challenge the waves!

They made it out very well! I was quite impressed.

Back at home my Lemon Tree has started blooming again!

 The blossoms look much healthier this time around!

And my little lemon that survived from the last batch still seems to be doing well!

Also I tried a new recipe for dinner and it turned out FANTASTIC!

S'more North Shore!

Solar Armageddon is finally over which means:

Ben, and Richard are finally back to having normal weekends!

We had a nice time hanging out on our favorite beach.

I mentioned the 'surf dog' in my post about Eli. There are a few dogs who either live at the beach bungalows or come to the beach with their surfing owners. They hang out and wait for surfers to come out of the water at which point they dance around in delight and greet them like it's the happiest moment of their life. Then after the surfer goes back out they go find a shady spot to go chill out or sniff at crabs or feathers on the beach. When they aren't greeting freshly returned surfers they are some of the calmest dogs I have ever met. This one decided that we had picked a good spot and spent most of the day hanging out with us. 

And we also were accompanied by this lovely sea turtle.

She must have been very tired because apart from posing for this picture, she spent the rest of the time fast asleep!

We also went to check out Laie Point State Wayside:

I have heard that this channel is so deep that whales have been known to swim through it! We still have yet to see marine mammals but when we do I sure hope we have the camera!

Richard made these panoramas when we got home I was quite impressed!:

(you can click on them to blow them up)

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday if you ask me :)

Eli!!!

This Year's Christmas surprise was:

ELI!!!

Eli got to come visit us for over a week! Things were slowing down for me at work so I got to take a few days vacation to show him around the Island. We had adventures almost every day but I still didn't get a chance to show him everything. For a such a small area this little island sure has a lot to see and do.

Eli brought his Go-Pro so that's how we got the awesome wide angle shots!

We went to check out Valley of the Temples:


This is one of my favorite pics from the whole trip :)



Our friend Clint got to spend a lot of time with us as well since his wife and baby were out of town. Which was good timing because Clint knows how to surf... and Santa just happened to bring me a surf board this year!



Here we are out by Diamond Head scouting our location.




We picked a terrible place to get in and ended up fighting current and wind for the entire time...

I spent almost an entire hour of straight paddling and yet staying in the same spot! Clint described it as possibly the worst surf day of his entire life! BUT I did catch one wave while laying on my board and it was TOTALLY AWESOME!!!! Also Eli and Clint went out again later that week and Eli was able to get halfway up and ride a decent wave!

Of course our favorite spots to visit were up on North Shore:




Here we are on my favorite beach with one of the friendly surf dogs. :)
Notice the amazing puka shell collar!

Santa brought Richard and AWESOME underwater camera

 

So he got these shots while he and Eli were snorkeling in Sharks Cove:

There was some hiking:

 Ben, Richard and I only joined them for the first bit (Ben and Richard only each got 1 day off that week Ben having worked 54 hours and Richard 63 hours decided they would rather go tide pooling instead) So Eli and Clint went on to hike the entire Olomana 3 Peaks Trail!




Mean while Richard found this eel:

and this grumpy stone fish:

They sit still for so much of their lives that they grow algae:

Too soon though it was time for him to go home... But like everyone else who's come to visit, I'm sure he'll be back. You just can't stay gone for long!