Thursday in Hawaii

Thursday morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Waikoloa. We started the day with a drive to the top of Kohala Mountain and down a very scenic and very winding road. It was sunny on the way up and then very rainy on the way down the other side of the mountain. By the time we got to the bottom of the mountain the rain had stopped and we drove out to Pololu Valley Lookout. It is the end of the road and has a great view out across the water and some magnificent cliffs (it was really misty after having just rained).

We headed back down the 2-lane highway going south. We again drove through some interesting little towns and ended up at 69 Beach near Puako. Just before heading out for the morning I got a note on Facebook from a high school friend who actually used to live here. He mentioned that this was a great beach to go snorkeling so we decided to head there. It is named 69 beach because it is actually secluded and is named for the number of the telephone pole at its entrance.

We spent a good bit of the afternoon at the beach snorkeling. Alan was out in the water for a couple of hours and had his camera with him. Here are a few of the shots he captured:



We had a ton of fun at the beach. Alan was out in the water for so long he got a little bit of a sunburn on his back from looking down into the water for so long. I did not escape injury either, however, mine was from my own clumsy self...tripped a little walking up a hill and got a nice gash on my toe...no more snorkeling for me. Oh well...it was still a really fun day!