Snorkeling at Kahalu'u Beach Park, Changing Units, and Maunakea Visitor Center - Wednesday/Thursday, March 13-14, 2024

Wednesday, March 13: Bob was hard at work again this morning! He's learning new things for one of his clients. For breakfast, Bob cooked his steel-cut oatmeal and also had papaya with pineapple chunks in it. He took it out on our lanai. It always tastes better outdoors. 

The view from our timeshare unit lanai.

When he wrapped up work for the day, we walked one-half mile to Kahalu'u Beach Park to snorkel. It was about 1:30 pm. Low tide was at 11:45 am, so the tide was coming in. The weather was 82 degrees and the water temperature was 75 degrees. It was lovely. 

We saw box pufferfish, cornetfish, parrotfish, yellow tang, Moorish idols, black triggerfish, and blackspot sergeants. It's interesting how the water temperature is warm in one spot, but if you swim a few feet, it's 10 degrees colder. This change in water temperature is due to the ingress of fresh spring water into the bay at that place.

The photos below at Kahalu'u Beach Park were taken on March 11. That's the day Bob snorkeled, but I didn't go in. It was cloudy, cold, rainy, and windy that day. I forgot to take photos today, so I used these instead.

Kahalu'u Beach Park. The area straight
out is where we snorkeled today.

Kahalu'u Beach Park.

Looking toward the surfers.
The snorkeling is to the left.

The water was so nice that we snorkeled for one-half hour. The bay was rough and the current was pulling us toward the surfers. It was time to swim to shore. 

While we dried off, the lifeguard announced on his bullhorn to the snorkelers in the water that the current was getting strong and choppy. He warned that strong swimmers could stay out in the water, but to beware of the current carrying them toward the surfers. He asked parents to keep an eye on their children.  

After returning to our timeshare unit and showering, we watched the news. Bob helped chop up the veggies and then I made veggie stir-fry. We ate it while we watched Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, the news, Wheel of Fortune, Survivor, and our favorite show, The Amazing Race.

Thursday, March 14: Today, we changed units at the timeshare. Ten o'clock am was the checkout time, but the check-in time for our new unit was 4 pm. The office staff assured us that the housekeepers would do their best to have our new unit ready quickly, but no guarantees about how quickly. 

Our grocery shopping expeditions to stock up for two weeks of meals was a good idea until it was time to move. We couldn't leave frozen berries, lettuce, milk, etc. in a hot car for hours. But, a storage room with a refrigerator/ freezer was available at the resort. We could store our luggage and food until our room was ready. 

That left the quandary of what we would do with ourselves. We had shopping to do. The Kailua Farmer's Market had a wonderful pineapple. We got a couple of items at Walmart and finished grocery shopping at the KTA. All we needed at the KTA were fruits and vegetables. Do you remember how expensive our first shopping day was? When I saw the receipt for only fruits and veggies, I was shocked. It was $92!!! Gaack! When we got to the car, Bob said, "Oh, it was only $19." I said, "What? It was $90!" He thought the cashier had said $19. Yes, Hawaii is expensive.

The resort had not called to say our room was ready. It was 1 pm. We were hungry, tired, hot, and thirsty. For an hour, we had killed time sitting in the rental car with the air conditioning on. Granted, we had a beautiful ocean view from the grocery store parking lot. But enough was enough. We went to the check-in desk at the resort and were told, "They just finished cleaning your room." We grabbed our things out of storage and went to the room.

For lunch, we had leftover salmon and veggie stir fry. I also had half a papaya. When I removed the garbage disposal cover to put the papaya seeds in, there were chunks of pineapple in it. I ran the garbage disposal and the pineapple did not go down. Also, our ice maker was making noise but there was no ice. 

I called the resort desk and reported the items that weren't working. Within ten minutes the maintenance guy was at our door. The ice maker did not have water going to it. He had that fixed in ten minutes. 

When he looked at the garbage disposal, he said it didn't have any blades in it! How could that be? Another maintenance employee delivered a new garbage disposal to our room and it was fixed in about 15 minutes. Yay!

Now, we could get on with our day. We drove 1-1/2 hours to the Maunakea Visitor Center at 9,000'. From there, you can go to the summit to view all the big telescopes with a tour group, or if you have a 4-wheel drive, you can go up on your own. We were amazed when we arrived at the visitor center. There was a line of 4x4 vehicles waiting to go to the summit.

Mauna Kea Visitor Center on the mountain
at 9,000' elevation.

We wanted to see the sunset from the 9,000' level. Unfortunately, clouds enveloped this elevation and we would not be able to see the sunset if we did the 15-20 minute hike to the viewpoint. We read the information signs outside the Visitor Center about the famous telescopes at the summit. Other signs give information on the challenging Mauna Kea Humu'ula Trail, Native Hawaiian beliefs, tools, and customs.

Wow! It was 51 degrees here this afternoon.

No sunset view today.

The photo below shows my layered look. I wore a T-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, a sweater, and a windbreaker. That wasn't quite warm enough. A nice warm scarf would have helped.

Mauna Kea Visitor Center.

Today's wildlife sightings were impressive: goats, sheep, turkeys, wild pigs, myna birds, yellow finches, Hawaiian cardinals, and cows (but not invisible cows).

Here are the informational signs about the Native Hawaiians and the observatories at the top of Mauna Kea.

The Humu'ula Trail goes from the Mauna Kea Visitor Center to the summit of Mauna Kea. This sounds like a very tough hike!

If you're looking for a challenging
hike, this is it!

The road down the mountain has a 17% grade. Our Nissan Altima's low gear did not keep the car at a low speed. I did my best not to ride the brakes. The SUV in front of me had smoke pouring out from its brakes. Their brakes smelled like they were burning. They didn't stop, they just kept going down the hill.

Once home, I cooked salmon steaks and Bob made a green salad. We were hungry and happy to eat. For dessert, I had fresh pineapple chunks. Bob is waiting until morning to eat his pineapple.

Tomorrow morning we will do the Walua Road Volksmarch in Kailua, Hawaii. Good night good people.