Saturday, July 26, 2008

Catamaran ride and lots of hiking!

Today is our last full day here, so we had to squeeze in everything that we haven't gotten to yet. We started our morning with a two hour catamaran ride. They served breakfast, which was assorted pastries, fruit and breads. The water is absolutely beautiful here, and the weather was perfect for being out on a boat.
It's a good thing the day started off well, because it got harder from there! Jameson (Erik's nephew), Erik, Kayleigh and I went from the catamaran to the hills for hiking. The first hike might not have been so bad had it not been so humid! My new favorite line is "cotton kills". I kept thinking that on the way up to Manoa Falls. I get hot anyway, and wearing a cotton t-shirt didn't help my cause. I brought a running t-shirt that's made out of polyester. That would have been MUCH nicer to hike in! It had also been raining around the falls, so the trail was muddy. Luckily Erik is good at hiking, otherwise he and Kayleigh might have been in trouble. One guy gave him a walking stick. He was on his way down and saw us hiking up with Kayleigh on Erik's back. He said that Erik needed it more than him. People are really nice around here!
After that hike we went to McDonald's for lunch. We then headed to Diamond Head to do that hike. It's a good thing we did it second, because I'm not sure if I could he done anything else if we had done it first! Besides hiking up the side of a volcano, we had to hike up two flights of stairs. The first flight had 79 steps, and the second had 99! Whew! I was so glad when people tried to pass us so that I could stop and let them go! After those steps, there was a spiral staircase to go up. That one wasn't so bad. The funny part was when Erik had to crawl through a little opening with Kayleigh still on his back. There was just enough room for the two of them. When we got to the top, I was glad I walked up all of those stairs. the views were awesome!
After a little quiet time here in the room, we went to the beach for one last sunset. It was really the first one that we've seen here. The sun sets around 7:15, and we're usually eating then. It was gorgeous, of course. We saw it set over the mountains because we're on the wrong side of the island to see it set over the water.
We are still planning on getting up and going to Pearl Harbor in the morning. It'll be another long day, but then we'll have lots of time in the air to relax and sleep! One week was not long enough on this island. I guess we'll have to come back!! :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are having so much fun!!! Good for you.
Now, your penguin running shirt would have been cooler...and Mumble would have loved to have seen the top of Diamond Head. Penguins don't get to climb very often, you know.
See you soon.
"Aunt" Anne

Matthew and Valerie said...

We'll go back with you!!! :)