We started today off at Hapuna Beach. We really like this beach for boogie boarding and because it's a nice sandy beach. Most beaches here have a ton of lava rock. The lava rock is hard to walk on and it cuts up your feet unless you have water shoes.
Today there weren't a ton of good waves like the last time we were here. After about 2 hours, the kids wanted to go to a different beach. Scotty and I were fine with that. The only thing we needed to do today was head to the airport to pick up Pati!!! Two Steps Beach is about 40 minutes south from the airport so we decided that we would go there to snorkel after we picked up Pati!!
Look who I found!!! Yay!!! If you remember Pati from Arizona,she is my adopted sister!!! Well, actually not officially adopted but she was my mission companion in Chile and we are as close to family as it gets. We love Pati. She is so much fun and when she found out that we were going to Hawaii, she wanted to come too. We told her to come. She bought plane tickets and did the whole Covid testing drama thing to get here. She had a lot of problems getting her Covid tests done just like we did. I'm so glad she made it to be with us on our last few days here!!!
Two Steps Beach!!
One of the locals said that this is the best beach for snorkeling. Opposite from Hapuna Beach today, the waves here were crazy. The water was very rough. We jumped in anyways to snorkel and we weren't disappointed. The reef here was very colorful and tons of fish came out to say "Hi" to us. Everyone snorkeled, even with the choppy water.
This is a family from Utah that we met when we got there. We have met around 5 families from Utah out here vacationing.
These are the famous Two Steps!
The sun was setting and it was getting a bit cold so we took off. We also had to take off because we had a date with the Manta Rays!!!
A date with the Manta Reys you say? Yes!! At 10:10 PM here, which is 1:10 PM in CA, we went out in the ocean snorkeling to swim with the Manta Reys!!! Can you say incredible because that is exactly what it was.
Here is Will. He was our "get us ready" guy. And that is the boat that took us out.
Hang Loose Will!!
Each person put on wetsuits and ankle floats.
Here we are all suited up and ready to see something amazing.
A boat took us out into the ocean in front of the Sheraton Hotel in Kona. We saw these boards all lit up when we arrived to our snorkel spot. How it worked was - we all jumped into the water and held on to these boards in a superman like position. You had to keep your feet straight with the water or you would kick the Manta Reys. Yup, kick them, they were that close. We weren't allowed to reach out and touch them, but they were allowed to hit us. I can't even tell you how many times the Manta Reys hit us. These Reys were like 20-30 feet long from wing to wing. They were under us in the water, basically doing backflips while they gathered plankton in the water to eat. Holy Rush!!! Taj laid on top of the board and stuck his face in the water to see the Reys. Every time they got close to him he would scream. Asher and Graham were on the same side screaming when the Reys would hit them or get super close. Pepper, Scotty and I were on the other side. I was screaming as well!! Pepper got a bit freaked out. You can't blame her. These huge manta's were swimming right up to her with their huge mouths open, then they'd back flipp right as they hit or or just barely missed you. It was a bit freaky. But an experience that we will never forget.
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