Hanauma Bay - Honolulu, Hawaii

Although we can just Uber to Hanauma Bay as it is just a 20 minute drive from Surfjack to the bay, we decided to rent a car for the day.  That way, we can bring our random junk with us and leave it in the car when not needed.  We were not very organised.  Didn't plan ahead.  We thought there would plenty of cars to rent so we never though to book ahead.  Turns out cars to rent is at a low supply.  So, to make sure to have a car, people have to book ahead.  Luckily, people do cancel at last minute, so we were able to a car in the morning.

We got ourselves a Jeep. :)

It seems somewhat easy to drive around there.  Not a lot of aggressive drivers there.

What a beautiful to head to the beach!

Finally we arrived!  There is a huge parking lot that just cost US$1 for the day.

So get to the bay, there is an entrance fee.

Lots of ferral cats there.

Notes on how to take care of the bay~

The entrance fee to the bay is US$7, if I remembered correctly.  You will gt a ticket to watch a short presentation on how to take care of the bay and wildlife there.  It's mandatory.

To get down to the bay, people can either walk for take the tram/shuttle which cost about US$2.50.  We decided to save time and energy and just take the shuttle~

It was around 1 or 2pm when we arrived.  The beach was packed!

The water isn't very clear.

There are snorkel gear to rent on the beach.  However, we just bought a cheap one from ABC Store near our hotel and brought it to the beach with us.  Rental at the beach costs around US$40 and the ones we bought was around US$12.  

Turns out the water was quite murky.  We could barely see anything.  If I paid US$40 to rent snorkel gear to view this, I would have been really angry.  There really was nothing to see.  People say the water is clearer if you go in the morning though.  Too bad for us.

The place is really not as nice as how people say it would be.  I guess I am too used to visiting private beaches in resort in secluded places where water is so clear that you can see the bottom from the surface and with no one around .

Though they have a guide to the reef life, but we didn't see these fish out there.  A couple maybe, but didn't see most of them.  I guess we needed to go further out.

More cats.

Hanauma Bay is at point 15 in Places Part 1 on the map below:

Chi