We woke up early and headed out to Diamond Head, but apparently we did not get up early enough. We were surprised to see how busy it was, but the view from the top was beautiful and we were able to check out a bird's eye view of where we would be going the rest of the day.

Next stop was Hanauma Bay. I had read it was a protected, safe place to snorkel and that you could see lots of fish and coral, so we decided to check it out. We saw so many fish, some indigenous only to Hawaii. One of the most exciting fish I saw was the Humuhumunukunukuapa'a. When I was young I had a shirt with this particular fish on it, so I was delighted to see it with my own eyes.

Tired of snorkeling and drained of energy, we sought sustenance at a nearby shrimp truck. We happily purchased our food and took it down to the beach for a picnic lunch. We had some of the most breathtaking views while we dined and the garlic shrimp was quite possibly the best shrimp I have ever eaten.

With our stomaches satisfied we headed back down the road to the points of interest we had skipped due to that state of our hungry stomaches. We saw the Halona Blowhole and then went to Sandy Beach to watch the bodysurfers. The waves were fairly intense and it is the only beach with an ambulance perpetually perched to swoop someone off to the emergency room when the situation arises. After soaking up the sun, the sand and the sights we headed on a hike up to Makapuu Lighthouse. Most people do not think of hiking when they think of Oahu, but hiking in Oahu is great because you do not have to hike up very high in order to have some amazing, expansive views and while everyone else is lounging at the beach you can experience relatively vacant trails.

Cameron was able to capture some killer shots on this trip. Sometimes it is hard to hand over the camera, but this wave is one of my favorites from the trip.