Marder Home Page Blog: Marders in Hawaii: Day 7

Marders in Hawaii Day 7
Visiting Diamond Head & Hanauma Bay

Perhaps the most famous geography in all of Hawaii is the Diamond Head crater. Hawaii, itself was formed through volcanic eruptions followed by erosion. This crater was said to have been created after a single eruption 300,000 years ago. Diamond Head is now considered both a state monument and a National Natural Landmark. You can see Diamond Head from the beaches of Waikiki. Today was our day to move out of our rented apartment and check into a hotel on Waikiki beach. This is the real "touristy" section of the island. That's OK for us as we wanted to experience this as well. We made the short drive down through the Pali Highway and drove into the very urban area of Waikiki at around 11 AM. We were cordially greeted by the Hotel Renew's staff, checked into our room and then set out to see a couple of sites on this end of the island. We first stopped for lunch at the Diamond Head grill and had some teriyaki sandwiches at this walk-up location. Then, we made the short drive to the crater, parked our car, and started the hike up the crater wall. It's actually not an easy hike. It was a hot (as it usually is here) and steep climb up to the 761 foot summit. Along the way were rocky trails, steep staircases, beautiful lookouts, and tunnels. When we finally reached the summit, the view to the east and west (Waikiki) was outstanding. After a brief stop, we hiked back down, completing this 1 hour journey in the parking lot where we met up with Alyssa. Alyssa led us by car to our second point of interest for this day, Hanauma Bay. Not just your run of the mill snorkel spot, Hanauma Bay is both a nature preserve and a marine life conservation district. It's another one of those volcanic crater formations that this time runs right into the ocean. It forms this beautifully protected bay where lots of coral and fish coexist in a natural habitat. As first time visitors, Patty & I had to view an educational video about Hanauma Bay. We then changed into our swim suits and did a little snorkeling in the park. Once we got used to what we were doing, we saw roughly 8 different kinds of tropical fish in the water. We left Hanauma Bay, went back to our hotel and showered before sharing very good dinner with Alyssa and Nate at the Hee Hing Chinese Restaurant.