Hanauma Bay - The BEST Day!

Today was my favorite day. We went to Hanauma Bay to snorkel and study Hawaii's reef fish. The bay is basically protected from the ocean because it is an ancient volcano crater that's side has fallen in toward the ocean.  You can tell by looking at some of the photos:

We snorkelled for about 5 hours and saw some amazing fish! We took lots of little breaks and played in the sand and waves too.

Hang Loose!

We sat through a presentation before we were allowed in the nature reserve. They made sure that we knew NOT to step on things in the bay. Even though the ocean floor looked like rocks, it was actually mostly coral. Coral is really fragile and the other marine life depend on it for foof. The health of the coral is like the health of a canary inside a mine.  If the coral dies or isn't healthy, the ocean around it is in trouble. 

We saw sea anemones, lots of colorful sea urchins, blue, yellow & pink coral and some bright red chunks of something. We also saw different kinds of:

Angelfish

Boxfish

Butterflyfish

Sergeants

Damselfish

Filefish

a Peacock Flounder

Goatfish

Parrotfish --- they were the most beautiful

Puffers

Tobyfish

Surgeonfish

Tangs

Unicornfish

Triggerfish

and some Wrasse

Here are some pictures of them.

We talked to one lady who got to see a sea turtle swimming around, but we didn't get out far enough to see it.

Papa slept all day.

Papa, Nana, Me and Mom on our way out.