#1472 vacation recap day 6: all day at A Bay

The sixth day in Hawaii may very well have been my favorite. I felt energetic that morning and decided to take a walk down to the beach. I had an idea of where it was and how to get there based on a conversation I'd had with a lady at the pool. MT said he would come with me. T was sleeping. We were still down at the Beach Villas, so we decided to take the walk and call the family a bit later.

We were heading for Anaeho'omalu Bay, known as A Bay for short. We cut through the Marriott lobby and pool area - it was really nice - passed more fish ponds and down onto the beach. It is a nice beach. The water is calm, the sand is soft and there's lots of room. I read somewhere that all the beaches in Hawaii are public, so even though the hotel is right there, it's ok to enjoy the beach.

Here's a view from one end of the beach:

And a view back from the other end:

We walked along the trail we had found the previous night for awhile until we got to the fish ponds, then we took that trail back up to the sidewalk and headed back to the condo. T was gone for a walk when we got back, so MT called his family and we decided to go find a place to snorkel and maybe have lunch.

The lady I had spoken to at the pool told me that the next resort over, the Mauna Lani, had excellent snorkeling that was easy access and there was a nice restaurant right on the beach where we could have lunch. "I go there every Wednesday," she said. "Just tell them you want to have lunch, then snorkel and eat." The guidebook confirmed that the Mauna Lani was a good snorkel spot, so we found T and picked up the family and headed up the road.

The Mauna Lani seems pretty huge. We didn't really know where to go. We found a place to park and started walking down a trail through some lava, but the beach seemed really far away and we decided to abandon the plan. I felt pretty dumb because we were there on my advice from a woman I met at the pool. I didn't know details and I felt bad.

We decided to go back to A Bay and show the family the beach there. I had read in the guidebook about a restaurant at A Bay and I'd seen a sign about how to get there, so I suggested that we have lunch at the restaurant and find a place to snorkel nearby.

It was super easy to find the Lava Lava Beach Club at A Bay. We got a nice table and ordered lunch. It was awesome to sit on the beach and enjoy a nice meal. The beer was cold, the food was good and the view was great. That's pretty much all I can ask for. It made my son smile.

After lunch, Kelly, Denise, Linda, MT and I decided to go for a walk up the beach. There were some interesting looking beachlets to explore, so off we went.

See those trees in the background? We scampered over some lava, we went in through the trees and found ourselves here:

Yeah, it was nice! There were people along the way and people who walked on by us, but look at this long stretch of beach without people! It was great.

There is a lot of lava rocks in the water. You wouldn't want to go in there without water shoes. We weren't planning on swimming or snorkeling at that point. I don't think the guys even had their snorkel gear with them. We were just checking things out.

T didn't come with us exploring. He walked back to the condo. Jake was hanging out near the Lava Lava Beach Club in a chair. He might have been enjoying another beverage.

This was the day that we moved from the Beach Villas to the Fairway Villas. We took care of that bit of business and then Kelly, Denise, MT and I decided to go back to A Bay to snorkel. The guidebook said A Bay isn't a good snorkeling beach, but it was right there and we knew how to get there, so we did it.

While the guys snorkeled, Denise and I found this little guy:

Yes, I probably am too close to the turtle, but I was also using the zoom on my lens, so I wasn't standing over him. He didn't even open his eyes. Sleepy turtle. Have I mentioned I love the turtles?

Now it is sunset time, which was around 7pm (sunset is early in Hawaii, but the sun comes up really early, too). It wasn't much of a sunset:

I mean, it's fine, but kind of blah. We started walking back toward the LLBC (that's Lava Lava Beach Club, you know.) I should mention that as we walked out to the beach past the LLBC, there were already lots of people hanging out in front of the LLBC. They have nice tables and chairs all set up for sunset viewing. There was a guy playing a guitar and everyone was just waiting for the sunset.

As we walked, the colors of the sunset got a little more interesting. First this:

Then this:

And finally:

BAM! The water glowed orange and red as it picked up all the last colors of that amazing sunset. It was truly spectacular. I'm so glad we didn't just leave after the sun went down because all the magic happened after the actual sunset.


There was a couple that had just been married and their photographer was having a heyday taking photos of them with that sunset happening behind them. How fun for them! What a great memory!

That's it for day 6. I liked how mellow it was and that I got to walk around and enjoy the place without being in the car. Fun day!