We visited Hanauma Bay in the early morning for the first time. I had been in the mood to swim in the bay someday since my first visit to Honolulu because I heard that the famous movie, "Blue Hawaii" starring Elvis Presley, was shot in this bay. However, the bay is far from the city center of Honolulu and it's not easily accessible. My friends were also eager to visit the bay and I was able to hire a guide and transportation.
The bay was originally beautiful, but additionally it had been closed for three years due to the pandemic and subsequently the bay apparently became more beautiful. The bay is still closed from Saturday to Tuesday for environmental conservation even now, so we visited the bay on Wednesday. We rented all the gears for snorkeling and followed the guide on the surface of the sea. The depth was only 0.5 to 1.5 meters, but we were prohibited to stand on the coral reef. That meant that we didn't take a rest on the way. Floating on the wave which was calmly and slightly moving up and down, I got wave-sick or sea-sick. The guide grabbed my left arm and took me with her to the last destination point. I should have taken some medicine for sea-sickness. Anyway, I was able to shoot pictures with my right hand. I'll show you some of them. The scenery in the water was really wonderful. I saw lots of kinds of fish that I'd never seen before.
I have a three-year-old granddaughter. She wouldn't have seen a fish swimming in the wild. I hoped I'd take her to the bay.
ハナウマ湾
早朝から皆でハナウマ湾を訪れた。ハナウマ湾は初めてハワイに来たときから気になっていた。エルビス・プレスリー主演の映画、ブルーハワイのロケ地でとても美しいビーチと聞いていたから。しかし、ビーチはワイキキの街から遠く、入場手続きが煩雑でなかなか機会が無かった。
もともと美しいビーチなのだが、３年に及ぶコロナ禍のために観光客が激減し、海が更にきれいになったと言う。現在、環境を守るために土曜から火曜日まではビーチへの立ち入りは禁止されている。ビーチが開かれる水曜日を待ってガイドツアーに申し込んだ。案内、移動、シュノーケリングの道具レンタルなど全て任せられるので楽だった。
波に浮かんでシュノーケリングしながら移動するのであるが、船酔いならぬ波酔いをしてしまい、残念ながら十分には楽しめなかったが、沢山の魚が泳ぐ姿を見ることが出来た。人を恐れることを知らない魚ばかりで、目の前を横切っていく。貴重な経験だった。もうすぐ３歳になる孫娘を連れてきて遊ばせてやりたいと思った。自分で撮った水中の写真をＵＰするのでご覧下さい。
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