Snorkling - we're hooked

One of our favorite things we did in Hawaii was snorkling. Neither of us had ever done it before, and we were a little bit nervous about trying it.

It turned out to be much easier than we thought and way cooler. We went to Tunnels Beach the first morning, which our guidebook described as "snorkling nirvana." The choral reef there is so large it can be seen from space, apparently. Luckily we chose a calm day, because the north shore waters can get rough in the winter.
The moment our eye goggles touched the water, it was like we were in another world. There were amazing choral formations, with a million varieties of bright tropical fish swimming in and out and all around.

They seemed oblivious to us, as we floated along the current with them. The pictures don't do them justice, of course.
It was hard to take pictures because we were constantly moving and so were the fish. Here is the "tail end" of one of our favorites (ha ha).
After that first day, we were hooked. We went to a different beach almost every day, and each one was a totally unique experience - different fish, different types of choral, all amazing.

We kept saying, "Spencer would love this!" You know how much he loves the ocean, and he knows the names of the fish better than we do. When we called him at night we would describe the fish to him and he would tell us their names. He was so jealous.

I just loved the variety of colors and patters. God is an artist.

I felt like I was on Finding Nemo (Shark Bait, ooh-ah-ah!). At one beach we even went out to a drop-off, hoping to find sea turtles, but we didn't see any. Maybe next time.