Dec 17, 2010

We got up at 4 a.m. so that we could drive to the top of Haleakala Crater and watch the sunrise. It was a 2 hour drive in the dark, and I got our car to sing Christmas carols the whole way up. It was pretty funny. We got there around 6:35 a.m. and the sunrise was at 6:55 a.m. It really was beautiful and spectacular. The oranges and yellows and ever greens in the sky melted into blue and the sun shimmered on the horizon, a red-orange light shimmering on the ocean until it rose so much that we couldn’t watch any more. The clouds were bathed in color. From the top we could look over the huge volcano’s crater, and as far away as the top of the volcanos of Hawai’i and Molokai. It was cold at the top and the air was very thin compared to the bottom. I was feeling a little light headed before we headed down again. When we got to the bottom we stopped at McDonald’s and got some breakfast sandwiches, and those that liked coconut tried the coconut cream pies that that had there. I detest coconut, and so refrained.

In the afternoon we went to Black Rock to go snorkeling and swimming. It was on a really nice beach, but we had to park a long way away from the rock and walk along the beach pretty far. Josh and I snorkeled along the rock and around the corner, following the shoreline. The water was a lot clearer than at our beach, and we saw a lot of fish, a couple of eels, and probably 3 turtles. Then we headed back around the rock in time to see Cherish jump off the cliff into the water. All of our sisters were having a lot of fun, playing in the waves and watching for fish and turtles. After we had swum and sunbathed for a long time, we headed back to our car, stopping to buy some frozen yogurt in order to keep from paying for our parking.

The rest of the afternoon was very laid-back and mellow. We were all pretty tired out from the hot sun and the swimming.