Bartlett's Party of Three: Just another day in paradise!

Aloha!
Another two days have passed, and with them we've created some great memories! Day 3 started out like all the rest...sleeping in! Once we finally got out the door, we headed to the West side of the island for the first time. We stopped for a short hike to some petroglyphs, which Jordan's convinced are planted there by anthropologist! Then we headed toward Kaanapali. After searching in vain for a parking spot near Kaanapali Beach, we decided to get a picnic lunch and head further along the coast to a different beach.

At some point in our drive down the coast, we decided to pull over and take a picture. It was at this point that we realized our camera was no where to be found! We searched our car, I don't know how many times, with no luck! So, we have no pictures from our stop at Honolua Bay (the gorgeous beach made not so appealing by the locals who've set up shop there in a make-shift trailer and bathroom (aka: pond)). Despite the stench coming from the aforementioned "pond," we snorkeled around Honolua Bay for a bit before we decided to leave the stink behind and go find another beach.

It was at this point that we stumbled upon Slaughterhouse Beach (great name, eh?)! This is our favorite beach thus far! The sand is the perfect color and texture, and the water is just calm enough to play in without getting beat up. Plus, there was some GREAT snorkeling in just 3' of water! In addition to the abundance of brightly colored tropical fish, we came upon a beautiful turtle that was content to just swim around us, and continue eating while we watched for about 15 minutes! That was COOL!!

After leaving Slaughterhouse Beach, we headed to the only Wal-Mart on the island to buy a replacement camera. After getting over the disappointment of having to buy a new camera when we have another digital camera just sitting at our house, we started to get excited about the great features on our new purchase!

The next morning, as we were packing up the car to head out for the day, MAGICALLY our long lost camera appeared in the glove box that we'd searched countless times! What the heck?!? Well, there it was! Amazing!!

So, with the return of our camera, we were able to take some great pictures of the days adventures! We headed around the top of the island to a sight called "Dragons Teeth" which is a lava formation that owes its existence to the wind and sea. Pretty cool, but nothing compared to the GIANT turtle we saw in the water...it had to be 4' across its shell, and Jordan sat and waited for 30 minutes to try and get a picture of it, but it never surfaced again! Too bad.

Next we stopped at the Nakalele Blowhole...that was AWESOME! Jordan was like a kid in a candy store watching it explode! It was so amazing to watch the power of the ocean like that.

Our next stop of the day was at a place called the Olivine Pools. These are natural lava swimming pools ensconced in an ancient lava shelf, they offered an outrageous place to swim with the ocan pounding at us on three sides! WOW!

After swimming for a bit, we took off on a road that doesn't deserve to be called a highway...this was a one lane, winding mountain road! There were so many blind corners, that Jordan ending up honking the horn almost nonstop for the entire drive, to let any other drivers coming the other way know that we were on the other side of the curve...and please don't run into us (we had one call that was a little too close)! It was a pretty drive, but one we wont be doing again!