Quote Originally Posted by channlluv View Post
Is that snorkeling in the bay a good family outing, or more a couples thing? She's only ten, although she'll be eleven in June. I'd hate for her to swim up on a couple, you know, enjoying the moment and all that.

I have been snorkeling before in the Bahamas and that was excellent. I'd love to do it in Hawaii. Aren't there whales migrating there in June? Or dolphins?

Roxy
Hmm...let me put it this way: how romantic is a chilly beach at 5:30am?

Yeah.

I believe there was a couple on the beach while we were there but they never entered the water. We mostly ignored them, as they were totally boring compared to what we found in the water! If your child is 10, she will love the snorkeling and probably won't even notice anyone else I am a natural "wanderer" (i.e. my mother was terrified a stranger would abduct me because I willingly walked up to strangers to talk with them without my parents noticing...) and discovered how easily it is to get far out of the bay and far from others with whom you are snorkeling :P

My family went in the morning and we all snorkeled It was by far the best snorkeling we did on any of the islands (I besides Molokini, which you have to take a boat out to)! The best places we found were off the beaten path We'd pull our car over and go down a path to see if the beach looked good. Be careful about the undertow though...scary stuff!

Oh, one other thing: we stayed for 2 weeks and after a lot of snorkeling, I developed some sort of rash on the parts of my body that were uncovered (mostly my chest, shoulders, back). I do not know what caused it because I never touched the fish or any of the rocks. We made a stop and got some shirts like the surfers wear and the rashes disappeared. I wonder if it wasn't the salt and sun combination. I do have relatively sensitive skin, but something to keep in mind

We also got our own snorkeling sets from Costco so we could carry them around with us and there wouldn't be the weird using-rented-equipment thing which poses two inconveniences: access to the equipment over time and cleanliness issues

Oh yes, and the saltwater is torture on your hair so bring or buy a REALLY great moisturizing conditioner!!!!

One more thing: make sure your suit is tight enough to withstand the snorkeling. Because we wore flippers, we were able to swim much faster than usual and the water distributes your fat more evenly over your body, changing the shape. I found a couple times that the water caught my bottom piece and I had to readjust. I know it's not flattering on land, but make sure it is secure

I don't think we saw any dolphins (definitely none up close) but we did see some porpoises from the beach