Hawaii Day 2 (Part 1): Wet Sunrise & Kayaking

We woke up bright and early (With the help from our all night crowing rooster) and headed to Lanikai Beach to catch a Hawaiian Sunrise!  The number one thing I was excited about was the beautifully acclaimed sunrises and sunsets!  Even though we are on vacation and have no kids and could sleep in however late we wanted (except we really couldn't because the dumb rooster), I still wanted to wake up at 4:45 to leave in enough time to see a gorgeous sunrise.

It takes about 30 minutes to get to the beach and find a place to park.  From what I could tell by the dark sky, it appeared to be an over cast of clouds everywhere.  I was still optimistic about my sunrise.  So we lock the car and walk down to the beach.

We walk along the beach and find the perfect spot to sit down.  By this point, I am covered in goose-bumps and shivering wildly.  I wrap my thin layer over my shoulders and my teeth begin to chatter.  Right about this time, is when the sky opens up and it starts raining.  Kevin grumbles about it being cold, and how there are clouds and no chance of seeing a sunrise and that we should just leave.  My pride and stubbornness and pure anger keeps me rooted to my spot.  All that was going through my mind was that I woke up early on my first day of vacation and I'm wet and freezing, but already here, so like it or not, I'm watching the sun come up.  Or should I say, sun or no sun, I'm staying there until 7:38 because thats when the sun is supposed to rise.

About the time I'm ready to start crying, Kevin starts laughing.  He is laughing so hard that tears start to run down his cheeks and he can't get a single word out to tell me whats so funny.  Between laughs and breaths I get the gist of what has him in hysterics, and I start laughing too!  The sight of us, huddled, in shorts, dripping wet, clothes soaked completely though on a vacation in Hawaii for a sunless-sunrise.  We laugh and laugh until we are both crying!

About this time, is when the sky is beginning to change from black to blues and pinks.  With the full cloud coverage, there were beautiful colors dancing around the sky.  The sea is also such a beautiful blue with a few islands off in the distance.

The sun starts to creep out of bed and over the horizon.  As the sun comes up a little pocket opens up and the clouds let the sun shine through for a few minutes!  We are able to get some great pictures and beautiful sun rays!

Once the sun is swallowed up again by the clouds, we both look at each other and decide we are cold enough and have seen what we ventured out to see.  With that, we run back to the car, and blast the heater.

After breakfast and a nap, we decide to take advantage of the free kayaks that the hotel offers to their guests.  Kevin and I love kayaking, and were very excited to get out in the ocean.  We ask the front desk if there are any great places around to Kayak.  He tells us about 5 miles or so is China Man's Hat, or around the corner is a flat island.  We decided to try to find the flat island.  Before we find the island we took a few minutes to paddle around the bay.

We then follow his directions, but are never able to find the island.  My stubbornness comes back, and I decided that 5 miles isn't too far and convince Kevin to paddle in the direction of China Man's Hat.  After paddling for a while, we decide it's too far, we are hungry and we don't have water and should probably head back.  I'm glad we turned around, because by the time we got back, we were both hungry, super thirst and tired!