Hike, Bike, and Snorkel

About as close to a triathlon that Christine and I will ever participate in was a hike, bike, and swim (snorkel) tour while in Hawaii. It had the same elements as a Tri if you stretch the imagination but not the pressure.

Back during the summer, I wrote about a chilly morning ride down Haleakala (volcano in Maui) so we will switch and write of a warm weather ride while it is still winter. It turned out that Ernie and Margaret Charlesworth had gone on the same ride some years back. Hopefully they went on this tour as it was a memorable fun-filled day. Perhaps even Tamra has been on this tour.

As with most tours, the vendor picks you up at your hotel.

Our day started at 9 a.m. and we were shuttled by van to a tropical rain forest on a private 75-acre property in Manoa Valley on Oahu. Upon arrival, we were each issued trail snacks, a water bottle, and optional rubber boots and rain jacket. We were warned that the trail was muddy and we could ruin our shoes if we chose not to wear the rubber boots. Rain jacket was just in case; after all, we were in a rain forest. The nature trail was about a mile along a jungle stream with mountain pools. You will have to take my word on some of it as it appeared that I took a lot of pictures while walking or jumping up and down.

The end goal was a 200 foot waterfall.

First glimpse of the falls.

 The amount of water flowing was dependent upon the amount of rain received. The hike back was over a scenic ridge-top with many tropical plants, flowers, and trees. I wish more of my pictures turned out, but you may get the idea.

After the hike, we were shuttled to the top of Tantalus (a tall mountain on the outskirts of Honolulu) and were outfitted with a Trek mountain bike with front end suspension and disc brakes. We were given a short briefing on bike safety and the rules. One of the rules was not to brake with the front brake. Off we went downhill, and within 50 yards a person felt she was going too fast, hit the front brake, and was thrown over the bars. She sustained quite a few road rashes and opted to ride the rest of the way in the SAG van. The descent on a paved  road was only 5 miles but there were enough stops to make the ride seem longer. At the Manoa lookout we stopped for pictures.

At the bottom of the mountain there was a grassy park, and we were given a deli style lunch. We had to surrender our bikes at that point, so we wouldn’t ride off and extend our biking tour. It would have been great to keep on riding but we had another adventure awaiting us.

After lunch, we piled back into a van and were taken to Kewalo Basin where a catamaran sail was to take us out for a snorkeling excursion. The snorkeling was over a reef off the shores of Waikiki. The fish were plentiful.

Christine snorkeling.

While snorkeling, Christine found a green sea turtle that she followed all over the reef.

Beside us was another catamaran.

Christine was following a turtle and it swam under the catamaran. So did Chris.

She was spotted by the crew and when she surfaced, she was told swimming under the boat was a no-no. Too late, she took a lot of good shots.

I forgot how long we snorkeled, but too soon it was over and time to head back to shore.

Clouds were rolling in and the wind was picking up. 

The ride back to the basin was a scenic one. It was an opportunity to get in some Waikiki beach shots from a different perspective.

The pink hotel dwarfed by the high rise buildings is the famous Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Our hotel straight in front of us. As we began the story with a shot of our hotel, we will end it with a different shot. And also end a story about an almost perfect day.