Hawaii's beaches

We spent a lot of our time relaxing on some of Hawaii's most beautiful beaches. Although every beach we went to was beautiful, each day seemed to bring a beach that was even more beautiful than the day before. This caused a bit of beach FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)...would we happen upon the MOST beautiful beach if only we went to one more beach? We never found an answer to this quandary, but suffice it to say that you pretty much can't go wrong when choosing a beach to visit in Hawaii.

The boys make full use of their time at the beach. Ashore they build systems of sand castles right at the water's edge. These complex structures require walls, moats, and drainage systems to protect it from the incoming tide.

In the surf, they splash, swim, snorkel, boogie board, and body surf. For Noah, the shallow end is where he is happiest. He's not a big fan of the snorkel or fins that we bought him, but the snorkeling mask makes him totally fearless swimming underwater.

The older two have really become brave swimmers this summer and their favorite beach activity has become swimming out past the surf zone to see fish, coral, and -- on one lucky day -- sea turtles. They aren't strong enough to do this on their own however, so we developed a system that allowed me to tow them out and let them get some experience in the deeper water.

Using a boogie board like a giant kick board, I tow one or two of them at a time (Noah is not a big fan of this system) out into the deeper water until we find some interesting coral or fish to look at. In the beginning, they barely submerged their faces, but by the second or third attempt, both Dylan and Ethan were letting go of the boogie board and snorkeling, swimming, and diving around the ocean. Unfortunately, there are no photos of our at sea hijinx. I have added a waterproof camera to our list for our next Hawaii visit!

Once they got over their initial fear, this became their favorite beach activity and it worked very well. They used the boogie board as a diving platform, returning to it every minute or so to get a break or adjust their goggles. I took some peaks underwater, but mostly hung on to the edge of the board in case anyone needed a rescue. Dylan was thrilled to watch scuba divers pass underneath us on one of our particularly deep adventures. On our most memorable 'dive', we saw sea turtles swimming along only about five feet from us.

At some point in every beach visit, there occurs the inevitable horror of beach visiting -- the dreaded re-application of sunscreen. Our boys are convinced that there is no worse torture in the world than being sun-screened. When you add in the interruption to their sand castle building or surf frolicking AND the occasional grain of sand that gets on your skin in the sun-screening process...no body is left happy.

Sunscreen aside, beaches are the place to be in Hawaii!