Huaka‘i to the Glassbottom Boat December 10, 2009

In the month of August during our Ocean theme, the Pauoa and Haleiwa sites went on a huaka‘i to the Glass Bottom Boat located in Kāne‘ohe at the He‘eia Pier. As the boat left to sail about the Kāne‘ohe bay, our instructor, Aunty Rhonda with Kāne‘ohe Bay Cruises talked to the families about the fish they will be seeing in the bay as well as the many varieties of coral. Aunty Rhonda also talked about the history and significance of the Ko‘olaupoko area of O‘ahu. Once out to the reef, we were able to view all sorts of fish and ocean life through the glass bottom. One of the divers on the boat even swam under the boat to wave to the keiki.

After viewing ocean life from the glass bottom, our families got to go on the deck of the boat to feed bread to the fish. Then we went around the bay looking for turtles! To our surprise we were able to see quite a bit of turtles swimming in the bay and popping their heads out of the water. As you can imagine, our families were very excited to see this. A couple of the turtles were very close to the boat at times. As we headed back into the pier, we took a final group picture and then had snack on the pier and headed on the bus back to site. An exciting huaka‘i that everyone, caregivers and keiki alike, really enjoyed and had a great time, as well as a great way to highlight and end our ocean theme!