This is a pic of the beach and a little to the right of the center of the pic you can see two lifeguards helping one of the canoe surfers walk up the beach! He was super exhausted! Unfortunately this is when my camera died so I didn't get anymore videos/pics of the rest of the competition!! There will be more in the future though:)

There was also canoe surfing at the competition! Here is a quick video:)

Here is a quick video of one of the surfers in the beginning stages of the competition...

I LOVE the beach by our condo! It has the best sand, warm water and big waves:) I feel so blessed!!

We have the softest sand at our beach!! You sink right into it, I love it:)

Gorgeous flowers along the road as we walk:)

This morning Paul and I walked to the beach next to our condo because there was a surfing competition going on! This is the road we take to get to the beach:)

This was on our way back from the beach! We are standing at our condo complex! What a great view! This is the road we walk to get to the beach:)

Here is a quick video of a boogie boarder and then a surfer out on the water this evening at Makaha Beach!

It was fun to watch the surfers out on the big waves!

I took this pic from the beach today. You can't see our condo from here but it is in between those two large mountains!

So it has been about 2 weeks now that Paul and I have lived here and we still hadn't walked to the beach right next to our condo!! So today after he got home from school we decided to do that! And here it is:) It is called Makaha Beach. This is the beach where a lot of surfers and people on boogies boards come because the waves are so big!! Paul and I came to check it out and watch some of the surfers! We are really excited this beach is within walking distance of our place:) We are VERY excited to get surfboards!!

This was another pic I took a few days ago when it rained of the mountains behind our condo! I love the waterfalls that form:)

It has rained twice now since we have been here and when it does the mountains right behind our condo form tons of these waterfalls! It is really pretty!!! I took this pic quick before it started to rain again, so I will try to get a better shot of the waterfalls when the rain calms down (if it is still light out), otherwise I will just take another pic on a different rainy day!

The Pacific Ocean! If you look at the lower center of the picture (a little to the right) you can see the Diamond Head lighthouse. It was built in 1899 and is now a fully automated 60,000 candlepower light (which can be seen 17 miles away) that serves as a beacon for ships approaching Honolulu Harbor from East and West.

Here is a shot of Honolulu I took from the top of Diamond Head:) The beach next to the city there is Waikiki Beach. If you look close you can see a pink hotel on the beach. That is where Paul and I were swimming earlier in the day:)

The views were amazing!!! I took a panoramic view of the Island from the top of Diamond Head. Honolulu is on the left. Paul and I live in a Valley on the Leeward (West) side of the Island past Honolulu (you can't see our valley from this view). You can see the top of Diamond Head on the lower right of this picture.

This is looking down on top of Diamond Head. It is believed that Diamond Head Crater (also known as Mount Leahi) was created by a single explosive eruption of steam and ash about 150,000 years ago. It is an almost perfect circle with a diameter of 3520 ft, floor area of 175 acres and is 760 ft high at it's peak. Back in ancient times there were 5 heiau (places of worship) located here, but none are present today.

I tried to get a picture of the trails you hike to get to the top! You can see them on the right with the people walking up and if you look closely you an see the trails on the left as well.

This is a diagram of the Fire Control Station on Diamond Head that was completed in 1910, prior to World War I. It was part of the Island's coastal defense system. It was an observation post for spotting enemy ships that approached O'ahu. Artillary spotters used triangulation to pinpoint enemy targets since they didn't have radar and modern computers. After hiking up Diamond Head on the trails, tunnels and stairs we approached this. We walked where the red arrows are in this picture.

After swimming for a couple hours at Waikiki Beach we decided to hike Diamond Head. Here is a diagram of the path we walked. The trail was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1908 which leads to the Fire Control Station Diamond Head at the summit. The trail is 1.5 miles roundtrip. It feels a lot longer when you are going uphill lol.

This is Waikiki Beach where we swam yesterday with Diamond Head in the background!

Paul and I spent the day on Waikiki Beach yesterday. This is the International Market Square right off the beach. There are tons of kiosks and shops as well as a food court. Paul and I stop here everytime we come to Waikiki Beach.

Looks like a big shipment! :)

On our way back from Kailua Beach we stopped at Honolulu Harbor. We were checking out the different cruise and shipping ships and saw these cool buildings too!