Day 8 A Peacock Parade and Hapuna Beach Was Great

We got up bright and early to head into town this morning.  Chrissie Wellington, 4 time Ironman World Champion, was handing out promotional items for TYR and signing autographs.  While waiting in line, we saw Julie Dibens, another high profile pro.  She gave autographs to the kids, which was pretty exciting.  From our experiences at different triathlon events, it seems that the pros tend to be very approachable and down to earth.  I don't know of any other sport where the pros race with the age groupers and are willing to talk mingle with the "little" folks. 

Julie Dibens



Paul, John, and Olivia with Chrissie Wellington

IronBaby (see logo on diaper)
 in the Parade

 Anyway, after getting our autographs from Chrissie, and while chatting with Paul's friend Curtis, we heard a loud commotion.  We were surprised to see a parade of Ironman participants jogging down Alii Dr in their underwear!  Apparently, it's an annual tradition.  I was worried at first, like maybe we stumbled into some kind of raucous Mardi Gras wing ding, but it was pretty family friendly, nothing was more exposed than what you would see at the beach.   There were pink wigs, Elvis hair, foam cowboy hats, fur boots, superhero capes, men, women, and children having a great time acting silly and blowing off a little steam from all the pressure of training. 

The next order of business was to find a beach to hang out at today.  Everyone was a little tired and just wanted to have a lazy day in the sun.  My friend Sarah P. told us about the Hilton that has a lagoon with sea turtles and beach.  We took the shore access path and hiked about a 1/2 mile along a rocky shoreline.  No beach, but we kept on going.  We turned the corner and climbed some stairs and saw the biggest hotel complex ever!  This place was luxury at it's finest.  There was a huge tropical themed pool with waterslide; another pool with dolphins, where guests could sign up to swim with them; a monorail to take guests from one end of the complex to the other; high end shops; spas; and then the most beautiful lagoon with waterfall, where people were paddle boarding, swimming, sunning on the beach, and a few sea turtles swimming amongst them.  We tried to find the front desk to see about spending the day there, but got lost a couple times, the place was a-maze-ing literally!   We found out that we would have to rent a day room, which was fairly reasonable, however, it was for an occupancy of 4, since we have 6, we would have to rent two rooms, that was a little steep.   We bid farewell to the beautiful place  and headed down the road.  Next stop Hapuna Beach.

Hilton at Waikoloa Village

Hapuna Beach is a favorite of anyone who has ever been to Hawaii.  Both Olivia and Lily have friends who told them it's a great beach and my friend Dianne recommended it as well.  It's a state park so there were bathroom facilities, lots of parking, and picnic areas.  It was a very beautiful white sand beach.  The waves were great rollers and we spent most of the day in the water.  It's not very conducive to snorkeling, but I did use my mask, because a few times, as I was bobbing in the waves, I noticed a large dark shadow swimming about.  My imagination started to get the best of me and the Jaws theme would not leave my brain.  But as I soon learned, it was not shark out to nab some lunch, but a school of about 50 fish.  They were about the 4-6 inches long and there was a much larger, about a 2-footer, swimming in and amongst the school.  I'm not quite sure what they were, but they had really pretty markings.  We all got alot of sun, and I think Olivia and Paul may be feeling a little pain by tomorrow.  It was a great day to just hang out with the surf and sun.