Summer is here in the Carolinas! The last two weddings I’ve photographed have had daily temperatures reach the mid 90s (phew!). Lots of water and sunscreen for this time of year for sure! The soaring temperatures have made me super excited for some beach vacations we have coming up. Actually, as I’m writing this, we are headed on trip #1 to Wilmington, NC to visit some friends and relax by the ocean. I’m super excited for this much needed break and I’m super excited to try my luck at surfing again this year! I tried surfing for the very first time on Tyler and I’s honeymoon and, preparing for this trip, I’ve been looking back fondly over all of our pictures from our honeymoon in Hawaii. I wanted to share a snapshot of some of my favorite memories to date!
We started off our Honeymoon in O’ahu and spent five days there where we spent our time exploring, swimming, surfing, stuffing our faces with food, and my personal favorite thing we did in O’ahu, cage diving with sharks! I am still bummed about not having any pictures of our shark dive, but it was an experience I will never forget!
Tyler and I vacation a little differently. I love going, going, going, every time we go somewhere new. There’s so much to do, see, and experience, that I have trouble taking time to relax and instead I pack our itinerary full of fun things to do! Tyler likes to rotate through an adventure day, a relax day, an adventure day, a relax day, etc etc. I think he’s idea of vacation might be the better way to do it, but I can’t help feeling like I’m missing out on awesome things while we are having a chill day. Does anyone else feel this way with your partner? If so, let me know how you guys compromise when it comes to vacation! I would love any pointers!
After five days in O’ahu, we flew to Kaua’i and spent another five days there. We rented a car and spent a lot of time on the go driving around and exploring the island. One of our favorite spots was Waimea Canyon. Described as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” this spot was definitely a highlight of the trip! We hiked the Waimea Canyon Trail and also took a helicopter tour over the canyon as well as the rest of the island.
One of the coolest things we did during our honeymoon was exploring Manawaiopuna Falls (AKA Jurassic Falls!!). This was the waterfall that was used in the movie Jurassic Park during their helicopter landing on Isla Nublar. I absolutely LOVE Jurassic Park. It’s one of my favorite movies. I even walked down the aisle to a slowed down piano version of the main theme song! The actual falls are on private property, but the owners allow a helicopter company to briefly land near the falls, so we were able to nerd out and take some pictures with this famous waterfall!
We loved surfing so much on O’ahu that we decided to try it again on Kaua’i. Tyler grew up on the Outer Banks and spent a lot of time surfing, so he felt pretty comfortable on a surfboard. I, on the other hand, did not. Surfing was definitely a learning curve for me, especially when I realized how much bigger the waves were on Kaua’i! I caught a few waves by myself on O’ahu, but the only wave I caught in Kaua’i was when a HUGE wave crashed on me and somehow pushed me onto my board. I “road” that wave for a bit on my knees before getting sucked under (lol).
We had such an amazing time on the Hawaiian islands! I’ve never been much of a beach person (I prefer the mountains) but this trip made me appreciate the ocean in a way I never had before! Thank you all for reading and letting me share a little bit about our special trip!!
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