We woke up to the sounds of the ocean at our Airbnb in Puna'auia. Jay and I had a quick catch on the beach before we headed out. (Yes, we brought our baseball gloves).

We headed out to the Faarumai waterfalls, a 40 minute drive along the northern part of the island. We stopped a few times along the way to admire the coastline.

Arriving at Faarumai, it was a small hike from the lot before we came across Vaimahutu, the first of the waterfalls, which measures about 80m high over black lava rock. (Unfortunately you aren't allowed to swim there).

Water volume not much more than a trickle at the moment, but still beautiful and impressive scenery.

Faarumai
Faarumai    Faarumai  
The other two waterfalls are not easily accessible, although one (Haamaremare Rahi) is actually taller than Vaimahutu, about a 100m drop.

Next we drove to Papeno'o Beach, a famously beautiful stretch of black sand on the north coast. It was a bit windy but still fun to swim in the waves.

However, the kids wanted to go back to Pointe Venus, where it is protected from the wind and they could do some more snorkeling. After a late lunch of fish (and a hamburger for Jay) I took the GoPro out this time and did some snorkeling with them. Despite the black volcanic sand, the clear water is enough for stunning visibility for snorkeling on the reef only 50 meters from shore.

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Lots of beautiful tropic fish that we had a blast identifying.
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(lemon angelfish)   

Jay was instantly hooked on snorkeling and we struggled to get him out of the water.

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(sixbar wrasse)    

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And of course we can't get enough of these views and sunsets: