May 27th

Sunday, May 27th, 2018

Only day two on the island, and we’ve learned that if there’s something you want to do, a beach you want to go to, you have to get there early.

That, my friends, is the key.

Being five hours behind here in Hawaii, that luckily isn’t an issue for us. We’ve been up by 5:30 every morning, feeling like we slept in until 10:30.

So this morning, we got up, packed our snorkeling gear, and hit the road for Pupukea Beach. All of the tourism information has said that that is the best spot for novice snorkelers, so that’s where we wanted to start.

We started in a really rocky area that was sheltered from incoming waves, but it was shallow and I got cut up by the rocks, and it honestly wasn’t all that fun so we came back to shore.

Turns out we weren’t in the right spot at the beach, because we hiked out on the lava rocks further out to a pool, and that was the jackpot.

The water was so calm, deep, and there were fish EVERYWHERE!

Paul telling me to put the camera down and get in the water to look at all of the fish.

And we were the only ones there – just us and the fish. Phenomenal is the word that comes to mind. It was cool temperature-wise, however, and that’s what ultimately drove us back out of the water.

On our hike back out, we passed at least 10-15 people on their way out there, so our timing was perfect.

We stopped for breakfast at Ted’s roadside cafe (Food trucks are a huge thing on the north shore), and it was delicious.

The rest of the morning we drove all the way around the island. The complete circumference. And it only took three hours. Totally crazy.

May 18th

Friday, May 18th, 2018

I learned a great lesson today: It pays to have awesome friends.

Yes, yes, I’ve known this all along, but today proved to be especially awesome.

About a week ago, I posted on Facebook asking for recommendations for an underwater camera to bring to Hawaii. A few people came to my aide with suggestions, and it was super helpful to help narrow down what I was looking at, especially since I didn’t leave myself much time to research and purchase.

Well, one of the friends that came forward isn’t a photographer, but had an underwater camera that he uses often and really likes.

So I reached out to him with a proposition: A case of beer for a week’s worth of borrowing his camera.

With no hesitation, he responded “Yeah, absolutely, no sense in you spending money. Just as long as we’re in agreement that if you break it, you buy it.”

A more than fair stipulation, my friend.

So today, on our way out to the cabin, I swung over to his house and traded the beer for the camera. At the cabin, while Paul and dad were playing with the new boat, I climbed down into the water. I looked at this little camera, and thought to myself “this goes against everything I stand for” – and stuck the camera in the water. It was a little frightening, but all went well.

At that moment, I fell in love with this little camera.

It’s an understatement to say that I am excited to give this guy a go in the ocean.

BRING IT ON!