Aloha! Day 3
Today was incredible. We headed into Hanuama Bay for some snorkeling in the reefs. Hanuama Bay is a protected wildlife preserve, and in the photo, you can probably see all of the coral in the water, as well as a whole bunch of tourists. It was an absolutely perfect day, and the water was really refreshing, when not breathed in or swallowed.
Here I am with my gear. The goggles were pretty close to my prescription, so I got a pretty clear view of all of the fishies and the coral. We saw a few fish that were at least 18" from nose to tail, several beautifully colored fish, and all sorts of live coral formations and large schools of fish. I got to see lots of maninni (convicts), a couple of Humu humu (HI state fish), and some that I didn't identify, but really dug on seeing them, and they were really hospitable, and swam right up to us. I got to see a sea cucumber take a dump, and managed to make a couple of runs without ingesting too much saltwater. It was totally awesome, and we're planning on going back Friday morning, armed with an underwater camera so I can get some photos of all of the undersea wonders.
This was my first time snorkeling, and I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I picked it up. I have a deviated septum, and only have one nostril that consistently works well, so breathing through my mouth comes pretty naturally to me. The challenging part is breathing steadily, and not panicking when a wave carries you around. But I didn't have too terribly many problems, and had a really good time communing with the aquatic life. When we return on Friday, the plan is to snorkel out past the coral and try to see some sea turtles. I can't wait.
We just had a lovely home-cooked dinner of Shoyu Chicken, and the plan is to head out and see Pineapple Express tonight, which seems strangely appropriate. Tomorrow's agenda is to see Pearl Harbor, and then go to a cookout with Nichole's family. I'm looking forward to getting the chance to hang with some locals tomorrow, and it ought to be a lot of fun.