Falling off the face of the earth
I probably open the update journal page every day and never write anything in it. Or I'll write a paragraph and then close it. It's been a week full of diving. Monday I went on a 2 tank and saw 5 manta rays: Sugar, Lefty, Vicki, Koie, and Stevie Ray. (yes there is a Stevie ray, Dad). The ride out to the site was rough, rainy and the waves were big. Big as in 6 feet, nothing like the nor'easter a few weeks earlier in ME. I got to be the windshield wiper for the boat, by standing in front of it and using a squeegee so the captain could see. It was nice because a lot of other charters canceled so there weren't 50 people down there like usual, more like 10-20 this time. It was a different take on the mantas because you couldn't see them until they were directly in your light. Usually there are so many people and so many lights, it's feels like your literally in a lit-up swimming pool. You can snorkel on this dive. Snorkels will shine their lights down and the mantas swim up to them. Tuesday I went to the beach for the first time to actually sit on a beach. The sea turtles came right up to you. If you touch one, you get fined $10,000. It was a great place for snorkeling, and hopefully my disposable camera pictures of the fishes come out. Later that night I was supposed to go diving again with the mantas, but every boat canceled because the ocean was too rough. Wednesday I did a shore dive at Honaunau. Shore diving is when you wade into the waves with all your gear and swim out to sea, versus a boat dive where u just jump off the boat (a lot easier). My dives can be up to an hour long. When I got certified I was out of the water in 20 minutes because it was so cold. We then went to a national park called Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. Also known as Place of Refuge. Lots of turtles like to bask in this area. There are several places where Hawaiian royalty lived. The reason why the area is called Place of Refuge is that if you reached this area, you were given a second chance and warriors couldn't attack you there. On Thrusday I did some office work and cooked shrimp scampi for everyone. Yesterday I went shore diving again. This time we went to this other place of anthropological significance (it was a sacred burial ground/temple) to go diving. The surge or surf, I forget what is what was really bad. Getting in was a pain because of all the rocks. Once you were in, the visibility wasn't that great. Scuba diving with surge is like having the water throw you one way, then throw you back to where you once were. I always feel like superman flying over the coral. It's annoying because you have to wait for the water to go in the direction you want in order to go somewhere, otherwise your swimming to stay in the same spot. After that dive I went to a Polynesian dance show which is conveniantly located in the supermarket square (and the post office is there too, but I always forget to mail my postcards). After seeing a traditional and modern luau dance I went to the Sheraton. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night we give a Manta talk. Basically there are two manta ray sites. The first one is where I've been diving every time. The second is right off the hotel's shore. We answer questions and explain everything about manta rays, and people watch from the lanai (porch/balcony) as the manta rays swim around. The hotel shines lights onto the water to attract the plankton. Today I went diving again. We were able to find someone with a boat to take us diving. Today was a gorgeous day for diving, it was clear and sunny and the water visibility was great. The second dive I did was with Nitrox. When you go scuba diving, you breathe normal air that's compressed into a tank. Nitrox is a mixture of air that has a higher amount of oxygen versus nitrogen. The air we breathe is 21 percent O2. Nitrox can range from 32 to 40 percent O2. The point of it is that you can dive at a deeper depth for a longer period of time. It doesn't mean you can dive longer in general. It doesn't make you as tired as normal air. I enjoyed it and I'm glad I'm getting certified for it. Tomorrow and Monday I have rented a car and will drive around the Big Island and check out the different colored beaches and volcano.