Hawaii Day 5: Snorkeling
Day 5 was an early day too. We were up at around 5:00 a.m. and down at
breakfast at 6:00 a.m. Tommy met us for breakfast at our hotel. Then
David and Sharon picked the three (3) of us up and we went to Hanauma
Bay for some snorkeling. Again we were told that if we wanted to snorkel at
Hanauma Bay we would need to be there early enough to 1. park and 2.
avoid waiting in long lines. We got there a little after 7:00. We were
able to find a parking space and we only had to wait twelve (12)
minutes in line. Before allowing us to snorkel we had to watch a nine
(9) minute video expressing the importance of NOT touching or standing
on the coral reef. We were also instructed not to touch or feed the
fish. We were told that we would see fish and that they may also see
sea turtles and eels - no thank you on the eels.
After the video we walked down a very steep hill to the beach. We rented snorkeling equipment and suited up. The water was really cold. It decided that it would be best to just got for it all at once as opposed to getting accustomed to the water slowly. I pulled my mask and snorkel on over my face and lowered myself into the water. The first few breathes were really disorienting. There was a split second when I thought that I wouldn't be able to snorkel. After about ten (10) deep breathes through the snorkel I had acclimated to breathing under the water and I was off.
Snorkeling was great! I saw lots of fish and no eels! May favorite part was navigating through the coral reef. The flippers helped keep our bodies very flat to the surface of the water - that however, did not prevent me from getting grounded on top of the coral. Visibility was very low and I didn't see how close I was to the reef. Before I knew it I was out of the water belly first on the reef. They only thing I could think of was that silly song (from the video) "please don't touch me." Not only was I touching the reef, I was sprawled out on it like a beached whale. Instead of jumping off of the reef I decided that my best approach would be to just keep low and roll off of if (so as to not draw attention to my negligence). David was with me the entire time. I lead him into a few rough spots but he was able to navigate through with such skill and grace. After the grounding incident I decided to go back to shore. My legs were cut from the reef and I was freezing. For some unbeknownst reason I decided NOT to snorkel back to the beach. I thought that it would be fun to just swim in with my head above water. WRONG. Every time I turned around I was swimming into reef. I jumped my knees a few time and my legs were pretty cut up by the time I made it shore (just a few scrapes - nothing bad).
After making it back to the group I decided to lay out in the sun to dry off and more importantly warm up. I think I ended up going to sleep. I was awoken my the lifeguard warning everyone that the current was strong and not to go past the buoys. After I was completely dry Michael asked me to get back in the water. So Michael, David and I went to the opposite end of the beach to try our luck. David led us around this time and we made it out to the buoys. The lifeguards weren't kidding - the current was very strong.
We were warned to always snorkel with a buddy. Well, once you put your head under water it is almost impossible to tell who is who. Every so often I would pop my head out of the water and start looking for Michael and David. We looked like the "Whack a Mole" game.
We left the bay a little after noon to get lunch. I was excited to have gotten the opportunity to snorkel but I hated to leave. It is such a beautiful location.
On the way home we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Then Michael and I went took the pushy, "please let me sell you a timeshare" tour on our property. Luckily, this tour was not very long and our salesman was not very pushy. We politely declined and redeemed our $200.00 Hilton Dollars to spend on the property. They probably decided not to spend too much time with us because we smelled pretty badly. We just barely made it back from our snorkeling trip so we didn't have time to shower before hand. On that vein we decided to workout together in the workout room. I hadn't been in the workout room before and thought it might be fun to go with Michael.
Next we met Tommy and Deniece on the beach for a night stroll. After our walk Michael and I used our Hilton Dollars to buy pizza at an onsite pizza place called "Round Table Pizza." It was really good. Afterward we rented a movie but didn't end up watching it - we fell asleep pretty early.
After the video we walked down a very steep hill to the beach. We rented snorkeling equipment and suited up. The water was really cold. It decided that it would be best to just got for it all at once as opposed to getting accustomed to the water slowly. I pulled my mask and snorkel on over my face and lowered myself into the water. The first few breathes were really disorienting. There was a split second when I thought that I wouldn't be able to snorkel. After about ten (10) deep breathes through the snorkel I had acclimated to breathing under the water and I was off.
Snorkeling was great! I saw lots of fish and no eels! May favorite part was navigating through the coral reef. The flippers helped keep our bodies very flat to the surface of the water - that however, did not prevent me from getting grounded on top of the coral. Visibility was very low and I didn't see how close I was to the reef. Before I knew it I was out of the water belly first on the reef. They only thing I could think of was that silly song (from the video) "please don't touch me." Not only was I touching the reef, I was sprawled out on it like a beached whale. Instead of jumping off of the reef I decided that my best approach would be to just keep low and roll off of if (so as to not draw attention to my negligence). David was with me the entire time. I lead him into a few rough spots but he was able to navigate through with such skill and grace. After the grounding incident I decided to go back to shore. My legs were cut from the reef and I was freezing. For some unbeknownst reason I decided NOT to snorkel back to the beach. I thought that it would be fun to just swim in with my head above water. WRONG. Every time I turned around I was swimming into reef. I jumped my knees a few time and my legs were pretty cut up by the time I made it shore (just a few scrapes - nothing bad).
After making it back to the group I decided to lay out in the sun to dry off and more importantly warm up. I think I ended up going to sleep. I was awoken my the lifeguard warning everyone that the current was strong and not to go past the buoys. After I was completely dry Michael asked me to get back in the water. So Michael, David and I went to the opposite end of the beach to try our luck. David led us around this time and we made it out to the buoys. The lifeguards weren't kidding - the current was very strong.
We were warned to always snorkel with a buddy. Well, once you put your head under water it is almost impossible to tell who is who. Every so often I would pop my head out of the water and start looking for Michael and David. We looked like the "Whack a Mole" game.
We left the bay a little after noon to get lunch. I was excited to have gotten the opportunity to snorkel but I hated to leave. It is such a beautiful location.
On the way home we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Then Michael and I went took the pushy, "please let me sell you a timeshare" tour on our property. Luckily, this tour was not very long and our salesman was not very pushy. We politely declined and redeemed our $200.00 Hilton Dollars to spend on the property. They probably decided not to spend too much time with us because we smelled pretty badly. We just barely made it back from our snorkeling trip so we didn't have time to shower before hand. On that vein we decided to workout together in the workout room. I hadn't been in the workout room before and thought it might be fun to go with Michael.
Next we met Tommy and Deniece on the beach for a night stroll. After our walk Michael and I used our Hilton Dollars to buy pizza at an onsite pizza place called "Round Table Pizza." It was really good. Afterward we rented a movie but didn't end up watching it - we fell asleep pretty early.
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