Sharks, Sharks, and More Sharks

Aloha family and friends,

At first we were not huge fans of the island of O'ahu, however we have had a great time the last two days.  Yesterday after eating breakfast and blogging we decided to have a relaxing day on land.  We went fake scuba diving by visiting the Waikiki Aquarium.  We were able to learn a lot more about many of the fish we had seen diving.  We were able to see a Flame Angelfish.  This is a rare fish to Hawaii that we had seen several times diving, however on all our dives as soon as we spot the Flame Angelfish he runs for cover.  In the aquarium we were able to finally get a good picture of one.

He is a beauty isn't he?  Also in the aquarium we were able to see a Peppermint Angelfish.  We actually read an article on the plane between O'ahu and Hawai'i talking about a group of researchers who were trying to identify every non-microscopic form of living organism in an entire eco-system.  In their quest they captured the Peppermint Angelfish.  Although not a new species, this is the only known Peppermint Angelsfish living in captivity.  He was at the Waikiki aquarium and we were able to get some great pictures.  Another beautiful fish.

  
The Waikiki aquarium is home to many fish that are only found here in Hawaii and thus are only in captivity in the aquarium.  It is also home to two sharks.  On the  left is the Black Tip Reef Shark.  We saw this sharks cousin on one of our dives (the White Tip Reef Shark).  The aquarium is also home to a Zebra Shark.  Our second Zebra of the trip :)

Finally one of our favorite animals at the aquarium was the Hawaiian Monk Seal.  This seal is found only in Hawaii.  They are critically endangered with an estimated 1500 remaining on the entire plant.  The two seals at the aquarium (both male) were very active when we were there.  We got some great pictures of the seals hanging out in the water.  The seal pictures has been at the aquarium for most of his life, 30 years.  The aquarium is run by students from the University of Hawaii.  The seals are studied daily to observe their diet and habits to help preserve the rest of the seals in the wild.

After the aquarium we went to visit Diamond Head Crater.  The crater, which was created by a single volcanic eruption, was once home to a military base engineered into the crater walls.  Today a portion of the old military bunkers have been open to the public.  Part of the crater is still operated by the Hawaii National Guard.  We were able to get some spectacular views of Waikiki from the top of the crater.  We could see our hotel!

For dinner last night we took a walk along Waikiki beach to Duke's, recommended by Mike and Kristin.  It was delicious, and the best part was that as a wedding gift dinner was on Mike, Kristin, and the kids.  Thank you guys!

We woke up early the next morning and drove to the North Shore for our shark cage dive.  Wow what an awesome experience!  When we first got in the water only one shark was hanging out, but within 10 minutes we had 4 sharks swimming around the cage.  We got lots of great video and pictures to share when we get home.  The smallest shark was probably around 6 feet, and the largest was probably close to 8 feet.  The captain said one of the sharks, a Silky Shark was a rare find in those parts of Hawaii.  The other 3 sharks were Galapagos Sharks.  Check out the pictures below!

After our swim with the sharks we drove back to Honolulu changed into hiking gear and hit the trails again.  This time we hiked to Manoa Falls.  Fun fact, President Obama is from Manoa Heights, not far from the Falls and he listed Manoa Falls as one of his favorite places in the world.

At the end of our supposed 0.75  mile hike (it felt much longer) we reach the falls.  The waterfall was about 150 feet high and is featured in Jurassic Park and LOST.  Jenna was taking pictures and was getting really annoyed that they were all washed out.  It took her literally 200 pictures to realize that her hat was preventing light from getting into the sensor on the camera that controls the shutter speed.  So the shutter was open too long allowing too much light into the picture.  We were still able to get plenty of wonderful shots, like the one on the right.  After the falls we hiked back went to the hotel and had dinner at one of the Hale Koa restaurants.  At dinner we were sitting overlooking the garden in the middle of the hotel.  An old man on a scooter came ridding through like a bat outta hell chasing a pigeon.  AWESOME!  He even squealed his tires making a hard left chasing the bird.  It was hilarious.

Aloha until tomorrow when we are off to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling and enjoying our last full day in Hawaii!  Love you guys. -Mike and Jenna

Back in Oahu

Yesterday wasn't too eventful for us. We were up early to drop off our rental car, hop on the plane, and make our way back to Oahu. We were on the island and in our new rental (Mike was able to get a charger this time) before 10am. Obviously too early to check in to the Hale Koa so we decided to take a ride around the island. Great Decision. Honolulu looks much like any other city (locals call it the Japanese LA) but the rest of the island is beautiful. Unfortunately we did most of the drive without a camera because we didnt know what we were going to see. The island is made of jagged, lush mountains and cliffs that jut out right to the ocean. The east and north shores have beautiful beaches that have clear blue shallow water for as far as one can see.

After the drive, we went back to the Hale Koa to check in. We spent the afternoon in the hotel room, Mike had to finish some homework and I spent my time researching what we could do today.

Last night, we went to the Hale Koa Luau. This was a lot of fun. Once inside, the dancers are out on the lawn showing attendees how to make leis, fold palms, swing the pois (this technique was used in the traditional dancing of New Zealand), and climb the coconut trees. Dinner was a Hawaiian feast! We had fish, chicken, pork, beef, rice, fried banana, and a starch that tasted similar to sweet potato. Everything was delicious.

The luau was really interesting and a lot of fun. There were five male dancers and five female dancers that presented the traditional dances and garments of all the pacific people that settled in Hawaii and contributed to its Polynesian culture. At the end, two young boys that were world champions in fire dancing, came out and performed their fire dances.  The picture on the left is of the Samoan boy performing his 2 fire knife routine.

Today we are planing on going to the aquarium and Diamond head. Aloha!

Our Last Days in Kona

Hello, All!
Yesterday, we spent the entire day on the volcano park tour. We left Kona at 9am, headed up to Mauna Loa for lunch at 6,600 ft. After a quick break, we headed to the Volcano national Park on Kilauea. Our first stop was at the Jaggar Museum where we were able to see the seismographs on all of the volcanoes, learn about the Polynesian folklore of the volcanoes, and check out the active crater. after the museum, we took a 1 mile hike around the sulfur banks trail. We were able to see them steam vents and the sulfur banks. On Kilauea it rains on and off all day long. Because the lava rock is so porous, the rain water quickly seeps through the lava rock. The rain water makes it about 1/4 mile beneath the surface before it gets so hot that it becomes steam and rises back to the surface.

After the steam vents we headed to the sulfur banks. Sulfur is in slution down by the magma. Some of the rain water will make it down to the magma. The sulfur hitches a ride on the water droplets in the steam and makes it way back to the surface. It is deposited on the rocks outside the vents.

We got back in the van and headed to a crater called the Devil's Throat. The crater was about 150-200 feet deep, and expanding everyday. Our guide said that tour for about a few years and he has noticed trees that used to be around the edge of the crater that have since fallen in. After Devil's Throat we headed further down the road to a on lava flow (1960s-early 1970s). Here, we saw some lava trees. Lava trees form when the molten lava is flowing through a forest and it starts to dry when it hits a tree that has a lot of water in it. The lava builds up around the tree, eventually burning it up, but the dried lava remains. It actually still has a hole that the tree was once in.

After leaving Devil's Throat we started to head down the mountain towards the coast.  On the way down the mountain we pulled off the road to look at some petroglyphs.  The petroglyphs we saw were originally where family of a new born baby would bring the umbilical cord.  The umbilical cord was left over night.  In the morning if the umbilical cord had remained it signified a long and healthy life for the baby.  If it had disappeared it was bad luck for the baby.

After the petroglyphs we continued down the  mountain to the coast.  When we reached the coast we ate dinner.  The views of the cliffs were amazing!

 
 After dinner we turned around and went back up to the volcano.  On the way to up the mountain we stopped at the Thurston Lava Tubes.  Here lava once flowed through at speeds up to 30 mph!  We ended the night by making our way back up to the Jagger museum.  At the museum you are able to look into the Halemaumau crater.  This crater is home to one of the lava pools.  Although to pool is not visible from the museum because of the crater walls.  However, at night the heat from the lava creates such extreme heat that the crater begins to glow.  This was the highlight of our volcano park tour.  The glow is amazing!  What a view!

That concluded our day at Volcano National Park.

The next day we woke up and were lucky enough to have the Ravens game on the local CBS.  We lounged around and watched the first half and then went to breakfast.  After breakfast we packed our bags to start our trip to one of two green beaches in the world.  The drive was about an hour and 40 minutes to the start of the hike.  Along the way we saw all kinds plants and lava flows.  We even saw a zebra.  Who knew zebra's were in Hawaii!


After arriving at the entrance to the trail to the green beach we started our 2.5 mile hike to the beach.  The hike is over barren land and old lava flows.  There are trails that people in Jeeps and 4x4s use to get to the beach.  We decided to tough it out and hike the entire way.  It took us about an hour and 20 minutes to make the hike, but we took our time and took lots of pictures.  To the right is a picture of the land we were hiking through.


Once we reach our destination we were greeted by the green sand beach from above.  It was an amazing view.  See for yourself below!

We hiked around the edge of the crater and walked down the trail to the beach.  The sand is more of an olive color green.  We spent about an hour at the beach hanging out in the water.  The cliffs of the green beach are amazing.  It looks like someone just picked up a chunk of the land and removed it.  Really amazing views.  The beach was not very crowded.  A few tourists, but mostly local hanging out in the water boogie boarding.


Below is a picture of the cliff from the beach:

After spending time on green beach we walked the 2.5 miles back (this time in about 45 minutes).  We left the green beach and went immediately to South Point.  South Point is about 2 miles from the entrance to green beach.  At south point we walked to the southern most point in the United States.  We walked out and took a picture.  At the moment the picture was taken we were the two most southern people in the United States.  Pretty cool right...

After South Point we drove back to the hotel and got ready for dinner.  We went to dinner at Kona Brewing Company where we sampled some local beers and had some really good food.  Tomorrow we are back to O'ahu.  Not a lot planned on O'ahu, just looking to relax and enjoy our last week of vacation.

Aloha!  Until tomorrow...

Another Great Day of Diving

Aloha mainland! Today you get me, Mike, as your author!

Jenna and I could not be more pleased with our diving experience in Kona! On our first dive, there was a ton of sea life but the highlight was Tim, our divemaster, vs. the octopus. He found its den and chased it out, it inked everywhere, it was really neat to watch. We were able to capture a great video of this that we will have to share. Also on the first dive there were two arches that we were able to swim through. Tim used the company's camera to snap a picture of us while we held hands through the first arch. Hopefully we are able to get a copy!

In between dives, just like every other day we ate well. The owners of the company Danny and Laure love to feed their guests. They made homemade guacamole and salsa, sandwiches, cookies, and all kinds of snacks. While we were cruising to the next dive site one of the other guests on board spotted a pod of dolphins. Our captain quickly turned the boat around and told us to get our fins on. We drove in front of the pod and all quickly jumped off the ship. We were able to watch the pod of about 20 dolphins swim right under us as they headed back out to sea. It was just as amazing as the first day. They are beautiful creatures.

Our second dive was actually a repeat site that we had done earlier in the week. Much like the first time it did not disappoint. We saw a spotted eagle ray cruising around the reef. We tried to chase him, but it wanted nothing to do with us. Just like the first time there were lots of eels hanging around on this dive site. I was able to spot an octopus cruising around the top of the reef. I called everyone over and Tim again tried to get it out of its den, but he was unsuccessful. The captain of the boat said we were lucky to see an octopus at this site because of the large population of eels, octopus don't last every long in this parts. Sadly our last dive in Kona came to an end. As we ascended back to the surface we took one last look around at the beauty around us. What an amazing 3 days of diving! We could not have asked for a better crew they truly made the experience that much better.

When we first arrived on the dive boat three days earlier Captain Danny asked Jenna and I what we wanted to see. As I do on every dive boat I told him a seahorse. I have never seen one and I hear they are very difficult to find. His response to us was that we wont find any on our dives they are just too rare, but he knew a secret spot where a couple had been living six months earlier. He did not know if they were still there, but he said it was our best change to find one. He gave us specific directions to his secret spot. He told us to dive down and check every little stick. He said be careful the seahorses look just like the stick so really make sure you look hard. We were skeptical, but after our last dive ended we had a free afternoon. We went back to the hotel and geared up. We drove the hour to the beach and followed his specific directions. After about 30 minutes of looking at all the little sticks we thought the seahorses had moved on. Then I looked at Jenna. She had just looked at one of the sticks. I asked her if she had anything. Her response was I don't know I'm going back down to check again. She did. This time when she came up, she said that it looks like a seahorse, but its not moving. We both dove down and sure enough wrapped around a stick was our first seahorse!

We spent about 20 minutes videotaping and photographing our new friend. Afterwards we swam back to shore packed up our stuff and concluded the end to our time on the water in Kona. On the drive back to the hotel the sun was starting to set and we were able to pull off on the side of the road and get some beautiful shots. The scenery in Hawaii is amazing!

Tomorrow we are off to see the volcano!

Two Days of Diving

Aloha Family! Apologies for not updating last night but after a day of nonstop swimming we went straight to bed after our night dive. Yesterday, we were up early for our dolphin swim. It was just us an another couple of the boat, who was also married on the 8th and from silver spring, md! Such a small world! This snorkel was amazing. Our captain had an idea of where the dolphins would be, he chose to go to his southern location. When we arrived there was another dive boat that hadnt had any luck finding the dolphins yet.

We looked for a few minutes and not one minute later than we decided to try another spot the dolphins came to the surface. We jumped off the boat without hesitation and swam with the wild dolphins. We have some great video and pictures of this. These were Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins. There were even some babies on the pod. After we swam with the dolphins, they took us out to a buoy that was 3.5 miles off the shore and was anchored 2 miles down. The buoy was installed for the fisherman. The shininess of the chain attracts fish, which attracts larger fish, and so on. We decided to jump in and see what kind of fish were hanging out despite the fact that we were litte more than shark bait. We didn't get to see any sharks but it was still really cool to be in 2 miles of water. After that, we went to a little snorkel spot up the coast. There was a ton of sea life here and we saw a ton of interesting fish.

This area was really interesting. A Hawaiian Queen, whos name I can't remember and even if i could would never be able to spell, donated the land to the "children of Hawaii". So to visit this land you must be with someone under 18 years of age and at least 1/3 Hawaiian. Out of respect to the Hawaiians, the dive companies do not bring and divers or snorkelers to this area on the weekends so that they can enjoy their land. Before we docked, we went to one last snorkel spot that they call turtle heaven. They call it this because they found a turtle that had been biten in half by the resident tiger shark. We were not fortunate enough to see any turtles or the shark this time. We had some time to grab a quick lunch and our scuba gear before our night dives. We hoped on the boat to do one quick dive before we picked up the snorkelers and headed to the manta rays. This dive was LOADED with huge eels. These eels were about 6" at their thickest point and they weren't shy. We hopped out of the water, picked up some snorkelers, and hit the manta ray site. Mike's camera had been acting funky all day but luckily he was able to get a few

pictures of this because this was one of the most amazing things either of us has done, despite its terrible start. After the first dive of the night, I put my GoPro in the pocket of my BCD. I must not of pulled the zipper shut all the way because when I got to the bottom for the manta ray dive my pocket, that was supposed to have my GoPro in it was empty. It had a float on it and a floating strap so I went back to the surface to see if I could see it. Of course at this point there was no sunlight left and it was no longer in sight. I was completely bummed but I didnt want to miss the dive looking for it so I headed back down below. The mantas were doing flips and swimming inches overhead. You could easily have touched them but when you touch them you rub off a protective film that they have on them. Without this film they are more susceptible to disease so they ask they you resist the urge to touch them. At one point I had to duck to get out of the way and one actually bumped into Mike. There were 6 mantas this time, the biggest had a 12-14 foot wingspan and the smallest was about 6' wide. What they do is set up a milk crate packed with flashlights up in the middle of the divers, they call this the campfire. The light attracts the plankton which brings in the manta rays. This was an unbelievable experience. We got up early again today to go out diving. Mike's camera wouldn't even turn on this time so we were majorly bummed that we would have to rely on our memories exclusively to share these experiences with you guys. Amazingly, our divemaster had the GoPro with him! He was spraying off the boat last night after the manta dive and overheard some people on another boat talking about this GoPro that they found. Tim, the divemaster, described it to them and asked for it back and they gave it back to him! We definitely got lucky! Our dives today has a few highlights. We saw a 4' white tip reef shark on our first dive. In between dives we saw somthing that we originally thought was a shark but Tim jumped into the water with my camera and found out that it was a bottlenose dolphin. We all jumped in with him and were able to see him but he was speeding along and wasn't too interested in saying hello. On the second dive we got down to 85' and saw a ton of sea life. Tim knows his pacific fish really well and was able to point out a few rare fish and some indigenous species which were all beautiful. After we were done diving we headed into town to get some local flavor for lunch and check out the market. We will be back out on the water tomorrow!

Pearl Harbor

Mike and I looked like professional vacationers this morning- we were up, showered, fed, and out the door at 7:30 am. We got to Pearl Harbor a little early for our Arizona memorial tour so we decided to tour the USS Bowfin submarine. Mike was completely in his element! He was tinkering with every switch and valve, speculating about where the exhaust was for the diesel engines, and admiring the safety check on the steering controls.

We both decided that we were not made for submarine life. After the Submarine, we took our tour to the Arizona. This was a really interesting experience and we were glad we went. There is still oil spilling into the water. An Arizona survivor recently passed away and they were preparing for an internment ceremony tomorrow afternoon. We then took a shuttle bus over to the Missouri. We were able to give ourselves the self guided tour of the battleship with the help of a new Ipod audio/video system were you can select your location on the boat and listen/watch a quick segment. Pretty neat to see everything. The most exciting thing that happened to us today was completely unplanned. While we were exiting the bridge of the Missouri we saw an active submarine being tugged back into port.

When we checked into the hotel in Kona we got our first Lei!

But now its time for bed. Its 10pm here and we have to leave at 7am for our dolphin snorkel. Goodnight!

Aloha! Mike and I arrived safely in Honolulu today around 3pm. This should be no surprise but Hawaii is gorgeous! We were lucky enough to sit on the side of the plane with the great view of pearl harbor on the way in and now we are even more excited to see it in the morning. After we got our rental and got to the hotel, we found a bar for a early dinner and the end of the Ravens game. After that we walked along the beach until the sun set. We are exhausted but are trying to fight it and get on local time. Tomorrow is Pearl Harbor and another flight to Kona.