Hawaii: Deep Dive

Whether it is diving in the ocean or studies or whatever you are planning for the day, it is good to begin with a healthy breakfast. So the next day, we had a fruit-and-nuts breakfast and fired the engines of our car to go to our first snorkeling experience. On our way, we had a brief halt at one of the biggest wind-surfing beaches -- not to wind-surf but to watch it. I have always had huge admiration for surfing (and people who do it) and watching wind-surfing only increased it further.

Moving on, to our first snorkeling experience. I absolutely did not have an anxiety attack and I could not wait to jumping in the water. Just like these text strikethroughs, she had seen through my denials and had arranged for an instructor on the first day. The first part was to kayak in the ocean to go to the snorkeling waters which were not close to any beach. It was going to be the two of us in one kayak and the guide (Emily from Wisconsin) in the other kayak. After getting into the kayak, we went through our usual routine ritual of disagreements before settling into a good rhythm and reached the snorkeling waters. Emily taught us how to breathe through the snorkeling mask and also how to jump from or board the kayak. For first-timers like us, it was surely easier said than done. We jumped into the blueness and started following our guide.

Turns out that beauty of the adventure can easily subdue any jitters. Soon I totally forgot about any anxiety, in fact forgot about rest of the world above. Snorkeling first time opens your mind to a completely different world. Yes, you know beforehand that you are going to see the aquatic life but the actual experience feels far alien and overwhelming compared to the knowledge. We saw gigantic turtles, shoals of colorful fish, corals and all the times I was full of amazement. She and I were literally tugging each other's hands all the time and making dolphin-like noises (not really, but some kind of noises) to show each other the fantastic life that was floating around. We saw some gigantic old turtles which were probably around before the first world war, shoals of colorful fish and some corals. One turtle even waived at us, although now when I think about it, it could be more like go-away-you-crazies gesture.

Next day, she wanted only two of us to go into the waters without the guide!! This was for preparation of the third day, which you will soon read about. We went to a nearby rental equipment shop and met a smart salesperson called Jennifer. She and jennifer immediately hit it up. We rented all the equipment for the next day and drove to our hotel. It turned out to be just next to beach, separated by a small green pasture. We absorbed the scenic views and then went for absorbing some city life. She totally, totally, really, did not eat any fish tacos which were fantastic (seriously, mainland US, get some of those spices from Hawaii) and gulped some hibiscus(!) flavored beer.

Next day we reached a beach at Kihei for doing some Snorkeling on our own. It took three things for me to venture out away from the beach (1) an hour of anxious wading into shallow waters (2) her repeated calls to join in the deep waters (3) sighting of a huge turtle some distance away. We went to a spot some distance away from the beach, keeping close to the rocks, and got some confidence that we can snorkel on our own in calm waters because the next day was going to be a big deal. We were going to be snorkeling in waters hundreds-of-feet-deep away from the beach.

The snorkeling destination for the next day was Molokini Crater which is basically a moon-crescent shaped rock jutting out from the ocean. We boarded the boat of Pacific Whale Foundation along with 30-odd people and headed to the spot. Close to the rock, we had to jump in the open ocean. The weather was majestically sunny. Snorkeling at the spot turned out to be simply orders of magnitude beautiful than what we had experienced earlier. This was the spot where all the cool fish-dudes hung out. So beautiful that you soon forget about hundreds of feet deep water (also helped by the edge of the crater extending into a cliff below the water, which is like a few meters wide shallow land strip below the water). We spotted parrotfish, an eel opening its mouth to grab some breakfast, hundreds-strong shoals of some big black fish, and yes, Hawaiian state fish called Humuhumunukunukuapuaà (humu-humu-nuku-nuku-kua-puaà, which I have painstakingly memorized) and even some sharks (not great white sharks) at some distance. We just lost track of time and our lifeguards literally had to call people back to the boat by finger-pointing.

Parrotfish

Can you spot an eel here?

Deeper side of the crater (we were mostly on the other side)

Us in wet-suites! This is before we both got sunburnt like crazy. You really need some (biodegradable) sunscreen if you are going to be out on the ocean for a long time on a sunny day.

We were also taken to the other side of the crater rock, where waters were turbulent and only experienced swimmers were told to follow expert guides into the ocean, so she went and spotted more party-shy varieties like porcupine-fish. At the end of it, the boat took us back to a snorkeling spot close to the shore and we were really lucky to spot three huge turtles (along with other colorful) variety of fish who like to hang out close to the shores. 

Having eschewed most of the touristy things so far, we even went to Hawaiian Luau (traditional parties), just being afraid accusing-eyes that people would give us if we return from Hawaii without attending a Luau.

This wasn't over for her yet. She wanted to take a surfing lesson! And so she did the next day morning before we wrapped up!

She after her surfing lesson

It was the time to wrap up. We were not really ready to leave Hawaii. However, we were really happy, content, satisfied. Hell, we were even feeling a bit spiritual at the moment. Perhaps for a moment, we even understood what Aloha truly stands for.

Notes:

Aloha (from wikipedia): Aloha (/ɑːˈloʊhɑː/; Hawaiian: [əˈlōˌhä]) is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a simple greeting but has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians.

A greeting of love and compassion; also means "to be in the presence of the divinity" or in the presence of (alo) the "divine breath of life" (Ha)