The continuing adventures of the Kauai sneak attack blog!
Monday Marci and I went diving. For me it had only been a little over a year since the last time I dove (in Cabo…scroll back a blog or two and you can be entertained about those adventures.) For Marci it had been maybe 5 years. She was all good in the boat ride out there and putting on her gear. I think she mentioned a little nervousness before we got into the water. Once we rolled in (we entered the water by sitting on the sides of the boat, holding onto your mask, and rolling backwards into the water) she expressed serious concern (like “I don’t know if I can do this”). I tried to help calm her and then our dive master, who hasn’t reached her 20th birfday, came up and calmed her right down. She even led her around by the hand during the dive. I am surprised she didn’t buy Marci an ice cream. To be fair, once Marci got down, she was smooth as silk and looking good (with only minor hand flailing).
We did 2 dives. The first one was to the house of turtles. The other was s drift from one spot to another (I can tell you the spots if you really want to know). Here are some pictures of that awesomeness.
There was a cool double rainbow over the harbor when we got there that morning. You can barely see the second one in the photo above the first one on the right side...sort of. Photo courtesy of Marci. She is the more skilled photographer of the two of us.
Marci descending along the mooring line
Turtle! This is house of turtles so it better be
Marci stalking a turtle. I think she wanted a turtle ride. But seriously this large fella was just sitting there floating without a care in the world...other than Marci.
Sleepy turtle. There were tons of turtles lying around everywhere.
Spotted moray coming atcha!
Nudibranch eggsac. The little things are super colorful and then the eggs they lay are too! super cool...and this came out pretty good.
I think this is a crown of thorns starfish.
Yes there are fish here too....don't know what this is, but it stood still long enough for me to snap the photo.
Dive master said this was cup coral. It was all on the roof of a pass through we went through. The flash really brought out the colors.
After diving, we were very close to Waimea Canyon…the Grand Canyon of Hawaii (their words, not mine…although it was pretty impressive. Its amazing how the geography can change from the north end of the island (SJoD) to this south western end…almost high desert.
The canyon...or part of it.
Marci and I at Waimea. The picture doesn't really convey how nasty we were from the diving we had done. Nothing like salt water drying on our skin and getting itchy to make the rest of your day enjoyable.
How awesome is the topography. Yeah.
Tuesday I ran again (yes, I know). Then we headed north to check out a place called “Tunnels” that was supposed to be awesome for snorkeling. First though, we had to get some lunch. We decided to stop at Bubbas Burgers cause Marci met some people while walking one evening who said you HAVE to have them. They were just okay. Nothing to write home about other than they recommend not getting lettuce and tomato on their burger. I thought that was pretty funny.
Tunnels did turn out to be pretty awesome snorkeling with bright colorful fish and lots of them. Of course, I didn’t bring my camera for that one cause I am an idjut. Trust me…it’s worth a stop. Probably less worth that stop was the sunburned backs we both got. I think Marci and I agree: spray on sun tan stuff sucks.
We stopped at a fish monger on the way back and got a pound of fresh Mahi Mahi. Marci had a recipe for macadamia nut and coconut encrusted White fish with a mango salsa. Did I mention we found some mangos? Marci was on the hunt for papaya (no one really knows why wince we all agree papaya = ass, right?) and we had stopped at a farmers market where every stand had star fruit (looks like its name) and papaya but only one dude had mango. Boy is that mango awesome! Anyway, dinner was really good. That fish came out perfect and the salsa added some zest.
Today I did a 3 tank dive at Niihau (the Forbidden Island so named because its privately owned, has around 200 people living as native Hawaiians have always lived and is closed to the public.) Is about 2 hours boat ride from Kauai even though you can see the dumb thing from Kauai. The waters were clear blue and totally made the trip out worth it. The dives we did were: Chimney, Vertical Awareness, and Niihau Arches. Each one had something awesome about it. Chimney started with us diving into a chimney that turned into a pass through at about 80 feet. So we dove into this hole descending the whole way until it took a left and led us out. Super cool. Saw some good starfish and eels and what not. Vertical Awareness is just that. There is a shelf about 60 feet down and then the walls just drop away for 300 feet. This is also a known resting place for the endangered Monk Seal. We saw 3 of them and they were awesome to see swimming around. The arches were just that. Pass throughs and tunnels galore. I used to be a little freaked about pass throughs thinking I would somehow rise up while in them and get stuck due to my tank or something. But I did enough of them during sabbatical that I got over any uneasiness.
Pass through at chimney. Light in front of you is always a good thing.
Zebra eel. Never seen one of these before. Little blurry. Sorry.
Wounded starfish. Little nubby.
Another starfish. Looks a little like a person! Freaky
I believe you can see why they call this vertical awareness.
Look what we found on a ledge...its the endangered Monk Seal
It didn't like all the attention so it took off for a bit
Lion fish. Look but don't touch
Star fish of some kind
Hmm....up or down?
Moray Eel action
So you drop down this chute and then go through the tunnel. You can see one persons fins at the bottom starting through the tunnel.
Saw this little chunk of colorful coral. Micro setting on my camera at work
Finally, they call this the TV room. Wish we could have spent more time in this one as there were supposed to be all kinds of interesting critters hanging out.
After the diving, it was time for the ride back. Kidney jarring is the only thing I say about that. It was 2 hours of up and down as we powered against the current back to Kauai. They even said it was the price you pay for the awesome day. I guess so, but I was happy to be back at the dock.
Marci had wanted to take some surfing lessons but the surge was too big (strong currents and what not). She apparently lazed on the beach and napped and read. Actually did vacation stuff!
Not entirely sure what we are going to do today. We may hit Waimea for a little hiking. Nothing too strenuous but still out and about enjoying the day.
Hope all are doing well!
It’s the people’s time!
Jim
Monday Marci and I went diving. For me it had only been a little over a year since the last time I dove (in Cabo…scroll back a blog or two and you can be entertained about those adventures.) For Marci it had been maybe 5 years. She was all good in the boat ride out there and putting on her gear. I think she mentioned a little nervousness before we got into the water. Once we rolled in (we entered the water by sitting on the sides of the boat, holding onto your mask, and rolling backwards into the water) she expressed serious concern (like “I don’t know if I can do this”). I tried to help calm her and then our dive master, who hasn’t reached her 20th birfday, came up and calmed her right down. She even led her around by the hand during the dive. I am surprised she didn’t buy Marci an ice cream. To be fair, once Marci got down, she was smooth as silk and looking good (with only minor hand flailing).
We did 2 dives. The first one was to the house of turtles. The other was s drift from one spot to another (I can tell you the spots if you really want to know). Here are some pictures of that awesomeness.
There was a cool double rainbow over the harbor when we got there that morning. You can barely see the second one in the photo above the first one on the right side...sort of. Photo courtesy of Marci. She is the more skilled photographer of the two of us.
Marci descending along the mooring line
Turtle! This is house of turtles so it better be
Marci stalking a turtle. I think she wanted a turtle ride. But seriously this large fella was just sitting there floating without a care in the world...other than Marci.
Sleepy turtle. There were tons of turtles lying around everywhere.
Spotted moray coming atcha!
Nudibranch eggsac. The little things are super colorful and then the eggs they lay are too! super cool...and this came out pretty good.
I think this is a crown of thorns starfish.
Yes there are fish here too....don't know what this is, but it stood still long enough for me to snap the photo.
Dive master said this was cup coral. It was all on the roof of a pass through we went through. The flash really brought out the colors.
After diving, we were very close to Waimea Canyon…the Grand Canyon of Hawaii (their words, not mine…although it was pretty impressive. Its amazing how the geography can change from the north end of the island (SJoD) to this south western end…almost high desert.
The canyon...or part of it.
Marci and I at Waimea. The picture doesn't really convey how nasty we were from the diving we had done. Nothing like salt water drying on our skin and getting itchy to make the rest of your day enjoyable.
How awesome is the topography. Yeah.
Tuesday I ran again (yes, I know). Then we headed north to check out a place called “Tunnels” that was supposed to be awesome for snorkeling. First though, we had to get some lunch. We decided to stop at Bubbas Burgers cause Marci met some people while walking one evening who said you HAVE to have them. They were just okay. Nothing to write home about other than they recommend not getting lettuce and tomato on their burger. I thought that was pretty funny.
Tunnels did turn out to be pretty awesome snorkeling with bright colorful fish and lots of them. Of course, I didn’t bring my camera for that one cause I am an idjut. Trust me…it’s worth a stop. Probably less worth that stop was the sunburned backs we both got. I think Marci and I agree: spray on sun tan stuff sucks.
We stopped at a fish monger on the way back and got a pound of fresh Mahi Mahi. Marci had a recipe for macadamia nut and coconut encrusted White fish with a mango salsa. Did I mention we found some mangos? Marci was on the hunt for papaya (no one really knows why wince we all agree papaya = ass, right?) and we had stopped at a farmers market where every stand had star fruit (looks like its name) and papaya but only one dude had mango. Boy is that mango awesome! Anyway, dinner was really good. That fish came out perfect and the salsa added some zest.
Today I did a 3 tank dive at Niihau (the Forbidden Island so named because its privately owned, has around 200 people living as native Hawaiians have always lived and is closed to the public.) Is about 2 hours boat ride from Kauai even though you can see the dumb thing from Kauai. The waters were clear blue and totally made the trip out worth it. The dives we did were: Chimney, Vertical Awareness, and Niihau Arches. Each one had something awesome about it. Chimney started with us diving into a chimney that turned into a pass through at about 80 feet. So we dove into this hole descending the whole way until it took a left and led us out. Super cool. Saw some good starfish and eels and what not. Vertical Awareness is just that. There is a shelf about 60 feet down and then the walls just drop away for 300 feet. This is also a known resting place for the endangered Monk Seal. We saw 3 of them and they were awesome to see swimming around. The arches were just that. Pass throughs and tunnels galore. I used to be a little freaked about pass throughs thinking I would somehow rise up while in them and get stuck due to my tank or something. But I did enough of them during sabbatical that I got over any uneasiness.
Pass through at chimney. Light in front of you is always a good thing.
Zebra eel. Never seen one of these before. Little blurry. Sorry.
Wounded starfish. Little nubby.
Another starfish. Looks a little like a person! Freaky
I believe you can see why they call this vertical awareness.
Look what we found on a ledge...its the endangered Monk Seal
It didn't like all the attention so it took off for a bit
Lion fish. Look but don't touch
Star fish of some kind
Hmm....up or down?
Moray Eel action
So you drop down this chute and then go through the tunnel. You can see one persons fins at the bottom starting through the tunnel.
Saw this little chunk of colorful coral. Micro setting on my camera at work
Finally, they call this the TV room. Wish we could have spent more time in this one as there were supposed to be all kinds of interesting critters hanging out.
After the diving, it was time for the ride back. Kidney jarring is the only thing I say about that. It was 2 hours of up and down as we powered against the current back to Kauai. They even said it was the price you pay for the awesome day. I guess so, but I was happy to be back at the dock.
Marci had wanted to take some surfing lessons but the surge was too big (strong currents and what not). She apparently lazed on the beach and napped and read. Actually did vacation stuff!
Not entirely sure what we are going to do today. We may hit Waimea for a little hiking. Nothing too strenuous but still out and about enjoying the day.
Hope all are doing well!
It’s the people’s time!
Jim
Posts
Cool pictures! As always, I enjoy reading about your adventures. :-) Love you!
ReplyDeleteWow, great job on the pics, new camera? Still no sharks??
ReplyDeleteWhat's your obsession with Seal? :)
ReplyDelete