Shark's Cove

It's been about 2 weeks since my last post - sorry for the delay. Work issues have really kept me busy. It looks like I will also be extremely busy in the coming weeks as well. I hope I'll have some good time to spend when the kids visit!

Aside from the work issues, last weekend we went snorkeling at Shark's Cove. You may remember this place from one of my previous posts about huge waves. Yep, this is the same place without the waves and is home to some of the best snorkeling on the island! I'm sure everyone is tired of endless underwater pictures on my blog. But the water was very clear, there were lots of fish and there were beautiful underwater formations - and since it's my blog, I'll post some more...

Shark's Cove is on Oahu's North Shore. During the winter, this part of the island is world-famous for big surf. Other times of the year it is not as famous for it's clear blue waters and abundant marine life. Being almost an hour away from Waikiki and not having a lot of amenities, most tourists only see this part of the island from a tour bus. The sand on the tiny beach is course and there are plenty of sharp lava rocks. In fact, about the best way to visit Shark's Cove is packing some snorkeling gear.

When we arrived there were plenty of people scampering on the rocks and in the water. DeAnna and I grabbed our gear and waded across shallow water to claim a collection of rocks in the middle of the cove. We put on our wet suits as well as our brand-new inflatable life vests and headed out to the deeper part of the cove. I got the life vests for safety when we swam in less-known or agitated waters. Two puffs of air, and you're floating; otherwise the vests don't get in the way.

As soon as we looked underwater, we were in a large school of silver fish!


In fact, there were many different kinds of fish schooling and pecking on the rocks for food. Naturally, we snapped many more pictures than these as we swam among the formations into the deeper parts of the cove.



Suddenly, a sea turtle came swimming up and swept just beneath us. We were official underwater tourists, snapping pictures at every opportunity!





We swam into the deeper water of the open cove. Huge rock formations were everywhere in the 20+ feet of clear water. I dove down to the bottom often while DeAnna swam along the surface. It reminded me of episodes of "Flipper" and "Sea Quest" that I'd seen as a boy. The more we swam, the further out we got until we were completely outside the cove in the open water! Along the rocks and in the crevices were countless fish.






Down on the bottom - about 20 feet down - I even swam through a crevice and cave watching the underwater, under-rock fish! Sorry for the shaky video, but hey, I WAS swimming under rocks on the ocean floor!


Eventually, we got out and ventured onto the rocks. These are the very same rocks that my "Big Wave" picture shows being smashed and over flowed! The lava and ocean have combined to form jagged, other-worldly formations. Believe me, it is hard to walk on these formations without getting hurt!

We had a wonderful adventure at Shark's Cove! We're looking forward to going back again soon. DeAnna goes back to Minnesota next weekend, so maybe we'll get back to snorkel again before she leaves. Until then, I have fabulous news... Thanks to Kevin Parker who ordered a replacement for my beloved hat lost in the ocean in February...


The Tilley is BACK!!

Rings

As mentioned below, we went to get our rings yesterday. We've been looking forward to this for 6 weeks! To refresh your memory...

The day of our "Ocean Incident", we both lost our wedding rings to the waves - seems cool ocean water shrinks your fingers!. After sending Kevin home the following weekend, we consoled ourselves with shopping for replacement rings. After shopping several stores, we faced a fundamental decision: should we try to "re-create" our original ring designs or go for something new? We kept our minds open until we went to "The Wedding Ring Store" in Honolulu. There, we found many interesting designs and got the bug to try something new.

I was struck by the Tungsten-Carbide rings. Tungsten-Carbide is so hard that it doesn't scratch! This makes it impervious to wear and it will always look brand new... JUST MY STYLE! So, I decided to go with the comfort fit Tungsten-Carbide men's ring with a Platinum inlay and a diamond (DeAnna and the sales woman said it looked more classy). I agreed, but you know that the biggest selling point was the fact that I will never have to do anything but wear it!

That was fun, but DeAnna decided on a fabulous new design. It's called a tension mount ring. The diamond is held between two ends of the ring circle by the force of the ring itself. This makes the diamond appear to float between the ends of the ring. One side of the ring is shiny, but the other side of the ring has a matte finish and is studded with "mele" or little diamonds. The ring is specially made of an alloy that overcomes the softness of gold, so the diamond is actually safer in this mount than in a "normal" ring mount.

So, here it is on DeAnna's finger. Although the pictures are pretty, it is even more stunning and unique when seen in person. We are happy to share the pictures with you here and look forward to you seeing them in person someday soon.




This week is going to be very busy for me. I will be teaching modules in a Black Belt class as part of my effort to certify as a Master Black Belt. With all the Black Belts in class, I'll be focusing on the coming class of 30 Green Belts next week - coaching every one of them in addition to the existing belts! There is exciting news on the horizon though; John and Jessica will be here in about 3 weeks!

Back To Adventure!

When you don't get outdoors while working in Hawaii, it can be a frustrating thing... I love my work here, but I also love my free time - especially when I get outside and do new things. Last weekend, I hiked up the Ka'iwa ridge overlooking Lanikai, just to get some exercise. From there, you can get a great view of the Moku-lua islands which are about 1.25 miles out in the ocean. These islands have been one of my desired adventure targets ever since I saw them last November. So, DeAnna suggested that we rent a sea kayak and paddle out to the islands and that is what we did Saturday morning!

Starting off at about 9:30am, we toted our plastic sea kayak to the beach and jumped into the waves. Almost immediately we realized that the nice breeze we felt in the parking lot, was actually 15 to 20 miles per hour out on the ocean - IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!!! We struggled against the wind for 30 minutes to get just down the beach to Flat Island. Moku-lua was about 2 miles further on.

After stopping for a quick break at Flat Island, we jumped back in the kayak and headed into the waves (against the wind).

It was... well, it was an upper body workout to paddle for the next hour and a half. On the way, we saw sea turtles and found some interesting places to snorkel. We also found some shallow reefs where waves were breaking! As we worked our way out into the ocean, the waves got bigger and bigger. Finally, we got close enough to the first island that the waves were smaller, but though the waves were smaller, they came at us from two different directions.

As the waves hit the island, they wrapped around to the back side, creating a sandy point where waves slap together. Beaching your kayak on this beach takes timing and effort. We were already tired from fighting the wind, we were fighting the waves as well and now we were fighting waves coming from two different directions. We rode a couple of waves over the reef and rocks, then paddled hard onto the sand and pulled the kayak high up onto the beach.

Glad to be out of the water, we explored some of the island, but the huge waves on the ocean (windward) side kept us close to the beach. The beach itself is not from the island which is made of sharp lava flows and shelves. In some places, massive boulders were stacked into wall-like formations. Waves that were crashing on the rocks 100 feet away blew spray that was still airborne when it landed on us!



We worked our way along the rocky shore and I took pictures of the shoreline. Remember the picture of the islands above? Here is a picture of the Ka'iwa ridge where that picture was taken. If you look closely, you can see the tiny blockhouse that I'm standing on!


I explored the rest of the small beach area for a while, but DeAnna may have had a better idea! We eventually loaded up and headed back to shore. It only took us 30 minutes to make it back to the shore where we first started! An exciting journey for a Saturday in Paradise, but another adventure was waiting when we got home - our wedding rings had finally arrived! That was in Honolulu, not a mile off the windward shore of the island! Read about it in my next blog entry!

A Quiet Anniversary Weekend

Stacey and her friends are gone now and the apartment is back to a quiet state. It was fun having them here and taking them places. For the most part, the girls all seemed to have a good time and got along very well. Over the week they managed to rent ocean kayaks and get sunburned. They went shopping at the Aloha flea market, visited the Waikiki night life, climbed Diamond Head and visited Kailua Beach a number of times. On their last day, we all jogged down to the beach and took some pictures of the sunrise.

They have returned to ice and snow and Daylight Savings Time. We remain unaffected by any of those things... not much incentive to worry about it when the weather is always sunny and bright and warm. You know that I love severe weather, so when I hear about missing some of the worst winter weather in a decade, I console myself by going snorkeling every week. This assignment will not last forever...

I used to wonder what it would be like to be free of the concerns of having and managing "stuff". Maintaining things, replacing things, buying, selling and trading stuff. I have bought some stuff here, but not much - mostly snorkeling gear. Everything before me belongs to someone else. The table and chairs; the couch and TV; the carpet, stove, washing machine and pictures on the wall all are things I use but do not own. Even the bed, sheets and pillows are not mine.

It's been 6 months since I left Minnesota and left behind all a household of "stuff". Last September 9th, it was also a Sunday before my flight out on Monday morning. Before this assignment ends, chances are that I will only be back in Minnesota for a brief stay when Kevin gets married in June. There are some things I miss about my old life...
-> I miss my shiny new Prius that I owned for only 2 weeks before I came here - but I've been able to drive many different types of cars while driving in Hawaii.
-> I miss good, solid BBQ (specifically Famous Dave's BBQ) that was just down the street - but I've eaten so many interesting and delicious Asian foods since I've been here in Hawaii.
-> I miss Toastmaster's club and many of my friends at Seagate - but I've been able to make new friends and work on things that have a different purpose than the bottom line while working for the Army.
-> I miss kicking around with friends and the hot-tub ministry with Kevin - but I've been able to do many more things with DeAnna while I've been here in Hawaii.
-> I missed the fall colours, frosty air and snowy winter (I know most of you think I'm crazy). I will also miss the severe weather of spring (remember crazy?) - but the consistent weather here has allowed me to explore the outdoor wonders of Hawaii.

What blessings I have been given! I will continue my busy week tomorrow after a quiet, relaxing weekend.

Visitors!

This week, Stacey will be visiting us along with 3 of her friends from college. We picked them up on Friday and have been doing some touristy things as well as spending some time on the beach. It's now Sunday and I think we've worn them out already. Future visitors from the mainland beware the "wall of tiredness" that you will hit after a few days here!

We've gone to the beach and taken a somewhat disappointing hike to the Dragon's Nostrils (they weren't spraying at all). Of course, there are still several days left to go places, but the biggest thing we've done so far has been half a day of touring the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC).

The PCC is run by the Mormon Church as a way to preserve the Polynesian cultures, but also as a way to give young Polynesians a way to earn money to attend the local campus of Brigham Young University. The students work at the center and attend classes during the week.

There is a village for each of 7 Polynesian centers with demonstrations and activities. We attended demonstrations from Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga and Samoa before making our way to the Luau - which was very good. The Samoan demonstration was how to build a fire (so you can cook, of course!) I was reminded of Tom Hanks trying to build a fire in the movie "Castaway", but this guy made it seem effortless!

The Island of Tonga featured drumming demonstrations and speaking with hand clappings. I took pictures while the girls gave it a try. The Master drummer was a hoot and everyone had a great time -that's the Tongan way - being happy and having a good time!


At the end of the day, we settled in for the "Horizons" show which highlighted dance and traditions from each culture. There was a lot of singing and even fire dancing! I posted some fire dancing pictures from our luau in Maui so I won't post another series right now, but this show was fabulous!

I'm not sure what the girls intend to do this week, but I'll let you know more about it with pictures in the coming days!