Yesterday was a chill out day for me. I spent some time on Waikiki beach, soaking up some sun but keeping it off my head due to a bad sunburn I acquired from my time in Pearl. Even today my head is still red. Waikiki beach is not too shabby, but not too great. There's not much in terms of waves, and the sand is kind of dirty. But the water is a great temperature, and there's a lot going on. Later on that day I sat on the end of the pier and took photos of some people surfing against the sunset, which produced some amazing shots (I'll upload one soon). Due to my coming scuba dive the next morning, I just hung around the hostel and traded stories with Aussies and Americans over some beers.
Now for my scuba dive: Incredible! I was picked up at 6:30am by a dive shop I had booked with, and we jumped on the boat and were at the dive site at 7:15am. The first dive was a wreck that was sunk years ago to create an artificial reef. I've never dived a wreck before, so I was apprehensive about entering it when the other two did, but after being beckoned in by the dive master, I relented. It was basically a hollow tub of a ship, something similar to an old WWII landing craft. On that dive we saw a three foot White Tip Reef Shark and a Moray Eel.
The next dive was the incredible one. We did a roll in off the boat and immediately went negatively buoyant, free-falling into the depths below. Five minutes in we spotted another four foot White Tip Reef Shark, this one swimming within meters of us. The pinnacle of the dive came when I was drifting along the reef wall towards a protrusion of rock ahead of me. Above it I saw a giant Sea Turtle, the first I've ever seen in the wild. Amazed, I swam towards it, coming up to the crest of the rock protrusion. Just as I peered over the edge, another large Sea Turtle rose out of a well in the rocks right before my eyes, maybe a meter away! It was absolutely breathtaking to see these beautiful creatures so close up. At one point we had eight of them around us! The most intriguing thing about them is their docility. They lumbered by us, not a speck of fear towards us. One of them even lay on the bottom resting while we swam just feet over it's shell. All in all I couldn't be more happy with the way those dives went, and I wish I had the money to do more.
Now for my scuba dive: Incredible! I was picked up at 6:30am by a dive shop I had booked with, and we jumped on the boat and were at the dive site at 7:15am. The first dive was a wreck that was sunk years ago to create an artificial reef. I've never dived a wreck before, so I was apprehensive about entering it when the other two did, but after being beckoned in by the dive master, I relented. It was basically a hollow tub of a ship, something similar to an old WWII landing craft. On that dive we saw a three foot White Tip Reef Shark and a Moray Eel.
The next dive was the incredible one. We did a roll in off the boat and immediately went negatively buoyant, free-falling into the depths below. Five minutes in we spotted another four foot White Tip Reef Shark, this one swimming within meters of us. The pinnacle of the dive came when I was drifting along the reef wall towards a protrusion of rock ahead of me. Above it I saw a giant Sea Turtle, the first I've ever seen in the wild. Amazed, I swam towards it, coming up to the crest of the rock protrusion. Just as I peered over the edge, another large Sea Turtle rose out of a well in the rocks right before my eyes, maybe a meter away! It was absolutely breathtaking to see these beautiful creatures so close up. At one point we had eight of them around us! The most intriguing thing about them is their docility. They lumbered by us, not a speck of fear towards us. One of them even lay on the bottom resting while we swam just feet over it's shell. All in all I couldn't be more happy with the way those dives went, and I wish I had the money to do more.
Wow that sounds incrediable!! So excited for you too see such amazing creatures and so close up. If you want your birthday gift early, I'll spring for another dive for you.:-)
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