June1: The Last Week

During the last week we did some final things like my last dive, sugar cane train, and Disney land.

            On the first dive we rode a current around a reef and saw a few big sharks. On the second dive we saw a frog fish, we also saw an octopus that swam away from the instructor and my mom caught it, then my mom let it go and it swam through my grandpa’s legs, also the instructor let a shrimp go in his mouth the shrimp cleans his teeth.

On Monday we rode the sugar cane train. This is a train that is supposed to go to a sugar cane field but it turned around before we got there. During the train ride the train stopped at a station and we got shaved ice, during the whole trip there was trees that whipped in the sides and hit our heads. At two areas the train stopped to blow steam when it blew steam it shot a big cloud out the side and some of the carts got wet from the steam. At the end I got a squished penny with the train on it.

The next night we flew to LAX, Los Angeles Airport, and in the morning we went to Disney land and California adventure. Our favourites were the California Screamer and the Tower of Terror. The California Screamer is a roller coaster that has a loop-de-loop in it. The Tower of Terror is a ride where you go into an elevator, it goes to the top of a creepy hotel, and opens its door to see the whole park then drops straight down to the bottom. After Disney land we stayed in a hotel for the night then flew to Vancouver and home.

Thursday may 24: lava tube

On Tuesday we all went on the road to Hana but we only stopped twice, once at a black sand beach and once at a lava tube. My favourite was the lava tube. The black sand beach is like a normal beach but it has black sand. The sand is black because it is made from lava rock being ground down by the waves. While we were there we body surfed in the waves that were taller then I can jump over (only my head over). My sister started to body surf near the end. The sand was so mouldable that you can have snow ball fights.

            The lava tube was a bit later on the road. A lava tube is a long cave made by lava flow. There has not been any lava for thousands of years. So now it is safe to walk through. You are given flashlights to see because there is no light to about half way through. You access the lava tube through an air vent cave-in. The lava tube is very long. At the beginning there are some rocks that look like a moray eel head. Later there was a rail that made it look like it is over but I discovered that the path goes around it. Later there is an air vent that is hidden from the top and you could accidently walk and fall into if you were on the ground above the lava tube. Right after that there is a duck under that leads to an area that looks like there is chocolate melting off the roof (a duck under is something you duck under). Later there is the end of the tour but t you can turn left and go into a backflow. A backflow is where the lava flows backwards. The back flow only goes about thirty feet. And at the end there is a little cave that is ½ a foot tall. Later we back tracked to the entrance. After that we came back to the condo.

Saturday May 19 2012: luau!

            Yesterday morning we went to Ulua Beach and snorkeled for a while. I only snorkeled for a few minutes during which I saw a flounder and fish with whiskers that it puts in the sand. A flounder is a fish that has both eyes on one side. After that I made my name in the sand with sand castle buckets. When I finished that I rode the waves without boogie boards or surfboards. This is called body-surfing. Then my family and I went back to the condo to get ready for the luau.

            Later that night we went to a luau at a hotel called the Grand Wailea. At this luau you had unlimited drinks and food for free. Everyone in my family went there. First thing they did was get some entertainment, which was bowling with a stone between two sticks, and tattoos. I got a shark tattoo and played a lot of the bowling. My Cousin Sidney’s favourite part was when we went on to the stage and hula danced; she went right up when they called for volunteers! Later they pulled a pig out of the ground where they had placed it earlier that day and it had cooked there throughout the day. Still later they told legends about gods and goddesses. When they finished with that they showed fire dancers. They had batons and one side was flaming. They lit the other side by putting their hand on the flaming side and moved their hand to the other side. During this I got a shark tooth necklace at some vendors’ tables where they were selling crafts.  When they finished the dancing the luau was over. So we went back to the condo and slept to morning.

Wednesday May 16: 1st dive

Today I went on my first dive as a certified diver. On the first dive we went to the same site as my certification dive but this time I saw a shark in a small coral cave. The second dive was called turtle town and it was close to shore, only 40 feet deep. On the second dive I swam into a cave with a shark and a turtle. I did this in three caves and on the last one there was an air breathing cave. This is an area above the main flooded cave, full of air. The reason there is air is because the surrounding rock is lava rock, which is porous. We surfaced in this with our flashlights and took out our regulators and were talking for a few minutes, and there was a four foot white tipped reef shark below us the whole time. When we left the cave we swam back to the boat, which I got to drive back to the boat launch, and then we went back to the condo. For the rest of the day we were at the pool.

Monday/Tuesday May 14/15: surfing

Yesterday we learned to surf with a company called Maui Wave Riders. Our instructor told us to call him surfer dude, lifeguard or help me, I especially liked the last one. Before we got into the water he taught us how to paddle and to stand up while surfing, he did so on our surfboards upside down on land. When we eventually got surfing I was doing great on my first try (standing up and such).  I was happy about being able to stand up on my board and make it farther than any of my family members on my first try.  Compared to snowboarding, surfing is about the same level of difficulty.   My sister though would only ride the surf board on her stomach. My sister and I needed to be pushed by our instructor because we could not catch waves because we could not paddle fast enough. My parents on the other hand caught all there waves by themselves. After we finished our surfing lessons they gave us stickers, hats, and certificates.

             After the surf lessons we came back to the condo and then had lunch then we went to the pool. I went swimming for a few minutes, and then grabbed my IPod and read kindle until we came back to the condo. 

            This morning we went to the pool with my grandma and grandpa S. and Uncle Anthony. While there Anthony went to get his scuba mask, and we played with my toypedoes with my sister. My grandparents just flew in last night. Now there are 13 of us, grandma and grandpa S, grandma and grandpa O, Uncle Anthony and Aunt Amanda, Uncle Dave, and my cousins Sidney and Cade. We are all here and are going to a luau on Friday. I am happy that everyone got here safely. I am happy because now we can have more fun together. Tomorrow I am going to go diving with my Uncle Anthony and my Mom and Dad.

Friday, May 11th: Diving!

Today we woke up at 5:30a.m. to go scuba diving. I thought we were going to drive there but it was close enough to walk to. While there I got fitted for a wet suit and mask. Later the boat got into the water and we got on board.

At the first dive site there were two coral reefs. At the coral reefs I saw a Hawaiian white spotted Toby, an orange band surgeon fish, and a lot of lau’i Pala yellow tang. My Mom saw a thread fin butterfly fish. On this dive I felt a lot different than when I was practicing my skills because I didn’t have to be looking at my instructor, watching for him to show me a skill every second of the dive. While going down you twist and turn and do not notice you are equalizing because you just do it naturally.

            On the second dive we went to a shipwreck that has green sea turtles. There was a red spiky sea cucumber and a black sea cucumber.  We swam through the shipwreck.  When my dad went in, a green sea turtle followed him.  My mom wished she had the camera at that moment because it looked like the turtle was thinking “my turn!” when he followed everyone else into the shipwreck. 

            My favorite part of the day was when we went into the shipwreck because it looked really cool in there and it was my first time going inside a shipwreck under water.  Now that I have my dive certification I can go diving next week with my dad and mom and my uncle Anthony. 

            Tomorrow my uncle Anthony graduates from medical school.  Now he is a doctor.  We feel very proud of him and we are excited for him to come to Hawaii with my auntie Amanda and their two children who are my cousins, Sydney and Cade.  They are coming here on Sunday.

 In the photo above you can see me on the dive boat.

 In the above photo is me with a turtle - without my regulator (I learned to do this for photos from my Dad).

In this photo you can see all of my dive gear.

Thursday May tenth: diving!

Today we (my grandpa, Uncle Dave, and I) went to Ulua Beach and did dive skills and swimming under water to get my dive certification. For the dive skills we took our regulators out under water and placed them back in our mouths, pretended that we ran out of air and used our buddy’s octopus, used our buddy’s octopus to swim to the surface, and swam to the surface without our regulators. While down there I found two starfish.   The first one was the size of the palm of my hand and the second one was the size of the circle made by putting your pointer and thumb together. 

After we swam back to the beach, we went to the dive shop and did our dive exams.  I only got two things wrong, but I passed. 

Next we went to Mama’s Ribs for lunch.  I had chicken and rice with jalapeño soy sauce. After that we just stayed at home (our condo) and relaxed. Tomorrow we are going diving at a shipwreck with turtles. I have been waiting to do this for five years!  The last time we came to Hawaii I was too young to dive so I snorkelled over top of the divers.