I scheduled it for our first morning in Hawaii. I had to be at the boat harbor at 6:30 AM. For those of you that know me you'll know that I'm not a morning person. But the good news is that 6:30 in Hawaii is 10:30 in Utah, and my body didn't know I was in Hawaii yet. So being up by 6:30 wasn't too big of a deal. I wanted to leave at 6 so I would have plenty of time to find the place I was looking for so I set the alarm for 5:45 which would give me 15 minutes to grab breakfast and what not. Well, it turns out I didn't need the alarm at all. 5:00 AM arrived and I was bright awake and ready to go. I turned off the alarm so it wouldn't wake Robyn and I made myself a good breakfast and played on the internet for a while until it was time to leave. I gave Robyn a kiss goodbye and hopped in the car.
I got to the boat harbor and freaked out just a little because they said to just meet at the boat harbor and didn't give any more specific information. After driving around a few minutes I saw big sign that said "Hawaii Shark Encounters" so I was able to simmer down and go get on the boat.
The boat holds 12 passengers. There was me, a family of 5(the mom showed up and paid and then got back in the car and let her husband and kids have the experience, she was like unto Robyn.) 3 couples and me. On the way out the 3 guys running the boat told us about the kinds of sharks we would see and gave us random facts about sharks. Once we got out there the shark cage was just floating in the water. We attached it to the boat so we could climb in and the first group started. The cage only holds 6-7 people so there were 2 shifts in the water. I chose to be in the second shift and watched the first group head out into the water. I was watching them swim around and then several times I saw sharks just below the surface. It was really crazy! I was planning on seeing them but it still surprised me the first time I saw one.
Well, that group was in the water for about 25 minutes, and then was going to be our turn for 25 minutes. During those 25 minutes the boat was bobbing up and down, up and down, up and down. I didn't know I was prone to sea sickness but apparently I am. After a little while my stomach started to feel really yucky. Suddenly without warning my breakfast went overboard. I threw up several times to make sure I got all of it. So, as you can imagine, the sharks were clearly not the traumatic part of the trip. The workers told me where to sit on the side of the boat where I would have the least motion. One of the other tourists had ginger snaps that they gave me. I guess ginger helps calm your stomach. I wanted to tell her I was fine now that my stomach was empty but I figured it wouldn't hurt to take some. I want everyone to know I wasn't the only person who threw up. Granted the other person was a 15 year old boy, and he didn't throw up as bad as me, but still, at least I wasn't the only one.
Anyway, after all that was over it was finally time for me to get in the water. They pulled the cage back to the boat and let us climb in. I was a little worried that I would not feel good in the water but I wasn't gonna let that ruin this once in a lifetime experience. Before getting in the water I took this picture of the island to show how far out into open ocean we were.
We got into the cage and they just gave us regular snorkel gear. I put my face underwater and very quickly started seeing sharks. I took a bunch of pictures but I guess there wasn't a lot of light underwater so most of them didn't turn out. Here are the best ones I got. Sorry they're not the greatest.
The middle one is obviously the best one. You can faintly see the sharks in the distance in the other two. Anyway, sorry this was a longer post. If you're ever in Oahu check out Hawaii Shark Encounters. It's a little over 100 bucks a person but it's a memory you'll never forget.This had nothing to do with the shark encounter, but I thought it would also be fun to show you the turtle I swam next to the following day.
I'm glad you had such a great experience and I am glad you let me sleep while it happend.
ReplyDeleteI hate throwing up, but other than that it seems like a cool experience. Hawaii must be a magical place because other than some pools I've never been in a body of water that seems so clear...
ReplyDeleteThat is seriously SO cool. I would love to do that someday.
ReplyDeleteSorry you got sea sick and then had to swim around in your throw up. Haha. I don't know if I am prone to sea sickness or not. Hope not!
So I'd trade our Million for your trip to Hawaii ANYDAY!!! LUCKY!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you had fun and didn't get eaten. Though if you did I'm sure Robyn could have sued them and got lots of money if that makes you feel any better.
ReplyDeleteFUN!!! (except the throwing up part!)
ReplyDeleteThis is SO cool. I would love to do that! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI think I'd be more terrified about people throwing up on the boat than being in the ocean with sharks. I kinda have a phobia of throwing up.