Oahu Adventure (Part Two) July 21st

This morning was SHARK DAY!! The main purpose for our trip was a snorkeling adventure with sharks. We had signed up to go into a cage and get to view, extremely close up and personal, Galapagos sharks that were swimming around the cage and boat while the guys running it threw in bait to keep the sharks interested.

We drove across the island early in the morning and arrived to probably the best day we could ever have asked for.

Even the guys on the boat were amazed at how smooth the water was. The north shore of Oahu is known for its surfing, which usually means a heavy surge and really rough water as you go off shore, but on Friday it was so calm (for the ocean) and there were few clouds in the sky allowing for amazing (about 200ft) visibility.

I found that it was hard getting good pictures of the sharks because they are constantly moving and with the cage bars you can't easily follow the movements. However I got a few good ones over the course of the time we were in the water. After we got out the guys on the boat put some fish piecs on a long rod to entice the sharks and we got to watch some amazing tug of war as the shark would poke its head out of the water to grab the fish; lots of splashing and teeth, it was extremely cool.

To see what it was like in the cage check out this video. (Its like the others, you need Flash 8 for it to work) Enjoy!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v142/GinnyS/Hawaii/?action=view&current=MVI_5685.flv

After our shark encounter we had lots of time to spare before our 9:30pm flight back to Kona so we decided to continue driving around the island and see what Oahu had to offer. It was pretty amazing. As I said before the moutains all around looked so old and were absolutely beautiful. (Remember some of the shots of the island in Jurassic Park? yeah, some of that was filmed here)

Also on the North Shore and around to the east it is a lot less crowded and there are some really beautiful beaches. We drove along, had lunch and evenutally settled at a nice beach with really amazingly blue-green water and it was really calm. I swam, then read some of my book and relaxed.