Its all over...

Well, I've been back on the mainland for about two weeks now and have finally found the time to sum up this blog.

Being back in reality makes me really miss Hawaii, I have been busy since I came back with getting ready for school and finding/moving into a new place to live. The internship with Dolphin Dreams Images was really amazing. I had a great time doing something I love and I learned a ton as well. Just getting the experience to photograph underwater as much as I did was awesome and on top of that I was able to gain experience taking video underwater as well. That job is unlike filming on the surface in any condition. Since you are suspended in the water you have movement on all three axis (up and down, back and forth and side to side) then add in any current or surge and the animals that are swimming around you as you film and its crazy, but so cool. This internship even helped expand my communication skills and public speaking through the Manta Talk we gave at the Sheraton three times a week. I feel much more comfortable engaging a crowd now then I did two months ago.

I also grew in my SCUBA abilities. I now have an advanced open water certification and the many dives I was able to do helped me feel so much more comfortable under the water. I feel as though I am able to navigate better and didn't feel lost at the end of my time there like I did previously, even at new dive sites. I also learned more through the SCUBA lessons we did at the pool. I was able to teach kids and other adults what I know about SCUBA and watch their enjoyment as they learned about it.

Overall just getting to spend the time in Hawaii that I was able to spend would have been terrific, but coupling it with all the wonderful things I experienced and was able to do through the internship it was amazing.

Day 34 and 35 - July 30th and 31st

Well, I know I said that my internship was officially over, but I still was able to do stuff yesterday and today. On Sunday I went to the Sheraton for the last time and taught SCUBA lessons. As usually it was pretty fun and we had some nice people.

Sunday night I went into town with Heather for the last few souvenirs I hadn't picked up and we had a grand time walking around. Later we got take out and went home and ate, watched some TV then made a TON (think giant baking sheet full from elementary school) of rice crispie treats, delicious! It was definately a great way to wind down the internship and a fun night.

This morning when I was expecting to sleep in, get up pack and burn off my DVD then wait a bit and go to the airport I had a surprise. I got to go on Dolphin Ohana one last time!!!! And boy it was a great time. We didn't find the dolphins until way further north so we saw them in a section that was pretty shallow, between 20-60 feet which allowed us to get closer to them. However it meant a lot of getting in and out of the boat because they weren't relaxing and swimming around one area like the other times. We saw lots of dolphin, including two babies, an octopus, an eagle ray and I saw a peacock flounder! So it was a great last trip and a good way to end the internship.

Its hard to believe I leave in about a half an hour for the airport, this whole experience has gone by way to quickly. I will definately miss being here and I am so glad I got a chance to be a part of the Dolphin Dreams Internship. I think the only thing that makes me look forward to leaving is getting away from all the mosquitos! (and of course seeing family and friends). :o)

Day 32 and 33 - July 28th and 29th

Today was a busy day. The plan was to go shore diving in the morning, so we got up and packed then had to wait a little bit before getting out the door. Ryan, Julia and I dove off of Crescent Beach which is near the harbor, and the same site basically as Manta Ray Bay where we went from Ron's boat. Its a cool dive, but like many places on the island the reef goes down really steeply and while following some fish I managed to swim to 72 feet before realizing it (we were trying to stay above 60). Thankfully I had Doug's computer so it compensated and I was able to continue my dive shallower which lasted for 61 minutes. This was my last day dive here in Hawaii which was kinda sad, but it was a great dive, despite a longish walk over a lava rock trail down to the beach.

That night there were only three divers on Sea Paradise so I was able to, for what would be my last night dive, and I got to take video. Diving at the south site is so different than diving at the north site, mainly because there is a lot of surge down south because you are closer to shore. It was cool and we saw two Mantas: Salem Ray and Capt. Kirk. I also got some good video, thanks to Martina helping hold me down as I twisted and turned to follow the rays in the surge.

Saturday was fairly uneventful, my only job today was to finish my project, which I did (and if I do say so myself, its pretty cool.) I spent the whole morning editing and ended up with a 17 minute project. Then this afternoon Julia and I watched Footloose (very entertaining) until Martina was finished with her work so I could get back on the computer and make a few corrections as well as make a short 4 minute teaser project.

So now (unless I go to the Sheraton tomorrow) I am officially down with my internship program. Time really flew by while I was over here, its hard to believe I go home on Monday.

Day 31 - July 27th

After looking over my work hours for the last few days and seeing that I had worked either day or night for the past five days straight Martina told me that I had to take a day off, so I did. On Thursday I got dropped off at the beach in the morning with a lemon, my book, my snorkel gear and camera. I had a wonderful morning, I relaxed on my towel with the lemon in my hair (trying to be blonde again you know...) and read my book for a while then when it got too hot I headed into the ocean and swam around.

The beach, Kahalu'u Beach Park, was pretty awesome. There wasn't much of a beach but the area was a large mostly protected cove that was less than five feet deep for about 100 yards and the far side had some small swells that people would surf on.

Since most of the cove was protected the water was pretty clear and there were a ton of fish (who didn't seem to care that we were there), as well as lots of turtles.

After swimming and taking pictures I headed back to the beach, read my book and had a huge snocone, which was delicious.

The rest of the day and night was spent relaxing, like I was told to.

Days 28-30 - July 24th-26th

These last three days have gone by quickly. On Monday I went out on Dolphin Ohana, for what may be my last time (sad). I really like that boat, Mike and Melainah are really cool people and its just such an amazing experience to get that close to wild dolphins. I got to take the video camera out as well, which is a huge thing because where we swim is usually blue water (yes I know most water is blue) but that means that the bottom is so far down that it's not visible so all you see is blue. Me getting to take the camera was huge because if I were to drop it then it would be gone forever (they sink) and Jim and Martina would be out a camera (or I would be buying them one). I did not drop it however (...phew) and I actually got some decent footage, especially for my first time.

I found that filming the dolphins is harder than filming the reef life while on SCUBA for several reasons. First with SCUBA you are under the water the whole time and can breathe easily and it is sometimes calmer. With the surface filming there was more movement, so it was harder to hold the camera still and when I dove down I was limited to how long I could hold my breath and how far I could free dive. Also, the dolphins never stop moving unlike some of the fish on the reefs, so its harder to get focus quickly and stay with them, etc, etc, etc. However, overall it was pretty amazing.

Also, to top it all off we went out into deeper water farther off the coast towards the end in search for Pilot Whales... and we found them! These animals were AWESOME! They were so big and moved so gracefully just swimming along. Typically they are followed by Oceanic Whitetipped Sharks, but not today (darn). We were able to get in the water and swim near them, though not anywhere as close as the dolphins get. The whales are much faster and can dive much deeper so they didn't stick around long. Regardless, it was incredible to see.

That afternoon Richard left for home and a new intern Julia arrived. She seems nice, kinda quiet, but so are most people when you first meet them.

That evening I went to the Sheraton and gave the Manta talk, then Jackson and I went out and had Thai food. It was delicious (i've been missing my normal intake of asian food).

Tuesday was an off morning for everyone, so we got to sleep in and relax. I took Heather to work then came home, finished my book and worked more on my project. Tuesday night Julia and I helped Jim with Sea Paradise, and afterward I edited the DVD's for Martina.

Wednesday I was back at the Sheraton, and I had the cutest kid for a lesson today. We were fairly busy all morning which is nice and Nicole and I switched off teaching. One of the kids was a little 7 year old who was full of questions and seemed to be having a great time during the lesson. :o)

Toinght I have to work more on my project so its off to editing! Tim's folks are in town this week and are hoping to take me out to dinner tomorrow night (depending on if I'm diving) hopefully it works out a free meal is always great and they are nice people.

Day 27 - July 23rd

Wow, it's hard to believe that I've been here 27 days already. I leave in just one week which is also hard to believe.

Sunday was a great day. We were able to go shore diving in the morning, we went to a cove off mile marker 4 on Ali'i drive and had an really nice dive. The visibility was great and there was a lot of life at the site. Right off the bat we ran into an octopus haning out by a small coral head, but he quickly ducked down into the coral and out of site. We also saw a turtle swim lazily by.

This area is unique from the other areas that I've dove so far because it is a place where there are Lagoon Triggerfish, something that I haven't yet seen. These are a beautiful fish, splattered with a ton of color. We didn't see any until the end of the dive, but we saw several as we were swimming back to shore, they are so pretty.

We also got to go into some more lava tubes on this dive. They are pretty awesome because its basically like a cave, only not all dark because there are holes at the surface where streams of light pour through.

That evening I started work on my final project, a compilation DVD of my pictures and video, as well as some of Martina and Jim's video of things I didn't get a chance to shoot (or didn't get the great shots like they have!).

I may be hard to believe I've been here for a month already, but looking back over my picture files, which have over 1,700 pictures, I can believe it!

Day 26 - July 22nd

Back at work today, I went to the Sheraton for SCUBA lessons. It was a really slow day we only had one kid in the morning and just were waiting the rest of the time, so I got to read my book alot. One thing that has been nice about not being in school or at home where things always come up is having time to read. I'm currently in my 5th book since getting on the plane to come here, it's been wonderful. (if anyone's curious: the Watchmen - Moore/Gibbons, Good Omens - Gaiman/Prachett, Stardust - Gaiman, Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Murakami and currently Neverwhere - Gaiman <-- yeah there seems to be a trend in the authors but I've found that like Stephen King, his works are just so enjoyable (and I needed a break from King)

After the Sheraton I found out that there wasn't much happening tonight work wise (its often slower on the weekends) and that Jim had arranged for me and Jackson to go on the Sunset Dinner Cruise that is run by Sea Paradise (the folks who do the manta dives at the Sheraton). So around 5:15 we set out for the cruise. It was an extremely enjoyable and relaxing two hours. They sailed out towards the sunset and I got to sit back and watch the ocean and the sunset and chat with the crew, no thinking about moving and loading and helping with whatever, it was awesome.

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.

Oahu Adventure (Part One) July 20th

This morning we flew out of Kona to the island of Oahu. Upon landing I discovered that Oahu is almost the exact opposite of what I've been experiencing in Kona. Honolulu is a tall city, with a TON of people and building right up to the beach. The mountains around even look so much older than Kona's, even alot older than Maui's mountains. It was really neat to get to see this island.

We got our rental car, which got upgraded free to a convertible :o) and headed off towards Waikiki.

After battling traffic on a three laned road (something I haven't seen since being here) we dropped Jackson at the beach and headed back to Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately we arrived to late in the day (12:30) to get a ticket for the USS Arizona Memorial, so we had to view it from afar. We were able to enjoy the rest of the museum and go onto the SS-Bowfin, a submarine that is now part of the museum.

Its pretty incredible to walk through the museum and see the lists of names of people that were killed that morning. The artifacts they have recovered are amazing, and the excerpts they have from sailors that were there are incredible. It was a great museum to visit.

The Bowfin was really cool too. It reminded me alot of the Midway (aircraft carrier) that we visited in San Diego, only everything is much more compact and closer together. I could not imagine living on that ship with a full crew, it would be so crowded!


After the museum Richard and I headed back into Waikiki to find Jackson. We parked and walked along the beach shops for a little while, then along the beach to intercept him, we met up at a bar and grill and had dinner. I tried a new fish: Opah, it was delicious! As it was getting late we drove back and found our hotel and learned 85$ doesn't go far in Honolulu, it was fine, but very small, just enough to fit two beds and a tv and dresser. However it worked out just fine and being on the 24th floor we had a pretty awesome view of the city.

Day 23 - July 19th

Finally back in the ocean today. Richard and I went out with Jim on Ron's boat for a two tank dive. These dives were my Nitrox certification dives. It was cool to think about, today I was breathing air that had 12% more oxygen in it than normal air. In all reality there is nothing much different than diving regular air, except that it increases your no decompression time which means that you can stay down longer (air permitting of course). That and if you exceed your maximum depth you can get oxygen toxcitiy which causes convulsions and you basically end up drowning. But no worries, I was nowhere near that deep today.

Today was also the first day that the air has been mostly cloud free, but enough so that I could finally see all of the mountain! Its pretty cool to look back and see what has always been shrouded by clouds.


We went to two new spots that I hadn't been to before, but sorry I have no pictures for people because I got to take the video camera today! (so now you all will have to watch my dvd project when I get home...) It was pretty awesome having the video camera down there, but for the day dives I think I almost like the still photography better. I saw several fish I hadn't seen before so I wished I had my camera, and with the larger video camera housing its harder to sneak up on the fish. (I also didn't have zoom control so I had to get really close in order to get the fish close up, and that is extremely difficult.

Between the two dives we had a really neat and very rare occurance. We saw a Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin playing nearby and got to stop and watch him (or her) for a little bit. He was all alone (bottlenose tend to stay alone or in really small pods, unlike the Spinner dolphins who travel in huge pods) but was having a good time playing with a fish or something in the water (by playing i mean eating).

We also finished the navigation section of my advanced open water (so I think technically I am done with that certification, woohoo).

At night I went down with Martina and helped her get set up for Sea Paradise, then I walked over to the Sheraton and gave the Manta talk. It was my first time doing this alone and it went pretty well. My audience actually listened fairly intently and I didn't get nervous and mess up, so all in all it was a good night.

Now we are getting ready to head to the airport for our psuedo-weekend adventure #2! (psuedo, cause its thurs-fri, not really the weekend). Ciao!

Day 22 - July 18th

Today was another slow (or I should say relaxing) day at the house. The only thing happening in the morning was Dolphin Ohana, and we had to go food shopping. Richard and I helped Jim out and we basically filled the entire back of the jeep with food, its pretty crazy.

That afternoon I got to relax and read my book and in the evening Richard and I helped Jim with Sea Paradise. That evening after the dive I compiled the footage for the DVD and finished off the project to be ready to export. All in all it was a nice day.

Day 21 - July 17th

I had today off, which was a nice break. It was absolutely beautiful out, no clouds and a light breeze. Richard and I were able to be dropped in town where I got to do some souvenir shopping and shopping for me. I also got to get a picture of the official swim start and run end of the ironman world championships which is held here in Kona in October. Its pretty cool to envision all the people starting this crazy race.

I'm excited for Wednesday, we're going on another two tank and it will be my nitrox dive, and I get to take the videocamera underwater!

Also we planned an awesome trip for Thursday and Friday, Richard, Jack (new guy) and myself are flying over to Oahu early Thursday and going to go to the Pearl Harbor museum and on Friday we are doing something so absolutely amazing (Jim did it the other day and he was impressed and according to Martina its hard to impress him). However I cannot divulge the details of what we will be doing until after Friday because I was told by my mother that if I am going to do anything dangerous I shouldn't tell her about it until after its done and I'm safe. :o)

Also, for all those that could access the first Manta Video, here is another one. This was from last Thursday when there were 17 Mantas. While its nowhere near experiencing it for real, you can see how amazing it is when there are alot of them swimming around! Enjoy!

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

(remember: The site requires Flash 8 or newer to play the video properly. Go to http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer to get it!

Days 18-20 - July 14-16th

Friday, Saturday and today have passed so far very normally, and without much note. I haven't been in the ocean since Thursday but have been going to the Sheraton in the morning to do the SCUBA intro classes. Its actually been alot of fun, yesterday and today I was the main instructor and taught most of the lessons (kinda scary at first, but pretty cool in general).

A new intern, Jackson, came on Friday afternoon, he's from New York and seems very "party boy" like but should be okay. We'll see. Jake left this morning, back to California, which is sad cause he was the coolest (or the one I got along with best) so far, but oh well.

Life here is good, last night we went out to see Pirates (wonderful! gotta love that Mr. Depp) then out to dinner (Martina actually let us take the car which is a big thing, course she only trusted me to drive and told me to keep an eye on the "boys" :o) ) Its nice having a few more relaxing and not so busy days, though I am ready to get back in the water and dive some more and film/take more pictures!

Oh yeah, and thanks to Jakes help, I think I've finally gotten the hang of making "air rings" in the pool! hooray! (think smoke rings only in the the water with your bubbles!) :o)

Day 17 - July 13th

Ah what a day. It started almost as a bummer, with nothing to do in the morning (except laundry). However fortune smiled on us when Martina found out that Big Island only had three divers for a two tank that night and she worked it so that all the interns could go on the boat. So Ryan, Jake, Richard, Heather and I headed off around 3pm for a night that I will remember forever!

The two tank was in Garden Eel Cove, where the night time Manta dive is (the one I've been on twice before) It was amazing to see this cove during the day. The reef surrounding the cove is (I think) the best that I've dove here so far. Right off the bat we saw manta glide above us (the first one I've seen in the daytime). The cephalic fins were rolled up meaning that it was not feeding and it was moving fairly quickly, making it hard to take several pictures. The mantas were nick-named "Devil Ray" back in the day because fisherman would see them swimming with thier fins rolled up and they looked like devils.

The visibility in the cove was amazing and there were a ton of fish and marine life around. We saw alot of eels (though we didn't get down to the garden eels) including a yellow margin moray and a white mouthed moray that were right across from each other. The dive continued and I saw some other cool life, like the rough spined urchin (nick-named "Sputnik")

The urchins are nice for photographing because they don't move around on you! This dive was supposed to be the make-up for the navigation dive for me and Richard, but he didn't have a compass with him so we didn't do it. The dive was also my fish ID dive, which I didn't know in advance, so it was like a pop quiz. The last part of the dive I followed closely to Ryan and she would point out a fish or other creature and I wrote its name down on the slate. I did pretty well only not knowing two of the fish she pointed out (so I passed). Check off one more step towards my certification. :o)

After this dive we had a little over an hour to wait before the next dive while we off-gassed enough nitrogen to make it safe, and to wait for the sun to set and it to get completely dark so the Mantas could arrive. While we waited we ate dinner, delicious sushi that we picked up before getting on the boat. After the sun set and as we were getting ready Mantas started to show up in the boat lights, which was a good sign that it was going to be a good night. We had four Mantas just swimming around by the boat before we even got in the water. (note that the last times i dove this the most we saw was two during the whole night) We got in the water and swam over to dive site. We arrived to a feeding FRENZY. There were Manta Rays swimming everywhich way, almost running into each other at times. It was insane. They would graze over my head with barely an inch to spare, and several bumped me on the head and arm and one ran across my hand during the night. I found out after the dive that there were SEVENTEEN total mantas there that night. Amazingly enough Ryan knows basically all 106 mantas that live along the coast and can easily identify them by their spot patterns, the one in the picture is Alexander.

All together there were: Alexander, Doug, Timbuktu, Knight, Big Bertha (who is pregnant and the largest one they know of at 16ft), Lefty, Rebekah, Isabel, Wyland, Who Ray, X-Ray, Cousteau, Curly, Sugar Ray, Kaulani, Bob-n-Ray and Miki. The rays are hard to take pictures of at night because you need a flash but typically all the flash does is illuminate the plankton so you get alot of mucky pictures. My goal was to get a cool closeup shot of the gills because they look really neat, and I succeeded! It was such an insane amazing night.

Day 16 - July 12th

This morning I went out on Dolphin Ohana again. Martina and I went out and I got to help her film (above water) at the beginning of the trip. It was nice to get a videocamera in my hands again. I hope soon that I will get one under the water.

The dolphins were very active, and several were jumping alot and spinning around like they do. There were even some jumping really, really close to the boat.

We caught them up north again, and I got some pictures then we spent a long time with them in the bay. We even got to see a tiny little baby dolphin swimming with its mom, it was very cute. (and Martina was ecstatic because she got some good shots of it on the video).

Its cool to go out with Martina because she talks with you about what she tries to do while filming and her strategy for getting the shots in the proper order (planning if you will) so that she minimizes the editing she will have to do later.

That night I went with Richard for the Manta talk, I'm getting better at it each time.

Days 14 and 15 - July 10th and 11th

Monday went by slowly. We were supposed to go shore diving, but had a bit of an emergency which ended up cancelling the dive. The rest of the day went sort of on hiatus until the evening when several of us went to the Sheraton for the Manta talk.

On Tuesday we had the two dives for my Adv. Open Water certification, the Deep dive and the Navigation dive. We practiced with the compass on land then headed off the to ocean. The deep dive was overall, well a bit of a let down. We had talked about 100ft, and nitrogen narcosis (basically it makes you feel like you're drunk) and what not. Well, we all kinda wanted to feel the onset of that (its supposed to hit around 90ft...or so they say) and I was looking forward to getting to go down 100ft (just so I could say I've been 100ft). Jim had to dive more that evening so it was decided that we shouldn't go that far, so we went 80ft and then we stayed there all of 5 minutes before going shallower for the rest of the dive.

The second dive was more fun, it was supposed to be the navigation, but that didn't happen (at least for me). Jim let us loose with our cameras for the first part and said to meet back when we had 1200psi left in our tanks. I was back with 1500psi, but he was already out of the water, so we just kept swimming around until time was up. It's cool though, I feel pretty comfortable with the compass, and found my way around in the cove (where we hadn't been before) just fine.

The dive itself was cool, it was fairly shallow and good visibility. There was a neat school of Yellow Goatfish hanging around the cove we were in and they didn't scatter when we got near which allowed for lots of photos.

There were lots of fish around and we had a nice long dive (74 minutes) so I got to experiment with the macro on my camera and got a nice picture of Evermann's (or Lobe, i'm not entirely sure) coral.

We got back that evening and the boys and I made dinner and watched a movie until Martina came home then we helped her unpack and started editing from the dive. She had 8 Manta Rays come that night, the video was pretty amazing.

Weekend Adventure! (Part Three) July 9th

The sun woke us up quite early so we packed up and drove back up towards Hapuna Beach. This beach was so beautiful, with super fine, soft, white sand and absolutely crystal clear water. The wind picked up as it got later but it was still beautiful. I sat in the shade and read my book (a new one I had picked up in Hilo cause I finished the other I was reading) while Jake explored and Richard snuck into the nearby hotel to watch the World Cup Finale. Later we went swimming/snorkeling and while adjusting to the ocean water in the strong cold wind both Jake and I were lucky to have a dollar bill float up to us (each), pretty cool. We swam around a bit then relaxed more on the beach. After a bit we ventured on.

The next place we found was not a beach but a really cool lava tube cave that was half filled with freshwater. Thanks to advice from the book I took my flashlight (which was really my small dive light, so it was waterproof). This was was extremely cold (like the river) but we went in and explored around. The place is called Queen's bath. Since my camera battery died, imagine if you will two holes in the ground and peering in and seeing crystal clear water between 3-7 ft deep with mostly smooth rocks on the bottom. Each hole was no more than 5-8 feet wide and both were connected below ground. You could also keep going back in the cave (where the light came in handy) and it was pitch black and really neat with the flashlight.

After that we headed south to another really pretty beach where I relaxed and read more in my book (not wanting to go back in the salt water after the nice freshwater pool, and it was really windy and kinda chilly). Around 3pm we headed back into town to unpack the car and take it back to the airport.

And thus ended the adventure.

Weekend Adventure! (Part Two) July 8th

We woke up and headed to a gas station to change and fill the tank. From there the main goal was to get to the waterfalls in the book because that seemed like a promising place to swim in the freshwater river and would act as a shower (cause we were stinky from the long night in the car). We drove around and missed the turn (which was basically the story of this trip too because we discovered that if they even put a sign for the turn off to many of the places we went it is somewhere in the vicinity of 5-20 ft in front of the the turn itsself and usually small and worn off). After a short drive we made it to Rainbow Falls, named thus because in the morning with the sun behind you this large waterfall usually gets rainbows near the bottom. However we had no such luck cause it was raining. (In case you were wondering we leared that the average rainfall in Hilo is way over 100 inches per year, it is the wettest city in the USA and they claim drought if they get less than 70 inches of rain in a year and start conserving water...ha). So this rain was apparently nothing out of the ordinary.

Despite the rain the waterfall was extremely beautiful and surrounded by rainforest which we got to hike through a bit. We went up a trail through a part of the forest and down to the river. Unfortunately there was no access to the pool at the waterfall and the river before it was way to rough for swimming. So we continued down the road.

The next stop was a place called Boiling Pots which was a series of pools linked by small waterfalls that often would look very rough (like they were boiling) as the water raced from pool to pool to pool. That day though the flow was moderate (or so I assume) and the pools were more serene looking.

Upriver is another large waterfall, Pe'epe'e Falls. There was a trail that led down to the river just above the Boiling Pots where you could see the falls several pools upriver. Just above the Boiling Pots was this nice large pool that looked fairly calm and quite inviting. So despite the "recommendation" of the sign at the trailhead, we went swimming. And boy did it feel wonderful. It was very cold and the water was a little murky, due to the fact that the river is mostly formed from rainwater and is just downstream of a large waterfall. The rocks are also a little rough, but I had my flipper booties on so that was no problem at all. There were two pools to swim through before reaching the large water fall, so we swam through them. My underwater camera housing came in handy here as I could take it with me and get some good shots of Pe'epe'e Falls close up. There was a cliff on one side that Jake managed to climb up and jump off of (a little too high for my tastes and the current in the waterfall pool was really strong). We hung out and swam around for a bit before heading back up the trail and to the car.

From there we drove back out of Hilo and towards Puna which has some really beautiful rainforests and naturally heated freshwater pools, as well as cool tidepools, some small, rocky beaches and as we discovered really fun 4WD roads.

There is a light house down a dirt road that sits at the most eastern edge of the island so we drove down there and breathed what is (according to our guide book) thought of as the purest air around the globe because it comes from across the landless Pacific. Its actually used as a standard by many governments to test against the quality of air in different places. From there we took a 4WD and really bumpy lava road down and around the coast, seeing some really amazing scenery and cool explosions of water as the waves crashed against the steep, rocky coast. We drove back around and down the road to try and find Lava Swimming Pool, a large heated freshwater pool. Unfortunately all we found was a really pretty road that went down through a rainforest and eventually turned into a really pretty and kinda crazy 4WD only road that of course we drove down (until we almost got stuck, then almost went into a ditch).

After our adventures in Puna we drove back into Hilo and out the other side to head towards the first beach park with camping (according to the book) so that we would have a situation like the night before. In doing this we discovered that it is no lie that it likes to rain on the northern side of the island and it was pouring constantly up to the park we had picked out. Luckily we decided that since we had enough daylight we should just drive around the the north-west side (where the good beaches are) and camp at one of those from the book. So we did and it was a good thing too because it rained the whole way until we were around the bend and on the more western side.

Of course it would have been too easy had it all worked out so here's the quick breakdown of what happened. We missed the turn to stay on the right highway and ended up going several miles out of our way on a highway that bypassed all the beaches and shot straight back into Kona, but we managed to discover that before it was too late and were able to cut back to where we needed to be and only have to backtrack a little bit. We got to the park from the book, Hapuna Beach Park, only to discover there was in fact no tent camping allowed, it was camping through a-frame cabins you had to reserve ahead of time. So we moved back up to a different beach park, Spencer Beach. This one however had a security guard at it saying, "sorry, you can't camp here because the park has been rented out by two family reunions." Okay, where's the next place we can camp? "You could try Mahukona 12 miles north of here." So we did and as we drove that way we drove right back into rain. We turned around and debated what to do.

In the end and with no way of barbequing we stopped at the only restaraunt around, named Harbor Grill, so you think hamburger right? Turns out its a super expensive place and dinner is either fish, steak, etc, no hamburger. However I had steamed Mahimahi with rice and it was the second best Mahimahi I've ever had. (the first was at an oceanside restaraunt in Maui last time we were there...when the Smith boys had to eat somewhere else cause that place was too nice). So about 40$ later (just my meal and a good glass of wine cause it was needed) we headed back towards Hapuna then off on a little dirt road where we proceeded to pull off into a deserty/grassy area for the night. Conditions were 100% better than in Hilo and Jake slept in the tent on the side of the road while Richard slept in the drivers seat of the car, and I made a makeshift bed in the back by moving all our stuff to one side and putting the seat down. It was actually pretty comfortable in the end and I fell asleep listening to Jimmy Buffet and the howling wind. (Oh yeah and my camera battery was giving me the low battery sign so I couldn't snap a shot of this place because I wanted to save what was left to get a shot at the beach in the morning).

And thus ended Day Two.

Weekend Adventure! (Part One) July 7th

Well, to call this past weekend anything less than an adventure would be an understatement. On Friday morning Jake, Richard and I took off in our cool green Jeep Grand Cherokee rental car -->
to go to the volcano and see as much of the island as we could. We left with little plan but to drive around and get to the volcano, then end at the beaches. The passenger seat occupant was navigator and was incharge of looking in the book to see if there was anything interesting we should turn off for.

We left a sunny Kona a little before 10 am and headed south towards Hilo (its on the eastern side). I drove most of the trip out which was nice because it kept me awake to see the different sites as we drove past them. Leaving Kona we went through some densely vegetated areas, not quite a rainforest but very tropical and really pretty. We continued driving around (sadly missing the turn off to South Point - the southern tip of the island- and thus the Green Sand Beach, because we didn't know about that until we were way past it). Along the way to the volcano we ran across the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach.

If you've never seen a black sand beach in person, it's definately much cooler than in the pictures. The sand itself is awsome, because the grains are so large (compared to the California sand i'm used to) and its definately pitch black. It was super windy at this beach so swimming wasn't really an option (larg surf, kinda crazy waves) so we continued our journey onward.

Our next stop was the volcano itself: Kilauea. There are actually 5 volcanoes on the island, but this is the only one that is active, the rest are old, like the ones on the other Hawaiian islands (with the exception of the newest Hawaiian island I learned about: Lo'ihi. Its still 3200 feet underwater, but will be a great spot to visit in about 100,000 years). Kilauea is currently erupting, but we only could see the lava from way far away (more on that later). When we first got to the park it started raining (which I later found out is very normal for that area). We got our maps and began to trek around the Park. We went around the big crater from the original and larger eruptions and saw some cool sites. The park is laid out really nicely, you drive around the big crater and see some cool stuff (I know Matthew, my cousin, would be in heaven here, there were so many neat rocks and holes and steam vents and of course the lava). The first thing we ran across was some large Steam Vents. These are areas where there is a hole in the ground that the super hot are escapes out of creating steam in the cooler air above ground. We stood by one as the steam gushed out and its about one notch below scalding, pretty awesome. We continued along the road to the Southwestern Rift, a large canyon like crack in the earth from a lava flow, and on to some other craters before heading down the "Chain of Craters" road. This road ends where the most recent eruption had run over it basically erasing the rest of the road (and a visitor center, little village and some other things). From here we were able to hike across the lava field to where you could see the current lava pouring out into the ocean. We were told the best time to see the lava was after sunset because it really stood out against the darker sky (which is true) so we hiked in late afternoon so we could watch the sunset and stay a little to see the lava at night. This is where some of the crazy adventure begins. From what I just wrote it probably sounds like we had this all planned out and were well prepared, but it wasn't quite like that. Here's about how it went down.

( ^The lava field headed towards the current eruption into the ocean 2.5 mile hike)

We drove to the stop point then got out of car and walked down to the lava field, thinking we would take some pictures and head out (we didn't know that was where you hike to see the lava too). When we got down there, about half a mile down the road from where you park, you see a bunch of signs saying things like: 2.5 miles to current flow, be prepared for a long, hot, dry hike! make sure you have at least 3 quarts of water per person, wear good shoes, bring a flashlight, don't go to close to the edge, use caution, so on and so forth. Well, when we got down there and realized that was where the lava was we decided it would be best to hike it, watch the sunset, and head back then get to the campsite and have dinner and go to sleep, timing worked out well (or so we thought). Then being lazy college kids and realizing how we were a ways from the car, we decided to just go from where we were and not go back to the car. What did this mean? Well, I hiked the lava field in my Reef flipflops with no water, no food and no flashlight (I also had no sunscreen and those last couple hours of sunlight led to my first sunburn (small) in several years :o( oops). Oh, did I mention that there really is no trail, you just hike out across the mostly jagged lava field towards the eruption until you get to the part with rope and signs. After dark there are six small blinking beacons over that 2.5 miles to guide you back to the road. (Poor Jake also hiked in his flipflops which ended up breaking so he walked back barefoot and has some cuts to remind him of that). However, the hike was really not bad at all, I didn't ever get thirsty until the end when I also got hungry, but we got to sit and chill for awhile as the sun went down and we waited for the viewing to get better (which it definately did, it went from seeing a small red speck to the whole edge turning red).

It was amazing to sit and watch the lava crash into the sea and explode as the waves crashed into it. The hike back was also not as bad as I anticipated (remember no light). Luckily there was a full moon and the lava rocks are kinda shiny so I could see pretty well as I hiked from beacon to beacon so I wouldn't get lost. I slipped up once and landed on my hand which got a little scraped and my pinky is still sore but other than that it was kinda enjoyable (in hindsight mostly).

After that excitement it was completely dark (and around 9:30pm) when we went out to find the campground. We got there easily only to have it be pouring rain (difficult for setting up a tent and basically impossible to start a fire to cook dinner with). So we made the executive decision to drive the 30 miles into Hilo find another campground where it wasn't raining. Unfortunately there are no other campground actually in the Hilo area, and it was still raining (hard). We decided to look for a cheaper hotel and sleep there with a fast food dinner. However every hotel in Hilo (that we could find from the book) had NO VACANCY with the exception of one that wanted $137 for a smokey, small room. No thanks. So long story short we ate at Taco Bell then went looking for a deserted section of road or something that we could pull off into. We found an empty lot in some warehouse section, pulled over put the seats down part way (Jake was sleeping across the back seat) and tried to sleep. However the rain made it so we had to keep the windows up, which made the car heat up quickly, so much of the night was a fall asleep/wake up game of opening and closing the windows as the rain stopped and started and the car got hot and cooled down.

And thus ended Day One.

Day 10 - July 6th

Today was a good day due to a bad problem. We were scheduled to go out on the boat, all four interns and Jim to do two of the certification dives for our Advanced Open Water. These were the Deep Dive and Navigation Dive. However, upon getting on the boat and out at the dive site we discovered that the emergency oxygen tank onboard was empty. Not wanting to risk anything Jim called off the Deep Dive, and also the Navigation dive so that they would still be done together later.

However, not wanting to waste the charter and the day we got to do two shallower photo dives. It was a great time and the dives were really awesome. The first dive was to a site called Eel Cove, which was a large semiciricle that stayed shallow then dropped off really deep really fast. We explored that area for awhile, then got back on the boat and headed to the second site.

The second place we went was called Fish Rock because the Sgt. Major fish goes there to lay its eggs (millions upon millions), then it takes off and tons of other fish come in and start to eat the eggs. These fish are so preoccupied with eating the eggs that you can get extremely close to them and they don't swim away. It was insane because there were just so many fish all over the place. So what could have been a disaster of a day turned out to be really fun.

That evening after the dives Richard, Jake and I went and picked up a rental car, then did a Walmart run in preparation for our trip to the Volcano this weekend. In fact we are leaving just about as soon as I finish this post and we get a few more videos packaged for mailing. We don't have much of a plan (which is hard for me) other than to drive to the volcano and see everything we can. We're camping out (cause its cheaper) and then driving back around the opposite side of the island. It should be awesome!

Day 9 - July 5th

Today was a slow day, which meant I had the morning off. I relaxed, read my book and hung out with Jake teaching him photoshop. The lack of something to do allowed me to create a "family of geckos" it was entertaining. (note: there was only one gecko in this picture to start, can you figure out which one?)

That evening I got to go on the nightly Manta dive again. On top of that I got to (finally) use my new wetsuit that I had gotten on Saturday!! It fit wonderfully and kept me oh so warm and comfortable! (its a Pinnacle, 5mm full suit) :o)

These night dives are pretty amazing. Martina was acting in dual roles as both dive master and videographer, so it's pretty stressful for her and since there was extra room it is helpful that we can go to act as safety divers. I got to help out even more because I helped to lead us all to the dive site from the boat. Also we ran into a slight problem at the dive site and Martina and one of the divers had to surface so I helped by watching the other diver and holding the camera while she was helping him. It was pretty cool.

Unfortunately it was a slower night for the Manta, we only saw one, but had a cool time exploring the reef on our way back to the boat where I got a good picture of an undulated eel.