The Underwater Death Trap

If you know me, you know that waters of the moving variety, ie. rivers and oceans, are not really my jam.  Bless his heart, (I hear that's what southerners say to be polite when they'd really rather say the opposite) my husband found an excursion that promised to place us in tight quarters with 60 other tourists, seal us up and plunge us 100 feet down into the ocean.  Joy.  Joy of all flippin' joys.  

Here's a view of Waikiki Beach and the city I've been describing to y'all.

I have always thought it remarkable that there are servicemen (and women? I don't know) that LIVE on submarines in order to protect our country.  I DO NOT KNOW how they do that...  How they adjust, live, eat, breath, sleep, don't go insane on a submarine.  I have always said I would NEVER want to go on one and would NEVER want to go out on sea trials like some of Jason's co-workers do.  Then I toured the USS Albacor which is on land and I can freely walk out of anytime... and my feelings were 100% affirmed.

So when my husband found a tourist submarine for our family to adventure on... AND told our children AND got them excited about it before discussing it with me....  I wanted to wring his handsome little neck.  I truly did not see the point in paying approximately 1 million dollars to suffocate in an underwater claustrophobia inducing, underwater death trap.  I'd have been more than happy to sweep that little idea right under the rug and have our children be none the wiser.  

The boat that took us out to the subs.

But I did the good thing.  The parent thing, where you sacrifice your own desires, put aside your own fears, and plaster a big old happy grin on your face and pretend you're SOOOO excited.  Especially when you're children start saying the night before that they're a little worried about going down in the ocean... what if something happens and they can't swim out?  Well, then you just tell them all the logical things you've been telling yourself over and over... about how safe it is and how long its been running and how nothing as ever gone wrong.  And you pray.  You bow your head and pray for them and their concerns and reassure them, once again, before you kiss them goodnight.  And then you lie awake in your bed a little longer and pray for the Holy Spirit to give you peace and gentleness, to give you the power to be the mom He wants me to be to these kiddos tomorrow even if you're inwardly flipping out.  

I know, I'm a little dramatic, a little high strung, a little nervous-nelly about certain things.  But this is the stuff that really goes on in my head... in my life.  And I promised y'alll I'd keep it real.   It's who I am and each additional year God chooses to bless me with, I learn more and more how to embrace it and trust Him to shape me and use me in spite of it.... or because of it... either way :)  

The underwater death trap.

In case you're wondering.... we survived!  Shocker I know.  It really was fun, despite Josiah coming down with a fever that very morning.  He fell asleep at 11am IN THE SUBMARINE and slept the whole time even with a very loud tour guide speaking the whole time and we knew something was up.  So, the boy missed it but the rest of us had a very neat adventure.  

There goes Ella.  Down the hatch!

No, my WB was not insanely off.
That's what the colors
actually looks like in the sub!

We saw 2 green sea turtles eating and coming up for air over and over again as we waited on the dock.  We had a nice cruise out to the subs and just as we were pushing off we spotted a large pod of dolphins leaping through the surf.  We got to watch the sub surface which was neat.  And then we saw fish galore, huge moray eel and a giant sea turtle as we passed reefs, shipwrecks and plane wrecks.  (All the ships and planes were placed there to help sustain reef growth).  

Did you know that when you are that deep in water, certain light wavelengths cannot get through and so some colors are intensified and others you cannot see!?  My nails were painted teal green and Ella had some blues in her dress, but down as deep as we were you could not see those colors.  Weird and fun.  We learn so much here every day! 

I learned pictures really don't come out well when taken 100ft down in water and through a submarine port hole.  So we focused more on just enjoying the experience and snapping a few here and there.  In total we were under water for an hour but it really felt like 20 minutes.  Kuddos to our tour guide.  He was hilarious!

A beautiful view of Diamond Head on our cruise back to shore.

Makapu'u Lighthouse Pictures

        

First Weekend Excursion!

During the week we stay fairly close to home base,
venturing across the street to the beach, a few floors
down to the rooftop pool/hot tub or out on the bus
if we want to get somewhere.  So by the time the weekend
comes we are hankering to expand our horizons and get
 out of town.  Jason is the only one allowed to drive
 the rental car so he's our ticket to freedom on his days off!







MAKAPU'U LIGHTHOUSE HIKE
See my completely separate post for more pictures of this beauty!  We know we want to do a lot of hiking while we're here.  But 3yo legs and intense sun are a limiting factor.  We started out easy on our first weekend excursion and went to the Makapuu (pronounced Ma-ka-poo-eee) lighthouse.

Its a paved path, at a slight but steady incline, about a mile long and the views are absolutely breathtaking.  I cannot describe the vivid blues, lush greens and amazing landscape.

We had hats, sunglasses, sunscreen and water.  But the littles were DYING from the heat and moved pretty slow.  We stopped a lot for water and lookouts, found the tiny spots of shade and kept the pace SUPER slow.  There was quite a bit of upbeat encouraging and pointing out of cool cacti and flowers that we don't normally see, and they made it!  But they don't want to do it again.




BELLOWS BEACH
Next we headed to Bellows Beach.  The Department of Defense owns it and part is public but part is only open to DoD employees.  I feel so fortunate.  Daddy and Ella tried their hand at boogie boarding.  The waves were a little too big for Ella and tossed her around a bit.  Josiah wanted no part of the waves.  We enjoyed but moved on much sooner than we had originally planned.








NUUANA PALI LOOKOUT
On our drive back we went THROUGH the mountains via tunnel which was neat and stopped at the Nuuanu Pali Lookout. (pronounced "New-ooo-ah-new) 
     
This is a steep cliff that is the historical sight of a fierce battle where King Kamehameha (pronounced "Kah-may-ha-may-ah) invaded the shores of Waikiki, marched up this valley and  overtook the Oahuans by an overwhelming margin.  The wind coming off the ocean hits the steep cliff and is driven upward with such force that it pretty much blows your hair straight up!


MAGIC ISLAND

We checked out Magic Island.  Its a lagoon out on the end of a peninsula.  It was built to be part of a resort but they ran out of money and now its part of a public park.  We LOVED it!  Sandy, sunny, gorgeous, calm.  Daddy and Ella donned their snorkel gear and found fish and sea urchins!  Josiah and I played in the water and rested in the shade of the palm trees.

                                             







Sunday morning we tried out Metro Christian Church and loved it!  It was THE BEST sermon I have EVER heard on this topic.  And I've heard a lot in the 15 years I've been a believer in Christ!  The link should take you to it if you want to check it out!  The kids space is awesome, friendly and well staffed.  The message was THE best I've EVER heart on Ephesians 5:22.  And the atmosphere is great.  I'd say its mostly locals.  Ella was the only Caucasian girl in the kids church and I think it is such a valuable experience to be the minority for once in her life, as that is an experience she'll never get in Maine!  She said a boy about her age befriended her and "showed her the ropes" telling her the routine and what would come next as well as offering to be her partner in a game where they needed to pair up.  That was music to my ears and I can't wait for future Sundays.  I want to meet this family and tell them what a blessing their courteous, thoughtful boy was!