The morning started out fantastically as I was able to use the gym at the hotel. Which was at least 7.22x better than the gym at school. The university's workout facility is actually unacceptable. There is a moisture that I can feel in the air and am not comfortable with, and it smells like a hockey rink. Good lord. The gym in the hotel, therefore, was an absolute treat, and I soaked up every minute of my workout. The thrill of being in an odorless gym combined with the fact that I had not been in a gym in ages put me into workout ADD mode and I used every machine and every weight and medicine ball for like 2 minutes before moving onto the next shiny new piece of equipment.
CATAMARAN TIME. It's like a ship. Okay, it is a ship. The hotel has it's own catamaran that charges people a legitimately insane amount of money (but we do it anyway) for an experience that you may or may not get a lot out of. Well, people, I got a lot out of it! The program started by motoring on out to a specific area in the ocean where a certain type of fish congregates. We were told that these fish clean the shells of the turtles by feeding on whatever it is that's on there, so everyone benefits. Symbiosis. How neat.
We anchored the catamaran - or rather, they anchored it; I didn't do jack - and started instructing us on how to use the snorkel and other stuff that I wasn't paying attention to. I didn't care I just wanted to swim with some turtles! The only thing I really knew was that nobody could touch the turtles because they're protected by the government. But we could swim darn near close to them, and that I did.
I didn't know this, but Mom had a fear of snorkeling or having the mask over her face or something, but she used our 5-word mantra (Suck it up and go!) and conquered her fear! I was so proud of her. My little girl, all grown up.
We were finally able to go out and I was the first one off that boat in search of some turtles. I found one almost immediately, and it was crazy how awesome seeing a see turtle for the first time was. I could actually probably go on and on about the magical-ness of these creatures, but I'll spare the time spent reading this blog.
Dad and Brother took a lot of pictures of the turtles, and I hope they got at least one of me in the same shot as a turtle! We saw four different turtles in all, and I got within touching distance of most of them. It's awesome how they'll let you swim right next to them, and they don't even care. They're such chill animals.
After I don't even know how long, a lot of people had retreated back to the boat out of satisfaction or perhaps boredom (I don't understand how that would even be possible, though), and after a while my family was the last ones in the water. Family wanted to go back in with the rest of the crowd, but I could have seriously stayed out there all day and swam with those big guys. But alas, the time had come, and I think the other catamaran-goers were getting antsy. I said my goodbyes and swam in sorrow back to the big boat.
Such alliteration. And probably exaggeration of emotions. But it makes the story better, I believe.
After returning all the equipment, it was lunch time. They had sandwiches and other snacks for us to consume, and they had drinks! Dad had gotten each of us (minus Louis, for obvious reasons) 2 drink tickets each. Annie and I ordered Mai Tais and sat on the boat while we sailed around Diamond Head crater for an hour, soaking up the sun and the beautiful day with my amazing family in fabulous Hawaii.
The catamaran was such a highlight of the trip, something I will never forget. I can't wait to see the pictures when they develop!
The rest of the day/night was pretty chill. Beach time, shopping time, and dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. By the time dinner was over, we were all pretty exhausted from the day slash Family was probably still jet-lagged so we went to bed early that night too, but not without a few episodes of Friends first to make the day about as good as they get!
Enter abrupt ending to the post.
Aloha!
Oh wait.... picture!
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| Family + Catamaran + mai tai + sunny skies = happy Kat |
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