14 Jan – 20 Jan 2018
After the whole ballistic missile scare, the rest of our second week in Hawaii was pretty chill.
It was a humbling experience to be at Pearl Harbor. A memorial that I believe every American should have the opportunity to visit and pay their respects.
From Pearl Harbor we went to the Iolani Palace, the only Palace in America. The Palace was home to the Hawaiian Royal family for around 80 years. The one thing I never knew was exactly how known around the world the Hawaiian nation was. They had relationships with countries all around the world. If you’d like to know more about the palace then click here.
After the Palace we decided to go on our first hike at Diamond Head. It’s not an exceptionally difficult hike, but it is up a mountian and depending which route you take at a certain point, you’re either going up a bunch of stairs or walking on an incline for a bit then walking up a bunch of stairs. I’m so happy we got to do the hike because the views were absolutely worth it. The pictures I have on here don’t do the views any justice.
It was definitely quite the Saturday, packed with scares and adventure.
Sunday turned more into a chill day for us, especially in the morning. We had a late start to the day and didn’t head out until noonish. That was totally fine with me though cause I was able to get my laundry done during that time.
Once we headed out, we decided to head to the North Shore and see what all was going on. All of the island is beautiful for sure, but the waves that we saw at the North Shore were incredible.
We drove up and stopped along the road at a beach to watch the waves. We walked along the beach for quite a bit then just observed them and how strong and large they were. During the time we were there, they were reporting that the waves were around 40-50 feet high!
We watched for a little while then decided to drive around some more through the little towns scattered about. The traffic was absolutely horrific. The was a surfing competition going on around that time too and people lined up along the street to watch for at least a mile or more.
We decided to turn around and start heading back. Plus we were getting sunburned from sitting and traffic and the top to the convertible being down.
On the way back to Honolulu we stopped at the Dole Plantation, where they’re known for their pineapples. It was alright, but nothing to really write home about. I’m only writing about it because I want to say everything I did, but to be honest I almost forgot all about it. The Dole Whip is delicious though! That was one good part about that short stop.
Since we were lucky enough to have been in Hawaii during a three day weekend we decided to take advantage of it and fill up our weekend, so we went scuba diving on that Monday.
Originally, we didn’t know that we would even be allowed to scuba dive and thought that you had to be certified, but I found out through my friend that anybody can go scuba diving, just that if you’re not certified than you can’t go below 40 feet. Once we knew that, we were both on board and signed up for an introductory scuba class though through Island Divers Hawaii.
It was truly an amazing experience. In the beginning you have to sit through a video and learn the basics, then they take you to a little pool where you try out the gear and learn how to use the equipment. You’re only there for around 30 minutes then you head back to the shop and wait until noon.
Once noon came around more experienced divers started arriving and we started getting ready to head out to the water. We all got aboard the boat and went out into the bay nearby.
I have to say I was pretty nervous. I have no idea why though. I think just being underwater and not being able to breathe correctly along with my nose being blocked by the mask and having the regulator in my mouth. Just not something I was used to so on that first dive we did, I was not in a very good place mentally or psychically. As soon as I jumped into the water I had to work on calming myself down. My breathing was heavy and I went into panic mode. Thankfully, I eventually calmed down enough for us to keep moving. Once I started focusing on the things happening around us, I immediately started feeling better.
It was such an amazing experience and maybe one day I’ll be able to do it again. The water was some of the clearest I had ever been in. I swear I could see for at least 40ft in front of me. And the wildlife we saw was awesome! Nothing too crazy, but to see all of the fish, a manatee and a sea turtle was enough for me as I was just trying to survive haha.
We ended up doing two dives and the second one went 100 times better for me. I was calm and swimming much better. It was a lot nicer to just be able to focus on actually being in the moment and enjoying what was going on around me. If you ever get the chance to go scuba diving I highly recommend it.
The entire scuba diving experience ended up taking most of the time out of our day and we were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel so we decided to take it easy for the rest of the day.
An exciting weekend for sure and one I won’t be forgetting anytime soon! I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to have gone out there and experienced all that I did, even the work related parts.
I had an absolute blast while I was there, survived a ballistic missile, swam with the fish, and enjoyed amazing food and atmospheres. I definitely cannot say I was disappointed at all with our trip to Hawaii. One day I hope that I have the opportunity to head back and experience even more!