Snorkeling with Turtles

 Linda arranged for us to go snorkeling with turtles.  When we came back from whale watching we saw a couple of boats over Turtle Canyon, which is a canyon on the bottom of the ocean floor off Waikiki where, apparently, turtles live.  There were at least two large groups of people in the water.  In one case they were all with yellow life vests and from a distance, it looked like one of those National Geographic photos of a school of fish, all the same color, moving more or less as a group.  So that was my expectation.

Instead we got a Captain Max Boat Tour. We were told to go to Pier B and they would meet us at the gate.


There were only 5 of us — Linda and I and a group of three others — plus the two crew — on a small boat.  Not so small as to feel small, but not like what we’ve been on so far.  It was just big enough for our group.

We got onboard and headed out.  Linda and I were seated in from of the controls, so we have a great view.  When we got out to Turtle Canyon, they anchored the boat and instructed us on how to snorkel, provided the equipment and we got into the water.  To my way of thinking, it was cold.  But not that cold.  So in we went, and spent the next half hour to 45 minutes face down in the water.  With fins and a snorkel and a mask, we could see very well and paddle around looking at the sea bottom and everything in the water above it.  There were fish everywhere!  Schools of fish.  Individual fish.  Always just out of reach, but they got close enough, I thought I could grab them.  After a while, we spotted a turtle, floating a couple feet off the bottom, just drifting along.  There were a couple of fish that seemed to be grooming the turtle which was fairly large with a dull grey-green shell. 

A bit later, another turtle came along.  Slightly smaller, this one had clear markings on it.  They moved around a bit and the smaller one come up towards me.  It actually just wanted to come to the surface and I was close to its path up, but I backed off to give it plenty of room.  I had been wondering what the fish and the turtles thought of us, strange interlopers, in the water.  I didn’t want to interfere with them.

After a while, we swam off and around, looking at more of the sea bottom.  Because I didn’t want to get my phone wet, it was tucked in my pants, in the back pack, safely dry up on the boat — along with my watch, my hearing aids, and my glasses.  So no pictures; only memories.

Then it was back to shore.  The crew took us on a long loop around to get back to the harbor — a nice view of Waikiki from the water.  Linda and I then took another bus back to our room for a shower and a change of clothes.  Snorkeling, although you mostly are just floating there, still takes a lot of effort, so we were pretty tired physically.

We had lunch at a place around the corner, called Kono’s that specializes in pulled pork.


Then Linda stayed in the room to work on planning tomorrow, while I took a bus across Waikiki to Whole Foods and Walmart to get food.  We have been eating a box of granola with yogurt for breakfast, but emptied the box, so we need more.  That comes from Whole Foods.  But I was also interested in some eggs for breakfast.  Eggs themselves are very expensive.  A dozen eggs is over $6, but I saw a half dozen at one of the markets, which would be enough for me until we leave Oahu and go to the island of Hawaii. But I also need butter to fry eggs in, and mostly found tubs (which Linda says isn’t real butter — real butter comes in sticks).  So I figured I’d check Whole Foods and Walmart for butter and eggs.

At Whole Foods, pretty much the same story I was seeing elsewhere.  And even at Walmart all of their eggs were over $5 a dozen (and they only had dozens), except one set which was $2.40.  And they had one box of just 2 sticks of butter for $2.72.  So tomorrow I will have fried eggs!

When I got back to the room, Linda went over some of the places we could go tomorrow when we have a car.  It seemed it would be easier to plan with a physical paper map of the island (in addition to Google maps on our iPads), so we went out to buy one.  That turned out to be harder than I would have thought, but as Linda reminded me, “normal” people don’t do that anymore. Just like they don’t read paper newspapers.

Then we went out to eat at Fire Grill.  I had the grilled salmon, with asparagus, mashed potatoes, and mushrooms.  Linda had shrimp cocktail and asparagus.  A nice balanced meal.  For $65.


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