Hawaii 2022

One big advantage of renting an Airbnb is the fact you can make breakfast at home. A well stocked kitchen and a quick trip to the nearest grocery store get you all set for a delicious meal. Steve’s egg bacon croissant sandwich was fantastic this morning!

Not too far from our place in Turtle Bay was a cove called Shark’s Cove, one of the best snorkeling spots on the island. Since we didn’t bring our own snorkeling gear this time we had to rent some this morning. One of the guys at the surf shop went out of his way to help us. Upon learning how anxious I was about getting in the ocean water, he showed us the exact route to get to the best spot to see fish safely. I rented a life jacket and also a pool noodle since I am not a good swimmer. He also told us how sharp the volcanic rocks were, warning us not to get too close to them even though they were everywhere!

As we waded out into the ocean water my anxiety rose to a dangerous level! I couldn’t breathe and felt lightheaded. I wasn’t like this before, and had had no problem snorkeling when we went to FL just last November but for some reason I developed a phobia against the ocean water in the past few months! Evan urged me to put my face into the water and I mentally and physically rejected the idea instinctively. Steve told Evan to stop telling me that, since I was having a panic attack!

Then, a father of a young boy who swam near us shouted at us with excitement:”there is a huge sea turtle right here!” He pointed towards just few feet from us. Evan immediately put his face in the water and swam towards the spot. Then he raised his head and said:”yeah, right here!”

Steve held my hand and gave me an encouraging nod. Reluctantly I put my face in the water. Sure enough, a huge sea turtle swam gracefully around us. I was delighted and started swam towards it like an anxious moth drawn to a calm light. Steve also put his face into the water, swam closely to me, still holding my hand tightly. Between Steve’s caring gesture and the gentleness of the sea turtle I was finally able to calm down. The world suddenly became quieter; the clear water rippled gentle waves around me, so many different fish with different colors burst into my sight. My breath slowed down, my head was less muddled, and my body moved with the waves. Finally, I was able to snorkel.

I let go of Steve’s hand. He asked if I was sure. I said yes. He was relieved and started diving into the water like a fish. I chased the sea turtle a bit until I lost sight of it. Steve stayed close to me, pointing towards different schools of fish to me. I was enjoying myself!

Evan and Steve were talking about going further away into the ocean. Knowing I was at my limit, I told them to bring me back to shore. As soon as I stood up, the world started spinning! I was so nauseous and dizzy that I almost fall into the water. Steve came over immediately and held me up. I limped against him and coughed, seeing stars behind my eyelids. What was wrong with me?! Since when had I became so fragile in ocean water?! Steve and Evan helped me back to solid ground. I told them to leave me and go back snorkeling. As I sat in the car waiting for their return, I was both disappointed and proud of myself. Despite of the bizarre phobia, I was able to see the sea turtle and so many tropical fish. Thank you, kind stranger, for showing us the sea turtle!

I booked a private surfing lesson for Evan this afternoon. So we met the instructor on the beach of Chun’s Reef. Several years ago during our trip to Costa Rica, Evan and I took a surfing lesson together. I couldn’t deal with the ocean waves so I ended the lesson almost immediately once we got into the water. Evan, however, was able stand on the board and surfed as soon as the instructor told him to. The guy was so surprised he turned to me and ask:”is this really his first time surfing?” I said:”absolutely!” That’s Evan, he is so natural when comes body coordination challenges. His mind is so fast at understanding physical elements of movements, and calculating the precise body positions, surfing was easy for him. So today was no different. He stood on the board, and surfed the first wave all the way close to the shore. This, turned out to be a dangerous thing to do. After he surfed for a hour and rode several more waves with the instructor, Evan ended the lesson early and came back to shore. I ran to him and asked if he was ok, he said he was tired. When we looked down, his feet were bleeding! It seems that the long ride he took was too close to the shore, and the sharp volcanic rocks dotting the shore made cuts into the bottom of his left foot, and the heel of his right foot. Poor Evan was surfing with a couple injuries on him. It’s crazy he stayed and surfed for an hour!

So we ended today earlier than expected and went back to our condo to deal with Evan’s injuries.

Tomorrow, we are flying to Kauai. Any planned hikes will have to wait until we see how much Evan can handle. Knowing him, I am confident he will bounce back in no time.Read more