BRENNA...SHARK!

Friday, May 15, 2009 We did two shore dives off of Tunnels Beach. The Outer Reef and then the Inner Reef. The critter's weren't very abundant, we kept hoping for some reef sharks but to no avail. However, the topography was stunning with mazes of coral formations, lava tubes, and arches.

Sean found this cute little Gold-Lace Sea Slug. Notice my wrinkly fingers, we had been under a while.

These are coils of sea slug eggs.


Here is a little blip of us after I figured out our underwater camera took video.
On our second dive we got separated from 3 people in our group and of course they ended up seeing an eagle ray...dang it!

The Crown-of-thorns Sea Star everts its stomach and preys upon the living polyps of the coral. That along with the sharp venomous spines doesn't give this critter a very good reputation. Poor guy, every body's gotta make a living!

A moray eel, not sure what species. I learned on this trip that some eels, like the zebra and the snowflake, lack sharp teeth and wear bright colors instead. I imagine this one was sportin' some choppers!


After our dives we did a little hiking.



2 Miles in appeared an amazing beach with a cave and lagoon which was fed by the waves skirting across a sandbar.


We just laid out on this sand bar and kept cool with each incoming wave.


After our hike we hit the beach at the head of the trail, Ke'e (Kay-ay) Beach which ended up being our favorite spot for snorkeling.




We were surrounded by probably 15 turtles. They were just munching away on the algae.

While I was filming the turtles I heard Sean yell "Brenna, Shark!" Excitedly I swam toward him and noticed another man by me who looked quite worried. He then realized Sean's holler wasn't a warning but a sighting. I was just snickering through my snorkel at this horrified mans' expression!



This is the little bit I caught of what I think was a white or grey tip reef shark. I was so excited we finally found a shark I pressed the off button instead of record, so here it is swimming away. Please excuse the amateur footage.

Sean did catch a still shot with his camera.

Saturday, May 16. After our shark sighting the previous day we were pretty content so on our last day we found that Wal-Mart has the cheapest and best souvenirs, got more shave ice, did a bit more snorkeling at Sea Lodge Beach, found a cool spiny lobster, Sean sliced his hand really good on a rock, and after bandaging him up we explored Lumahai Beach and the quaint island town of Hanalei which we are in LOVE with.

The tide pools at Lumahai Beach had 100's of polycheate (poly=many, chaete=bristles) worms and sea urchins.

It was such a great spot!

After off-roading in the jungle, getting chased by wild pigs and getting lost, our car looked like this. Ya, just making sure you're still awake.
We kept passing this car and laughing about the "amazing" scenery. A ride like this deserves some love.

The next morning we flew over to Oahu and met up with Sean's Uncle Rick and Aunt Marion. They treated us to a delicious brunch at the Outrigger Club. It was so good to see them again. We couldn't leave without Aunt Marion providing us with goodie bags for the plane ride home. They are too good to us!

Alright folks, my recap is finally over. I hope you realize this was mostly for my record keeping but if you enjoyed it along the way that's ok too!

I just have to shout out to our FANTASTIC Friends Emily Jensen, Mark & Rochel Lewis, Sarah & Jeff Laflan and my MommaJo for tending our girls with patience and love! You guys Rickety-ROCK!

Another little adventure started when we got home...