Gouldhome, Hawaii, July 19

July 19

Well the morning started off on a low note. Ocean Safari lost our reservations for our trip. They were taking another group out kayaking this morning. I had made the reservations about 2 months beforehand. They said we could go out this afternoon, but not this morning. So we said yes, but of our 22 people, we had four people cancel because they had plans for the afternoon. Ah well.

Instead we went to Disappearing Beach. Also known as White Sands Beach. The waves smash into the shore here and try to suck you out as a new wave forms. But this makes for great boogie boarding. And we had a great time. Torin took the board out quite a ways and paid the price for it. He got sucked under and pounded by one huge wave. The rest of us decided to stay in close to shore. The larger waves broke out farther, so weren't quite as nice to catch, but the medium ones were great for us, as they didn't break as hard. The waves had a rhythm to them. Maybe every ten minutes the big waves would come up and there would be a few really huge ones that I would leave the water for. Then they would start to dwindle a bit, in not too long disappearing into just riffles. Then they would start getting slowly larger. This was the best time for boogie boarding in my opinion (i.e. for wimps :>). The medium waves would last for a short while before the big ones would come back again. We had three boogie boards total for our group and we shared them around. When Keith got his turn he took it way out to the left side. We kept trying to motion for him to come back in. It was very dangerous out there. If you couldn't get out of the wave in time you would get bashed right up against the rocks. We saw one guy get creamed there and the lifeguard had to help him out as waves were battering him against the lava rock. The water and currents are quite violent. Luckily Keith decided to ditch his board and swim like the dickens back to the safer part of the beach. The water is still quite violent in the middle but at least it is a sandy bottom and shore so when the waves do a number on you, you only eat sand and seawater.

Keith jumping off the cliff
My dad just watched everyone for a long time, then took a board out and had a great first run, all the way in and beached. Though the lifeguard was trying to convince him it was too dangerous at his age to be out there. I went out a few times. But after a while I had drunk enough seawater and just played around in the surf. Once I didn't notice that the rally big waves had come up. If I had kept on the board all the way in I would have been fine, but I lost it and got cycled quite well. The waves really push you down and keep you down. It is an effort to get out of the wave so you can breath again. Not a sport for bad swimmers!

For lunch I drove into town with Joel to Quinn's for fish sandwiches. They were the best, YUM. We were hoping for more Ono, but had to settle for Ahi Tuna.

Then it was off to Ocean Safari one more time. We got all decked out with kayaks. Beth was in the front of mine. And off we paddled. I loved the waves and large ocean swells. I could sit in them all day. But Beth and Joel were a little sick to their stomachs - though later we found out it was probably the seawater they had drunk in the morning. And they weren't the only ones. No one got seriously sick, but some were a little green.

When we got around the point and into the next bay, we jumped off the kayaks and into the water for snorkeling. It is a much more lengthy process to get your gear on when in a kayak. But we all succeeded. The snorkeling here was not all that good. The coral was nice but only a few fish were to be found. Close to shore the waves pounded in really hard and it made the visibility of the water a little low. But it was nice to hop in, as it was getting very hot. It was quite sunny this afternoon. I had to swim in my sun clothes since I still had a terrible burn on my back from our last snorkeling trip. I need some clothes that I can swim in and keep the sun off. Hopefully I will find some before our next snorkel trip.

Getting back in the kayaks was an interesting trick. You couldn't get too high or the boat would tip over. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

Then we went over to some sea caves. If I had had Joel in the front instead of Beth I would have gone in, but you have to make a turn at the right time in the middle of the cave, and I couldn't do the turn for the both of us. So we stayed out. The only one that went in was my dad. He said it was easy, but he had a more maneuverable small boat and not the weight of two to move around.

Our last stop was just a little farther down to a cliff. We climbed out on the rocks, or should I say everyone but Ben and I did. Ben was afraid of climbing up the lava rocks so I stayed with him for a bit trying to convince him. And Ben and I watched everyone from the bottom. One of the guides had taken a couple of the boys to the top of the cliff and they were jumping off, my dad decided to do the jump too. Adam went up with the intention of jumping but decided that it was a bit too high.

Then they brought out the food. Even that didn't get Ben out of the boat, so I jumped into the water and swam over to the rocks and climbed up. They had some yummy pineapple, soda, candy, energy bards and some chips. I was hungry.

Joel and one of the guides chatted all the way back. The guides were super friendly and very nice. It would have been very nice if we could have gotten out at some beach though. Not that there is much sand on this part of the island. Hawaii is a very new island, and there are very few beaches. Mostly it is rocky lava shoreline. Our next island - Kauai - will have more beaches.

On the way back we stopped at the KTA to get some food for dinner, since I didn't want to cook and Mom was not here to insist (she went to the observatory).

Ben had been asking to go swimming, so after dinner I took him and Beth over to swim and soak in the hot tub.