Waterlogged!

Hi All,

Kathy and I have been getting into this snorkeling thing lately. I don't know how long it will last but I believe that my fingers now have permanent waterloggedridges!
We have been so fortunate to live so close to Hanauma Bay where the fish are abundant and the sea turtles now know Kathy personally. Yes, Kathy refers to them as "my sea turtles."
She does seem to have a knack for finding them. I have been taking advantage of my father's day present ... a relatively inexpensive underwater camera.
The last few weekends, we've been abandoned all sense of reason and ventured to the North Shore for snorkeling at Shark's Cove. Are there any sharks at Sharks Cove? I haven't seen one and don't expect to!
The "little guy" below was about 3 1/2 feet across!

This sea turtle was enjoying lunch off the reef at Sharks Cove.

This picture is a bit hard to see but it is a picture of about 500 little blue fish!

When we least expected it, one of our friends came cruising up over this rock to say "hello!"

Kathy took this video clip of me swimming down about 15 feet.

In addition to the snorkeling, we've frequented Bellows Air Station beach. It is a gorgeous beach with tons of privacy and 3 to 5 foot waves that just cruise in from the outer reef. It has become one of our favorite beaches as it is only 20 minutes away and stunningly beautiful.

Below, Krista drags Kathy out on the boogie board.

Maui Trip!

Ahhhh Maui! A beautiful place with a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. OH ... and expensive! We stayed in an area where the lawns or should I say the golf courses were wonderfully manicured. Lots of golf courses that wound around tall palms and soft sand traps were all around us.

Kathy and I stayed away from the golf courses ... maybe next time or perhaps the time after that.

We took the Ferry on a Friday afternoon and soon were rocking and jerking to the bumps of the Pacific Ocean interrupted by the winds and the channels. All in all ... it was a lousy trip to get there. Kathy got sea sick even though she took Dramamine. Not fun. Fortunately, the trip back was much better!

We got to the hotel, checked in, put away our clothes and could hear classic Hawaiian music and quickly found our way to a small bandstand outside the bar. Even before the 2nd Mai Tai, they sounded pretty good! :-)

The hotel was pretty nice. Not stunning rooms but it was clean and in a good location, right on the beach!

Kathy and I started a game of checkers. WELL, as soon as I jumped one of her guys, she quit and accused me of playing like her sister Cindy. I guess I'm supposed to try and lose! Cindy, she will never play checkers again because of the way you abused her as a child! (or maybe that was last year?)

We wound our way to the less travelled part of the island ... the picture below is especially for Barbara Horton. The road was more narrow than Ireland! Kathy screamed the entire time we drove down this 1 lane, 2 way road and also screamed all the way back. Note the narrow road. Note the lack of guardrails. Note the nice sloping hill we'd fall down if I went off the road.

Kathy recovered enough to chit-chat with the 10 year olds running this refreshment stand.

On the way back to the hotel we found this beautiful stop ...

I am never far from my camera ...

Kathy enjoying dinner ...

The sun began to set and I began to click away ... Kathy had another glass of wine ;-)

This family walked by and made nice silhouettes.

I'm not sure what to say except the color of this sunset was stunning. Kathy refilled her glass.

We also went snorkeling with my new underwater camera from Olympus. It is a pretty good little camera but I'm still learning how to use it. Below is a video clip of a green sea turtle. Sorry about the shaking!

We had a wonderful time and are already disagreeing on where we are going next!

Peace, love and grace

John