A Mermaid Moment

We made it to the beach Friday, and then yesterday we went snorkeling for the first time. It was so cool. We went with a friend who snorkels a lot to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve (check out the "Underwater" slide show to see what I saw). I'm nervous about doing new things, but snorkeling is so easy and I only freaked out a little. We had some issues finding me a mask that fit, then I had to get used to the whole Darth Vader breathing thing, but then it was awesome.

I'd be floating along and swimming a little, and then a fish would be right there! My Snorkeling Friend would point and surface and be like, "did you see that humuhumunukunukuapua'a?"; and Husband would point and surface and say, "look at that," then look up the fish in the ID book at the beach ("ah, that was a nunu peke"); but I was like, "look, a fish. look, a fish. look, a fish. look, a turtle. look, a big fish. look, a bunch of fish. look, a turtle. look, a sea urchin. look, a fish. ohmygod, that turtle's coming right at me. swim, swim. look, a fish." I've never seen a fish in the wild before. Beaches on the Atlantic Coast are too murky, and I was never one for lake swimming. It was so much fun!

I saw three (3!) green sea turtles. And so many bright fish. We also tried our hand at night snorkeling, but there wasn't much to see where we were. Apparently, the water was a bit rough, and so it was sandy. (I went snorkeling and the water was rough! Hee hee.) The only time I panicked was when Snorkeling Friend, Husband, and I got separated. I was a bit freaked when I couldn't see anyone, but it worked out okay. And when the turtle was coming right at me, I had to get out of it's way because I didn't want to accidentally bump it (they're endangered you know), but that wasn't freaking out. That was protecting the environment. Also, I need to work on staying in one spot when the current is pushing me into a reef. But for a first time, I think it was so cool.

So today, Husband and I went and bought a Sea Turtle Endangered Species Chocolate Bar. It's excellent chocolate from an environmentally conscious company who donates money to protect the animals that grace it's bars (and the chocolate is all environmentally grown and fairly traded).