Month: January 2006

I finished the rest of the weekend with two new experiences (at least sort of). My time here has been characterized by adventurous experiences … by myself. I am not used to doing things like this without my beautiful wife, Anna.
So, it’s a little bitter sweet that I get to have fun and try these new activities.
First up for the day was a stop on the North Shore at Dillingham Airfield. I decided that it had been entirely too long since I last flew. So, since I had never taken an ultralight (this particular one was a two-person powered hang glider also known as a “trike”), I decided that was the way to go. Well, the flight was a blast. We went anywhere from 500 feet to 3,000 feet above the ground. Since the seats were basically just lawn chairs (with a very secure harness, of course), the view was breathtaking. We flew for over an hour and went all across the north shore Oahu.
Here are a few shots from the flight to show you what I am talking about:

Flying over the North Shore:



Second stop was out on the ocean. For those of you who have read the previous post on the dive trip Anna and I took to Palau, you know we’ve dove with sharks. This was a whole different experience though. Previously, if we happened to see a shark, great, but it wasn’t the objective of the dive. Also, the sharks we had seen were reef sharks (black tip, white tip and gray) and not particularly aggressive. This time, we were after more aggressive sharks (Galapagos). So instead of using scuba gear to get close, we used a boat and a very strong cage. Here’s the boat and our protection from the animals we were searching for.

On the ride out to the buoy, we were treated to more north shore visitors.



As you may be able to tell from the last picture, we found a migratory humpback whale with her very new calf (from Alaska).
When we arrived, it didn’t take long for the sharks to hear the sound of the boat’s engine and come say hi. 🙂


The two guides tied us to the buoy and launched the cage. There were eight of us on the boat, so we went into the cage, four at a time.


I chose to go in the second group. So, after the first four got in the cage, the guides took out a large bucket of random fish parts. They tossed in pieces and basically got the sharks a little more excited with the free food passed out. In fact, there were long pieces of skin. You can see here what the guide did…

The sharks almost look tame (like a dog sitting up for a treat). However, that assumption could be very dangerous.
If you lose respect for these predators it could be fatal (or at least painful).
Each group spent 25 minutes in the cage. Since I have gotten used to the warm water in Guam, that was plenty long enough for me to get a little chilly.
Here’s my group in the water:

This shot gives you a better idea of how large the sharks were.

Basically, these sharks were anywhere from 6-12 feet long. That was only slightly larger than the reef sharks we found in Guam and Palau. However, in the water, they looked significantly larger! Of course that may also be because we watched them feeding… 🙂
Also, along with the sharks looking for a free meal, there was a large school of mackerel (probably 400 or so).
It was a great way to get up close and personal in complete safety to these spectacular predators. Next time though, I would love to find some great whites. we’ll leave that one for another time though.
So, after that thrilling morning, I headed back to Honolulu for a quick hop over to the Big Island of Hawai’i. I planned to spend the rest of the weekend chasing another long time desire.
So, until then…
–Jim

Hi everyone, ok, so I have now spent almost a week here in Hawaii. I am here to help with a quasi-promotion board. My job is to help prepare about 350 records to meet a board of senior officers who will decide who gets a promotion recommendation. The actual promotion selection will come later at another board in Texas where they look at all the records from the Air Force. This board is just for the Pacific Theater bases (Guam, Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, & Korea).
That said, we have had a fairly light schedule this week. There are 5 people here to help out with the board. Since it’s normally a 3 person job (they brought more of us to give us better exposure), we’ve gotten things done quickly. In fact, today I had off! What a treat! 🙂
Since I often have to work at least part of the time on the weekends, this is some compensation at least.
Let me backtrack for a minute. Since Anna and I have lived on Guam we’ve talked numerous times about learning to surf, however, for one reason or another, we never did. I found myself in the surfing capital of the world last weekend with an entire day to myself. So, I decided it was high time to remedy my surfing desire.
I took a group lesson and after about 30 minutes of land instruction (in both English and Japanese, of course), the 6 students and 4 instructors headed out to catch the waves of Waikiki.
Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with learning to surf, let me clarify a couple things.
1. The surfboards one starts out on are HUGE. I mean they are aptly called floating sidewalks (12 feet of foam and so buoyant that you can almost stand up on them without a wave to push you).
2. The waves we caught were not the 20′ curling waves of the North Shore. These were more the 2-3′ variety. I thought they were just right. Not too big and not too small. 🙂
Now, hopefully, that will put things in perspective a little more.
Here we are on the way out.


Our guides were happy to bring us out to the best location and paddle next to us and when the right wave was coming, say “Go … start paddling! Paddle faster! Harder!” Sometimes they even added a little push to get things going.
After one minor miscommunication with my guide, I was able get up on a wave and ride it in the 100 yards to shore. It was quite a thrill! Then the hard part began. I was eager to get back out and try it again, so I paddled hard. After the third wave, my arms began to get very heavy. By the end of the hour out there, my arms were like lead. As we paddled back in to shore, I could barely raise my arms to complete a stroke. Wow, I was not expecting that to be the hardest part of the experience!
By the end of the hour in the water, I could (relatively) get up easily and ride in a straight line. I still have much to learn in the wave of turning and using a smaller board, but it’s a start at least!
Here are a few pictures of me and the group that went with me:

As you can tell, I was a little excited just to be up riding a wave!



Here are the others in the group:

This kid was a natural!

A Japanese couple’s first attempt at holding hands while surfing…

Now the last, and SUCCESS!

The rest of the week has been filled with work and when not working, it’s been rather rainy. So, my outdoor activities (including the golf I planned to do) have been curtailed. That changed today though.
I started the morning off with a refreshing run and countered that with a divine (albeit unhealthy) pancake breakfast. It’s purported to be one of the best places around. I agree it was good. It’s a place called Eggs and Things if you stop by Honolulu.
Then off to the second biggest tourist attraction (after Pearl Harbor), snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. It was nice, but very similar to Guam. The visibility was much less (although the rough surf may have had something to do with that.
After, I continued around the windward side of the island. Since Oahu is about 3 times the size of Guam, it took a little while. The windward side was beautiful though. Much less crowded and the mountains and sea are very majestic.
I made it up to the North Shore in the late afternoon and spent a while just sitting on the beach in awe of the surfers who rode the very large waves.


It’s hard to describe, but these guys are all decked out in protective gear (the waves are big, the water is shallow, and the rocks/coral is hard … dangerous combination) and the drop into some very serious waves. The waves look very innocuous, until you see a person that is only a third or half the size of the wave (sometimes less).
After I had my fill of those two world famous surfing spots, I stopped at another unique location. It’s a place where they have VERY gregarious and friendly sea turtles. When I got there (right around sunset), there were three turtles lying on the beach supposedly drying themselves out. There were many more in the water, but the rip tide was too strong to don a mask and snorkel and jump in with them. Hopefully, I will be able to go back tomorrow morning.


I will leave tomorrow’s activities to the next post.
I finished off the evening watching a fireworks show from my room…

Until the next post…
–Jim