Becky's Blog Part One

Hey guys!
Becky here - I am very excited to be Nate and Rachel's first guest out here in Oahu. I arrived safely on August 4th after about 15 hours on a plane (due to a couple of weather delays and missing my original connection to Oahu). We stopped at WalMart so I could pick up a beach towel and some snorkel gear. The first night out here we grilled out and ate on the lanai. I was pretty tired from my long travels and went to sleep early.

Day Two: On the plane I read over a guide book called Oahu Revealed and marked all sorts of things I thought sounded interesting with post-it notes. One of those places was Shark's Cove. We packed up the cooler and our snorkel gear and headed out to Sharks Cove for my first snorkel trip. It was very crowded and not easy to actually get into the cove but the water was clear and the bottom was full or interesting rocks and sea life. We saw a couple schools of fish and snorkeled right out of the cove into the ocean. Then we went down the road and found a beach where set up for the rest of the day. We enjoyed our picnic and layed out in the sun.

Day Three: Today we got up early and drove to Chinatown. The market was really interesting. It was full of fruits, veggies, fish, live crabs, and huge chunks of random meat, and a pig head. There was excellent people watching in addition to fabulous deals. Two pineapple for a dollar!!! That night, we went down to Waikiki to experience the night life. We walked down the main promenade (which easily rivaled Michigan Ave.)

Day Four: Today was our big kayaking adventure. We woke up early and went to Go Bananas to pick up our kayaks. We could only put two kayaks on Rachel's Jeep so we got a single and a double. After putting all the gear in the car we headed off to the other side of the island. We drove through a rain storm (which got us all wet since the top was off) and finally found the little harbor that was our first destination. Our goal was to find Sandbar Island. There was a beautiful picture of a white sand beach surrounded by the blue ocean on a sunny day in the guide book. We were already off to a bad start with the storm clouds overhead. We got in the Kayaks, Rachel and Chloe in the single kayak and Nate and I in the double, and headed out into the ocean. The wind was blowing pretty hard and waves just got bigger the farther out we got. About 40 minutes into the paddle we decided to tie the boats together. We kept paddling until we got out to a much shallower sandbar. It still took us a while to realise the island was 2 feet under us!!! Oops!! We ate lunch in the kayaks and then decided to make the best of our situation. We snorkeled around until Nate started pointing the Portuguese Man O'War that were in the water. At that point, Rachel and I hopped right back into our kayaks and decided it was time to head home. Back at the kayak shop they explained that sandbar island is a sandbar but that it only comes out in a low tide, once or twice a day. It is also nicknamed Sunken Island for obvious reasons.

Day Five: Girls Day :)
Nate had job interviews today so Rachel and I packed up the beach stuff and a cooler and headed down to Waikiki beach. We parked by the zoo and walked over to the beach. We rented an umbrella for an hour (only 5 dollars!) and set up on a nice spot right by the water. When our hour was up, we reapplied sunscreen and headed down the beach for surf lessons. We signed up for the group lesson, but no one else signed up so we were the only two in the group. After about 10 minutes of instruction on the beach, we followed our surf instructor into the ocean. We all paddled out to the spot all the surfers were setting up at and got ready for our first waves. I went first, the instructor held onto the back of the board and told me when to paddle. I paddled as hard as I could and when the wave was right under me, she yelled to stand up. I actually stood up on my first wave! I was so excited. Rachel and I both did a really great job. We stood up/ rode most of our waves. Our arms were burning, they were so tired from paddling but we just kept going. According to the instructor, most people get pretty tired and quit after about 20 minutes but Rachel and I stayed out for over an hour. I think surfing has been the highlight of the trip so far.
*And Nate got a job today!! Yay!

Video coming soon.