Over and Under the Sea

Wednesday brought rain and a slow down to our Island activities.We went swimming at the hotel. We decided to have lunch at a nearby MacDonald's which featured not only hot apple pies but Taro pies as well. Oh yeah. And with the meal deal order, you get a cup of pineapple.

We were scheduled to take a sunset cocktail cruise but instead ended up hanging out at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The hotel is great with an outdoor area that features flamingos, penguins, a couple of pools and stores to shop for gifts. We then headed back to our hotel via The Bus and called it a night.

Thursday brought another cloudy day but the rain was intermittent so we once again boarded The Bus and headed for the Hilton for our next adventure. The Atlantis Submarine.

When we arrived, we were taken by boat for about a 10-minute ride to where the subs are docked. The captain told us all to look out the windows as the sub surfaced. We then waited as a group of people disembarked before were allowed to board.

We stepped out onto the wet deck holding for dear life as the sub moved up and down with the ocean's motion. we then slowly made our way to the round hatch and climbed down a ladder into the belly of the submarine.

 After a safety warning the diving horn went off and we began our dive to 110 feet. As we went down the water stayed blue but seemed to become murkier. We passed some artificial reefs that were teaming with fish. we saw sharks, sea turtles and small fish.

 At one point our captain pointed out that we had hit the 110 foot mark and told us to look for another reef that had been blown around during a hurricane.

And the fish. They seemed to come from nowhere at times making us jump as they shot past our view port. Although we were far underwater, you could still make out their colors.

when we arrived back to our starting point, we once again boarded the boat to head for shore. On the way we saw surfers, snorkelers and swimmers. We got back on land and then hung out at the beach for a couple of hours before embarking on our next adventure.

As you can probably already tell, the title of this blog hints at being under the sea as well as being over it. Well, as I said in the above paragraph, we had some time to kill at the beach before boarding a large catamaran for a sunset cocktail cruise. That is the above part and it was very relaxing.

We walked out to the boat via the Hilton pier and just before boarding, we took our shoes off. We climbed in and found places to sit as the captain gave us a few safety tips and told us the most important thing about the voyage...where the food and cocktails would be served.

The engine of the boat started and we were then underway watching as Waikiki slipped away as we got further out to sea. to our right, we could see storm clouds over Diamondhead.

After a few minutes, the sail was raised and all was quiet aboard the boat. We cruised with just the sounds of the wind in the rigging and the waves slapping the sides of the boat. We started on our cocktails and really started having a great time talking with fellow cruisers on the boat. Some were from California.

After eating some food, the sun began to set and we all headed to the stern to watch. even the captain got into the act as he sat steering the boat.

Once the sun finally set, we headed back to the dock and headed for the hotel.