Dolphin Adventure!

We decided we could afford to go on one adventure tour while we were in Hawaii. After comparing several, we decided on a dolphin viewing and snorkeling excursion on the western Waianae coast. They take you out on a nice, two story boat to view some wild dolphins. Then after a lunch of custom cheese burgers, you go snorkeling with sea turtles! We missed out on the dolphin swim in New Zealand, so I couldn't pass up this opportunity to get close up and personal with some majestic marine life.

Excited for the adventure to begin!

Incredible views of the Waianae coast from the boat.

Before we reached the area where the dolphins were hanging out, we spotted some incredible flying fish and this large sea turtle!

The dolphins were right below the railing - so close I could have touched them if I wanted to.

They loved showing off for the cameras!

The water out there was SO clear that we could see them perfectly. It was an incredible experience! Our captain followed the pod around for about thirty minutes, but the time flew past and before I knew it, it was time to head back to shore to drop off those who would not be snorkeling with us. On the way back to port they served us some delicious hawaiian style cheeseburgers (with avocado and grilled pineapple) for lunch. The food was delicious, which was fortunate as I ended up tasting my burger twice... But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After we dropped off the non-swimmers, we headed back out into the open ocean and received some guidance on how to use our snorkel equipment. Then we changed into our suits and flippers, de-fogged our masks, and took the plunge. Our snorkel guide showed us some beautiful reefs and caves where tropical fish linger. We were even lucky enough to see an endangered Hawaiian monk seal!

A little hard to see, but there's the monk seal swimming out of that cave!

One of my favorite memories from the trip - swimming hand-in-hand with my love and seeing the fish!

When we first boarded the ship, they gave us some natural ginger pills to fight sea-sickness. But I guess after four hours they worr off and I started to feel bad. I must have also swallowed a lot of sea water because I got extremely sea sick. My body always has the WORST timing when it acts up. The second leg of our snorkeling tour was what I was looking forward to most. The spot they took us to was a shell cleaning station for sea turtles. Somehow they know that if they come to this spot, the fish there will eat the algea off of their shells. So it was a guarantee we'd see some turtles out in the wild. But I was too sick to get back in the water.
James knew that one of the major reasons I went on this tour was for the pictures. So while I sat miserably on the boat fighting the rocking sensation, he had my blessing to take the underwater camera and enjoy himself out there swimming with the turtles. He got some spectacular shots while I heaved up my lunch. It's crazy how the best and worst moments of our trip happened within an hour of each other. Still - when I look back on our excursion I only remember the good.