Aloha Friday #9

Fridays are the days we take it easy in Hawaii. We call it Aloha Friday, much like what folks on the mainland call TGIF. I post a question, and you comment. That's it, unless you want to ask your own question at An Island Life. My question is:

Do you have a favorite museum or nature interpretive center near you?

The major museum collection for the state of Hawaii is at the Bishop Museum and they have great exhibits! This week end I am posting about the shark exhibit.

Shark Encounter: Cross It Off Hubby's Bucket List

Yesterday I shared how Hubby and I made Hawaii Bucket Lists. A shark encounter was on his list. Only two companies on the island offer shark encounters in the open water, off of Oahu's North Shore. He was pining for this adventure! Hubby has been scuba diving for over sixteen years in different countries, and has never seen a shark. He missed the shark at Molikini Crater that the rest of his group saw, and was bummed. This shark adventure was totally for him.

Hubby and a couple of guys drove to Haleiwa Harbor on the North Shore where this company launches their boat. The boat traveled three miles and 30 feet off shore. A Hawaiian law states that feeding sharks within three miles of shore is prohibited. The boat pulled along side the shark cage, tied to a buoy. As the boat slowed. they could see sharks circling around and around the boat. These sharks were hungry! The water was clear, and nearly 500 feet deep.

The guide hand fed the sharks mahi mahi pieces, heads and tails. The company gets free scrap pieces from the local fish markets, to avoid filling our brimming landfills. This is a huge problem, particularly on an island with limited space. Hawaii is very environmentally conscious.

Hubby claims the sharks were like dogs on hind legs, begging for fish. Their heads shot up two or three feet out of the water. Their breath was aggressive and shallow as they gasped for air. He compared the way the sharks chewed on fish pieces like a dog chews on a chew toy. The guide assured the group the sharks were perfectly safe. Once a deck hand was feeding the sharks, and was covered in shark pieces, when he accidentally fell in the open water with the sharks. Even though the sharks had a wild feeding frenzy with all of the fish pieces, they completely ignored the man who fell in. The man was cut up from the sharks banging into him. Shark skin is covered in tiny teeth material, so they are very rough animals. The company has also tried to feed chickens to the sharks, but they neglected the chickens and favored the fish pieces. The sharks are accustomed to the boat motor sound, and grasped that the boat symbolized free fish, an effortless appetizer.

The boat guide asked for a group of six that wanted in the cage. Hubs and his guys volunteered first. The cage is made of steel bars. It is plumb surrounded by floats on all sides at the surface. It is 10 feet deep by 8 feet long and 8 feet wide. The bars stand two feet out of the water. The cage is fully open on top. No one is locked in, and sharks cannot swim in. The bars are four inches apart, and the folks were told not to put their hands through the bars. Two viewing areas in the cage are made of thick plexiglass instead of steel bars. Once Hubby's group was in the cage, the guide started to chum the waters. You know what that means, right? He hurled gallons and gallons of fish into the water to attract sharks! Hubby counted at least twelve sharks. His group snorkeled and eyed the sharks for twenty minutes. Hubby dove down with his snorkel and mask to get deeper views. Here are a few of his pictures:

These were Galapagos sharks. They are known for being aggressive and dangerous. The company thinks that is an exaggeration. They think the sharks are bold and curious. They commonly press their bodies up against the cage's plexiglass to peer at the folks inside. The sharks that day were about ten feet long and 400 pounds.

A teeny tiny part of me wishes I would have done it. The water's depth gave me more heebie jeebies than the sharks. I scuba dove once to 100 feet and I found no enjoyment in a deep dive. I dislike heights and I certainly dislike deep depths. I adore shallow reef dives under 60 feet. The pictures below from the company's website are fascinating. They show the shark cage and the circling sharks. How about you? Would YOU have tried a shark encounter?

Kane'ohe Bay At the Sand Bar

For nearly three years Hubby and I led the young married Bible study at our church. Each time we finished a topic or study we celebrated with a social event. This day's celebration was different. This was our final time ending a study with our group. We passed on the leadership in anticipation of our move to San Diego. Yeah, the move that we believe is going to happen. The one with no date in sight. That one.

We drove on the H3 to Kane'ohe Bay Marine Corps Base. We drove through the Ko'Olau mountain range, now the back side of an inactive volcano, half slumped into the ocean. The slopes of the Ko'Olaus are dense, lush, and fertile. Imagine a rolling green jungle. That's what they really look like. Since there are no exits on this part of the H3, or places to stop, I fumbled with my camera settings quickly, and took shots from the car. The Ko'Olaus tower high into the clouds, so most of my shots were upwards, and not the most ideal. This is my fourth point and shoot camera since April. No I didn't lose or break the others. It took awhile to choose the right camera. But this is the one. Sigh. I need to catch up on this camera manual!

Son1 has loved this tunnel for years. It's one of his favorite places on the island. You drive in the tunnel....

....and pop out to this view. Trust me, you will be even more impressed once I read my camera manual and take more pictures. Or lug my big camera, instead....

Once on base at K-Bay (that's what locals call Kane'ohe Bay) we pulled into the boat marina. Hubby jumped from the van to the boat check in, and I readied the kids. Now there is a whole trick to this boat rental thing. We learned this three years ago.

We usually rent a 10 passenger pontoon boat for half a day. It is the same amount for any pontoon boat. All pontoons are ten passengers, but some are in their Golden Boat Years. As in rickety. You get me? Only one or two are new with big plush leather seating all the way around. During summer months every pontoon boat reservation is taken, particularly on the weekends. We plan to arrive thirty minutes before our scheduled boat rental time. Most people arrive about then, too. Reservations are made either morning, midday, evening, or all day. People within the same time slot passively aggressively compete for the best boat. It is a mad dash down the boat ramp to plunk down on the best boat available while your sponsor is checking in. Every boat party is scrambling in the same way for the few best boats. I relax once this whole arrival and boat grabbing competition is over. If we are on one of the less sparkly boats, I get over it. My Competitive Spirit and I used to be better at the plunking-down-on-the-boat- shenanigan before two children. This day, I asked for help from two of our couples to secure two boats. Needless to say we didn't grab the most spectacular boats. We got beaten out by folks earlier than us.

We split the group between two boats. Each boat operator must take a boat captain course and obtain a license. They are the only ones allowed at the wheel. Our captain usually finds himself with a few deck hands, though. Hubby drove fast, fringing on speed boat speed. The boat rocked and rolled much less than if he drove it slower. Fast speed made for fast winds! On the way out to the sandbar, we passed Coconut Island. The opening credits of Giligan's Island were filmed here. If you watch Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, then you most likely have seen Coconut Island. It is now home to the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, part of the University of Hawaii. Summertime is hammerhead breeding season. Hammerhead mama sharks come to K-Bay this time of year to lay their shark eggs. The shark pups grow up in K-Bay before they head back into the wild.

Wanna see some sharks we missed at the sand bar by just weeks, at the very same spot? Take a look at this video!

The two pontoons arrived at the sand bar. We anchored in two to three feet of water. The sand bar was underwater because of high tide. When the tide is low, the sand bar is completely exposed bare sand in the middle of Kane'ohe Bay. The kids play on this little sand island in the middle of the bay, completely surrounded by water on all sides. At higher tides, like on this trip, we pull out floaties in shallow water for adults and kids. The water was calm this day, and so warm! The temperature rivaled bath water. One of the couples had family visiting from Maryland. I explained how the water was just this warm at the peak of summer. Usually the water is about 75 degrees, which is perfect. But this day the water was several degrees warmer.

Do you see how the water changes color? The lighter the water the more shallow the depth. The mint colored water is less than ten feet. At the deeper blue water the depth drops to fifty feet, immediately. The sand bar, in the foreground, is huge! Several boats, private and military owned, dock at the sand bar for hours of fun. The homes along the waters edge dwarf in the shadows of the Ko'Olaus. The Ko'Olaus reach high into these clouds!
We have seen some crazy stuff at the sand bar. People get really creative. We have seen model shoots, dog swims, kayaking, snorkeling, tubing, volley ball games, and grilling. Can you see what our boats were doing?

The group brought a plethora of dinner. And Jesse brought an irresistable dessert, meaning the Farmers indulged on raspberry chocolate chip bars!



Son1 loves our Bible study Ohana (Hawaiian word for family). He calls them his "Big Friends." Their interest in his own little life has brought us great joy as parents. When we started this group he was just 15 months old, and the only baby in the group.

Soon enough we returned to the dock and said our goodbyes to the group, and to a chapter in our life in Hawaii. We still see them in church, and we are encouraged a new group has been birthed. Our three years with them have been a blessed investment. We learned from them as they learned from us.

Back home, we unpacked and put the kids to bed. Hubby was leaving the very next morning for a couple of weeks. My heart stirred at the thought of his absence when I closed Son1's bedroom door that night. I downed the stairs, and found him waiting for me.

Sometimes I don't say anything and he reads me. He pulled out the french press, brewed chocolate mint tea, and defrosted left over scones and DP's cranberry chocolate biscotti she sent from RI. A quiet after the beach, after the kids were in bed snack, and a long conversation hushed those stirrings before bedtime.