Travel Diary

The next day, we walked to a nearby snorkeling shop so I’d have some equipment to explore the coastal waters. The price to buy the items was absurd. Like five times what they should cost. I just rented the items instead. I passed on getting fins. Being a strong swimmer, I swim just fine without them, but also had forgotten just how useful they can be to swim even faster. I mean, that just makes total sense.

We walked down to the beach which was located about 50 yards from the condo. A nice benefit of those who rent or own there. The water was fairly stirred up, so seeing fish would not be too easy. I did manage to see one sea turtle briefly and some small colorful fish. Nothing too amazing, yet a fun time nevertheless.

I also did miss having those fins as the current kept pushing me towards the reef which was riddled with sea urchin. And they were sharp! I avoided them for the most part, but I guess I was preoccupied with my camera when I felt a sharp pain on my thumb. Yup. It hit one and it didn’t feel great. I mean, it’s not as bad as many other things that bite or sting, but it was annoying since the needles break off inside the skin and it takes a long time to fully heal. Trust me, I think it took two months to finally have no sign of that injury. If you ever run into one, be extra thorough in using a needle or tweezers or whatever it takes to ensure the entire spine is fully removed. But again, it’s not deadly or anything. Just quite annoying having it take so long to heal.

And as for the action cam, it was almost useless. The footage quality was not great, but even worse, it was recording when I thought I turned it off, and stopped recording when I thought I had turned it on. Because it does not signal on and off, I had no way to know it was messed up as I was in the water and without glasses at the time. Getting home, I quickly researched a better model to get. Don’t buy the knockoffs from China.

After snorkeling, I packed up and we headed out. We went to a small plantation farm that was interesting, though there was not enough time for a tour. Instead, we had a final lunch there. Tasty food, though I didn’t eat much. I had paid for a first class flight, so I needed to leave at least some room for more. But as I would not be driving for many hours, I was able to have a beer.

We walked around a little bit seeing many ducks and a few cool birds. After that, we then drove back to the airport. I said goodbye and headed into the terminal.

There was still a fair amount of time before boarding. I became hungrier than I anticipated so I indulged in a small Whopper Jr. from Burger King. I think it was about $5. Eh, airport prices. What can you do? Afterwards, it was a wait for a little while and finally we got on the plane.

The seat was first class, but as it was Alaska, it wasn’t too fancy. More width mainly, and the meal, but that’s about it. Oh, yeah, free booze too. I guess that’s a bonus. It was about five hours to return, but once landed, I took the shuttle to my car and drove home. Since I had advanced a few time zones and the flight was several hours, it was already pretty late.

Hawai’i trip number four was in now the books. I’ll be keeping my sandals as I may return in 2022.