Ten years ago when we went to the Big Island my main focus was seeing active lava flows. I booked a helicopter tour just to make sure we could fly over the volcano and see the lava. And we did. It was amazing. We flew over streams of flowing lava and pools of bubbling lava.
We also booked a night time snorkel with manta rays. That ended up getting cancelled because of the weather. No big deal. The main focus of that trip had been the volcano.
We kept saying we would get back and do it eventually. But when given the opportunity to go to Hawaii we always choose Maui. Or at least now that we've been to the four main islands we always go back to Maui. We like it a lot and I subscribe to the philosophy that you should do what makes you happy. I know there are people that like variety and are always chasing the new experience but that is hit or miss for me. It might be great but it might be terrible. If I have a week with Brent not working I want to make sure we go someplace that is relaxing and we know we enjoy. Thus Maui.
Sabbatical time. Brent booked us to go to the Big Island. It's a bonus trip. We went to Maui in February, now we have this extra trip and time so we were finally going to go back and do the manta ray trip. That was the whole purpose for this trip to Hawaii. I scheduled it for the first night just incase the trip got cancelled due to weather or we didn't see any mantas so we had the most opportunities for rescheduling.
The weather being the biggest worry. I get seasick, and even people who do not normally get seasick have horror stories about getting sick on this tour. The water can be just terrible and the fact that it's dark makes it worse for a lot of people. And even though you are only on the boat for a few minutes you are floating on the water for around forty. Not swimming, just holding on to the light board and floating. A lot of people get really sick.
I was worried. But determined. We've talked about it for years. It looked super cool. Time to do it or stop thinking we were going to do it.
First day on the island. First chance at the snorkel. And...
The weather was perfect. Seas totally calm. I drugged up and wore my bands anyway, but seriously just smooth sailing.
Cruised out to the viewing spot, literally less than 10 minutes from the pier. Got our instructions on what to do: you grabbed ahold of the light board that was closest to the boat and shimmied down the boards to the farthest spot. Your level of comfort in the water determined how far out you went, Brent and I were the second board from the furthest, we're pretty comfortable. So I get off the boat swim over to the boards and grab the first one and put my face in the water while I shimmy down and THERE IS ALREADY A MANTA RIGHT THERE. My first reaction was glee and my second was to show Brent, who was already most of the way down the boards to our spot. I had to keep going and was really worried that was going to be it, but even if it was I saw one and it was amazing.
But that wasn't it.
There were four of them with us most of the time. And they are massive and incredible and they come right up to you. The water is so clear that you can watch them swim from the bottom of the ocean (or at least as far down as the lights penetrated the water) all the way up to the light board, mouths wide open gulping in as much plankton as possible. They would move with each other in what looked like a dance. They would glide right in front of us so close that all I would have had to do was stretch my fingers out to touch them. It was amazing.
They have a wingspan of about 14 feet, just to give you an idea of the size. It was amazing.
And for one little guy (who Brent and I thought, we when saw him, was a little young for this) it was terrifying. He tapped out after about 5 minutes and they took him back to the boat. His parents did not go with him, told him to sit with the backpack and they would join him when they were done. And I thought...holy shit. I mean I really wanted to see the rays but if Brent had freaked out and was terrified of them I would have gone back to the boat with him let alone with a 6 or 7 year old. Different parenting choices are always so interesting right?
But anyway, I could see how at that age and size they would be super scary. He might have been able to fit inside their mouths they were so big. And for sure it was much larger than he was, hell they were much larger than we are!
There were also some women on either side of Brent and I that would give an early warning for when one was swimming along the board close to all of us. They would scream. Each and every time. Which screaming around a snorkel is a trick, but they did it. We weren't sure if they were startled or if that was their uncontrollable glee noise. I mean the first one I saw I know I made an oooh! noise myself.
We have a recording (hopefully) and when I figure out how to access it I'll post some footage. Even if it turned out I know it probably won't fully capture the feeling of seeing them right next to us. I'm really glad we got to do it this time.
Set those intentions. Focus on that outcome.
We also did another helicopter tour, I figured since it might be our last trip to that island we should make sure we saw the volcano again. And...
The weather was so bad over that part of the island we didn't fly there. Completely socked in.
In fact the weather was terrible the whole rest of the trip. It was super stormy on the other side of the island and hot and humid with strong winds on ours. It was that kind of oppressive hot where you have a hard time doing anything without it feeling like a slog. And the water was a mess. Super choppy and rough. I would have been so sick if we had tried to go any other night.
I should have set my intentions for an overall great trip. Manta rays, more volcano, smooth water, pleasant weather. But I didn't, I set them strictly on the rays. And we got perfect ray weather and viewing. The captain of the boat said they generally have between one and three rays and we had four so feeling pretty great about that.
It's all about putting what you want out there and it coming back to you right?
Well no. That's all bullshit. I mean a lot of people honestly believe it, and I will write tomorrow about the opposite point of view, but know that I know it's not true.
I did not have any bearing on how that first night went. My focus on the first night did not mean the other things fell through, any more than my focus on the volcano the first time we went made the ray tour fall through. It was a happy coincidence.
But I'll still take it.
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