After we reached the dock, our boat left port and we chugged into the blue waters off of Waikiki. As the shore drifted farther and farther away, the waves started to get choppy. Up and down, up and down. And I started to feel a little nauseous. Uh oh... Luckily, we reached our first dive destination and the cool water made me feel better. Look, I'm diving, Ma!
About ten minutes into our dive, our dive instructor signaled me to hurry over toward him because...HE HAD FOUND A GIANT SEA TURTLE! Eeeek! Justin and I don't know if it was a male or female turtle, but we decided to call it Myrtle.
Alas, our first dive ended far too soon and we were forced to climb back onto the boat. As we departed for our next dive site, I started to get that "Uh-Oh" feeling again. Nausea. Headache. Sour stomach. Next stop: Puke City!
Indeed, I ended up chucking my breakfast over the side of the boat. Not my most glamorous of moments, I tell you! At least Justin was there to hold my hair and pat my back. Poor guy. Everyone else was chatting and having fun and he had to babysit his green-faced wife. He wins the Husband of the Year Award!
Anyway, it was time for our second dive and we saw some cool things: bright yellow fish, a harlequin shrimp, and even a mean-looking eel. But the coolest creature we saw was an awesome red octopus:
Funnily enough, I was hardly paying attention to the octopus when this picture was taken. See, a few seconds earlier, I had rammed straight into a sea urchin. A sharp pain had shot up from my knee and my eyes went wide when I saw eight long urchin spikes sticking out of my leg. Ow, ow! As I tried to yank them out, our guide waved me over to take the picture of the octopus. I quickly complied before staring at my leg again and wondering if sea urchins were poisonous...
Good news: sea urchins are not poisonous to humans!
Bad news: sea urchin spines are ridiculously hard to pull out!
All in all, it was a fun day! I'll do it all again---vomiting, et all---for the chance to see Myrtle again!
