Hawaii...Shark adventure & Waikiki Beach

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Day 6: Tuesday

Today was Obama’s inauguration day as the 44th president of the United States and the streets were full of tourists and locals wearing T-shirts with Obama slogans. By the time we were ready and out, the inauguration was over in Washington DC because of the 5 hour time difference. If we were in NY, watching the ceremony would have been a priority. But we were not at all drawn to the moment in history, as our mind was filled with the beauty of Hawaii. This was the last day of our vacation.

We drove over to the North shore to Haleiwa for our Shark adventure cruise. We checked in as suggested in Pier 35 at the harbor and 2 guys - Tim and Scott took us out on their sailboat. It was a rough sailing on a choppy sea, sea water splashing all over us; we had to sit on boxes. I asked for life jackets, but they weren’t giving out any. Rajesh and Meg were chillin’ on the beach and we were with 4 other people as they limit 6 to one boat. They took us deep into the ocean and then we spotted about 5 sharks. The boat stopped and Niki and I decided to get into the cage after someone got in first. It is a big industrial cage and protected on all sides and it is let down into the ocean. The couple who got in first wore snorkel gear and dove in and swam in the cage. The jaws theme music started playing on the boat. More sharks surfaced up as Tim and Scott started feeding them at the rear end of the boat. They told us that the bigger ones were called Galapagos and the smaller ones were sand bar sharks. It was so thrilling and my heart was pumping real fast.

Then it was our turn and I must admit that Niki was braver than me. It was good we had snorkeled the previous day in Hanauma bay, so we had some experience. The sea was choppy and the cage was swooshing up and down because of the waves and it was hard to snorkel. But we tried to keep afloat for some time and Niki did some diving in and she said that she felt as though she was swimming with those sharks. I swallowed a lot of sea water and I didn’t know what the hell I was doing in the cage. At times I had my eyes closed; at times I looked at the sharks with my goggles while trying to grasp the end of the cage and couple of times, I even yelled at Tim and Scott to let me out; but they just laughed. We were allowed 20 minutes in the cage and by then I was glad to get out. I have to admit that it was very thrilling and an adventure of a kind, although I was very sloppy at it. We got some pictures in our underwater camera and couldn’t wait to get back to the land to tell Rajesh all about it.

We spent the rest of the day stretched out on Waikiki beach, building sand castles, playing in the water and trying not to get tanned with sun block spf 85. Niki searched for the homeless girl, but she wasn’t around, so she said ‘maybe she is out buying herself something nice with the $10’. But she found another homeless woman with some writings on her T-shirt and took an apple pie to her that she had bought to eat at the beach. The woman hugged and kissed her and said God bless you! Niki came back and said though the woman was homeless; she had showered, because she smelled clean. For being such a good and kind little girl, I gave her $20 to indulge in whatever caught her fancy and she spent it on Hawaii T-shirts, flower clips and lovely colorful slipper necklaces at the International market place.

It was a lovely day as well as an emotional day. Rajesh felt that Hawaii had a sentimental pull and I couldn’t agree with him less. It was hard to say good bye to Oahu, Waikiki beach, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, the familiar streets, shops, lagoons and above all the mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

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