Hawaii- Day Whatever -Whale Sharks and Off Roading

Yesterday we went on a snorkel tour on a very large catamaran. Part of the fun of the trip is that they look for whales, etc on the way to the place where they bring you to snorkel. On our way their we saw some male humpback whales on a heat run, (which mean they were chasing the ladies)...and then it happened. Someone shouted that they spotted a whale shark. The captain turned off the engine as we stared into the water in the distance. The thing in the water began swimming directly at the boat, then next thing we know, 3 out of 4 crew members were in the water including the captain. The whale shark swam directly towards the boat and which time another tour boat pulled up and people started jumping in the water. The last crewman left on the boat didn't see how he could keep our boat from getting in the water...so our boat started unloading. (Keep in mind we were in water 800-1000 ft deep water, and this is NOT where we were snorkeling.) Jeff took some pictures first and then hopped in the water. Somewhere in the chaos we heard the crewman shout, "I have lost total control of this boat!" Jeff was able to swim with the whale shark and we are still waiting to see if there is picture evidence as one of the crew women was in the water with a water proof camera. Apparently they are very rare, which explains why everyone was so quick to jump in. They do not have teeth and eat creatures that do not require chewing, (plankton, krill.) They are also very curious which explains why he stuck around for about 40 min. Anyway, after swimming with an 18 foot whale shark nothing we saw snorkeling was very impressive.


Today we hiked into some awesome beaches. The hike was a little longer than we had expected and when we got down to the beach we noticed a gate with some cars...apparently you could drive here and skip the hiking! (We thought) So Jeff's parents hiked out to go get the car and drive around to pick us up. Awesome!...we thought.

This is a creepy goat that we saw on the way down to the beach. Who knew goats hung out on dried lava?

This is not the best part of the beach, however there was a really cool little lagoon that we stopped at so Sam could play. This was also a good spot to see turtles.

Sammy and Daddy playing in the water.

Chillin'

...And sleepin' (for 2.5 hours!)

A cool picture on the hike back to the car.

...and this is where the story continues. Jeff's Dad came to get us and said that the road they came in on was TERRIBLE and he had left Jeff's mom with the car. He said that he had walked in about twenty minuets because they could not get the car any further. Here is Sammy and Daddy hiking back to the car.



We found the car and hopped in to make the trip back. This picture does not do the road justice. It is made of lava with HUGE differences in terrain height, which makes navigation by a normal SUV almost impossible. We were stuck at this point in the road for about 10 minuets thinking we were going to have to call a tow truck. After much scraping, tire burning, and praying Jeff and Jerry were able to power out. It was pretty hairy and I'm glad we are not still stuck on that road because I don't think a tow truck would make it back there. Oh and we are never going on that road again.