We stayed docked in Honolulu overnight and I got up at 6am to go diving with 2 other people from the ship. I was undecided if I was going to go diving or not but since we got so much done the first day I went ahead and signed up. We got off the boat at 6:30am and drove to the dive boat which was not far. They leave promptly at 7. In Hawaii most of the dive boats go out early because the winds in the afternoon make it very rough to dive. It was a large dive boat and there were divers and 4 staff members.

The sun was just rising as we left port.

The first dive was a very short boat ride out and was a wreck dive. It was a boat seized by the government years ago and intentionally sunk to make and artificial reef. Even though it was a short ride out it was very bumpy. The wreck sits in about 125 feet and the top of the wreck is at about 100 feet. The current was so strong that you had to use a rope to guide you down so you did not get swept away in the current. The water is not very clear so as you got deeper you suddenly saw the wreck materialize in the gloom,.

You can see the wreck in these pictures and it is a huge wreck

This turtle showed up and we also saw sharks and a moray eel. The sharks were pretty far away and even these pictures are hard to see. Since the wreck was so deep we only stayed down for about 30 minutes.

After the wreck we went to a place where the water was a little calmer but by then I was pretty queasy and could do nothing but stare at the horizon until the next dive. The sea sickness is getting worse on small boats and yes I am aware I am on a cruise ship for another 4 months.

The second dive was in 60 feet. Water was still murky but we saw a couple of huge turtles and we did get to see a large manta ray. It had a wing span of about 15 feel. I did not get any good pictures of it but my 2 dive buddies, Roger and Marilyn did and I will share those with you as soon as I get them.

The 2 turtles we saw.

I will get better pictures of it but you can just see the manta swimming away on the left hand side. It gives you a little perspective of the size.

We were done diving by 10am and went back to the boat. I was not feeling great after the rocky boat and would have loved to be on land for another 24 hours. Kathy had gone out and about and was exploring China town and walked by the palace. We arranged to meet outside the pier and go for some lunch. We had seen tons of food trucks and Hawaii is known for it’s food truck scene so we went to a place that had several varieties.

We ended up having Brazilian food but there were about 1/2 dozen different food trucks and they had this great deck with lots of picnic tables.

Kathy picked up this great floral arrangement while I was diving in China town and I had gotten her a collapsable vase for Christmas so now we have a nice floral arrangement for the cabin. The plan is to pick up a new arrangement in Tahiti because we know they have tons of fresh flowers in the flower market in Papeete.

The boat sailed a little before 2 and now we are on another 5 day stretch to Tahiti. Hopefully it won’t be as bumpy from Santa Barbara to Hawaii but we will see. Since we are going due south it will definitely get warmer.

Sunset and since we are traveling south, and our cabin is on the starboard side we will be on the sunset side for the next 5 days.

I will try to post more on sea days.