Saturday on the Zodiac
It was hard to sleep the night before because a big rain storm and lots of wind came through. The morning of our excursion I was worried that it would be canceled, but part of me didn’t mind much because I was so tired and could have used the extra sleep….but as soon as I got out on that water, I was so glad we didn’t decided to cancel this trip for extra sleep! It was so worth it and honestly was the highlight, one of the main things I will remember of my trip to Hawaii!
It’s not often that my life is ever adventurous. I have a lot of stress in my life, but not a lot of let’s do something fun and crazy. I’m a single mom and my main focus is doing my work, paying the bills and making sure the kids and house are taken care of and I usually fail at one or two of those at any given time.
We drove 30 minutes up to Captain Andy’s dock. Once we got to the dock, Captain Rob’s assistants briefed us on safety procedures and made sure we knew what we were getting into. They informed us that the waters were a bit choppy and that we would be experiencing 10-15 feet swells, but that we were in for a treat of whale watching, possibly some dolphins and we’d see parts of the island many people can only see by boat because it is protected.
As we were leaving, we took a sharp turn right out where were docked and sped up the coast! We learned many facts about the island and learned about “Forbidden Island”.
Forbidden Island!
You are only allowed in this island by invitation only from one of the Hawaiian families living on this island. The Hawaiians on “Forbidden Island” aim to preserve the culture and native Hawaiian ways and do not want outside influence.
On our way up the Nepali Coast, our Captain spotted whales beaching and he positioned us so we could see them as they swam by! Only up close can you truly grasp how big they are and this video doesn’t really do it justice! Plus if you actually saw what I saw, it was better than what I captured on video!
On the way, it started to rain a little bit, so I’m glad we chose to bring raincoats so that we didn’t get too wet. As we continued up the Nepali Coast, we saw waterfalls and beautiful rock formations along with sea caves!
Once we got passed a few sea caves, we found a great location to land the boat and eat lunch! Lunch was very tasty! They served us turkey sandwiches, macaroni salad with fruit and even some macadamia nut cookies and hot cocoa! It really hit the spot because I felt like it took a lot of energy to hold on to the rope and my footing on the zodiac.
After lunch, our guides took us on a little hike to explain more about Hawaiian culture and the history of the natives who used to live here. We learned about a fruit they brought over for medicinal purposes called Noni. It smells like blue cheese and makes your lips go numb. It serves as a great numbing agent for wounds.
After our hike, we boarded the zodiac and headed back, but not before seeing spinner dolphins and listening to wales with a hydrophone!
It was the coolest thing to see all the dolphins swimming all around us and doing flips in the air. I’ll never forget it! This day was my favorite day of my entire stay.