Hawaii Days 3-4

On Day 3, Marc finally started what we were supposedly there fore- the medical conference. For the record, he was extremely diligent and went to all of his classes. He was very worried about me being bored without him around but I assured him that I would be just fine. I did yoga, took naps, read books, shopped, walked on the beach and through lush gardens WITHOUT CHILDREN. It was a very different experience from my daily routine at home. I loved it.

I did most of my shopping in a place called Whaler's Village. They had an outrageously priced miniature whale museum there which we did not pay for, but we happily looked at the two free exhibits including this skeleton of a sperm whale.

I had no idea that whales had fingers inside those massive flippers! More proof, I guess, that whales are mammals and not fishes. In fact, humans and whales are both placental mammals and have a common ancestor that scientists guess looked like a weasel-thingy. So, the next time you meet a whale, give him a high-five. He totally has the digits for it.

Our big adventure for Day 4 was a submarine ride. It was kinda cool, but not for what it cost. We were so excited to see fish up close and different species than you might see when snorkeling. The problem is, despite the brightly colored brochures, when you go underwater and the sunlight is being filtered you lose most colors. So those super bright tropical fish you see in aquariums? Yeah, they look kind of silver-blue from the submarine. Here is our photo-evidence:

This was probably the coolest fish we saw. That guy at the top center is a trumpet fish. That black skirty part is actually his tail. They like to disguise themselves as gently waving sea plants before they pounce on their prey.

Everyone pressed their face against the windows when our naturalist exclaimed that he saw a very rare yellow sea sponge! Do you see him? Bottom right corner, goes by the name of Bob, is square, wears pants.

Just look at all those brightly colored parrot fish!

I do have to say, the naturalist they had on board the sub was both informative and funny and they played mission impossible music during both the descent and ascent. Probably the most amusing anecdote we heard though, was about the sunken ship which is now an artificial reef. The Atlantis Submarine company bought the ship, The Carthaginian, from some people who were using it as a maritime museum. The problem was, the museum was slowly sinking and eventually the government got wind of the safety hazard and "suggested" that it might not be safe to invite tourists aboard a sinking ship. No one wanted to buy a sinking ship, except the submarine company who wanted the ship to sink so it could drive its tourists by the wreck. They bid $1 and became the proud new owners of a leaky boat. The company didn't want to wait for the boat to sink, and they wanted to make sure that it sank in such a way that it would look cool and provide a reef structure for aquatic life. However, in order to sink the ship they had to do environmental impact studies, file permits on a local, state and national level, hire lawyers to review ocean property rights etc. etc. The cost of sinking that $1 boat which was going to eventually sink anyway? More than $300,000. Bureaucracy at its finest.