Thursday:
I survived!!
Just barely, hence why I am a day behind blogging, so I just thought I'd wrap the past two days into one. Okay let's start with yesterday...I was on a boat
A three story boat named Calypso and it was pretty cool! The boys were too good for me, so they ran off and this actually worked in my favor, as they were infamous within two seconds on the boat for their wild comments and shenanigans thanks to their portable speaker. Unfortunately they did boat checks by family, so I had to fess up when the captain asked if my entire party was on board...ugh.
We sailed out to Molokini Crater, which is a natural preserve off of Maui. The waters were crystal clear, and we had a good amount of sun, so the visibility was amazing. I saw a 15 foot eel and a gazillion different types of fish. No sharks though! Thank goodness...still don't know how I feel about them, no matter how misunderstood they are. I also jumped off the second story of the boat! It was pretty cool, I wanted to show off my semester of CMC diving skills, but the captain was watching and there were no dives...boo. It might have been for the best though, since my lovely diving buddies used to call me the flying shrimp (apparently I could never figure out how to enter the water perfectly straight whoopsies). The boys were all over this jump. How did they get around the no diving, flipping, or running rule? By doing a belly flop, face first, into the water....twice. I don't think I will ever understand them. However, if you want to instantly become famous among 150 people in less than 60 seconds? Belly flop off the second story of a huge boat.
My favorite part of the day was sailing out to TURTLE COVE. Ugh, I love love love sea turtles and was super fortunate this trip to see four of them! One swam right under me and was like two inches away. Thank you Finding Nemo for teaching me that turtles ride the undercurrent. My trick? Find where the cold water shoots through, then let the sea carry you in that direction...if you are just patient and float, BAM, sea turtles. The entire hour all I could think about was "you so totally rock dude!" (if you don't get the reference, go watch Finding Nemo now, it'll be worth it). After that it was lunch out at sea, and then a pretty casual evening/dinner in Lahina, since we were so tired from snorkeling and spending all day out in the sun and the brutal 5 am wake-up call.
"Work Like a Captain, Party like a Pirate" thanks CMC for this perfect sailing shirt
Look at this ocean guys!!
When you ask the boys to smile
Boys didn't want to take another picture of me, so I had to selfie it
Post boat survival pic
I think the hotel staff was ready to hire me after I got all of us fresh towels and carried them to our room like this! You can thank my Bangladeshi heritage???
Friday:
Another early wake up call, but this time I could not have been more excited as I went SURFING, for the first time ever. Everyone knows how I am all about trying new things...well I may have found my next big "thing" for the time being. We had an amazing instructor, Lawrence, who showed us the ropes on the beach for a quick bit and then was like okay lets do this. We were surfing near a harbor, so the waves were nice and easy beginner ones. The boards were huge, and basically since we were an odd number, Matt and Nick tag teamed two boards on either side of them, while Lawrence and I balanced our 8 ft boards on our heads! See? Who knew last nights towel training would come in handy? The universe was preparing me for this moment...or more likely Lawrence took one look at me and thought I couldn't carry the board by myself using my arms, whatever I'm not about to complain, I looked like a pro.
We then went out to sea, Nick totally nailed his first wave, Matthew ate it, and I feel somewhere in between. But by the end I rode the entire wave to shore, didn't fall off, and even steered around other riders. Now I'm not going to participate in any US Surfer Open, but I think I held my own pretty well. My arms are SO SORE though. And I definitely did not see that one coming since silks has given me extensive arm strength, looks like there is always something else to improve on. I had a blast and now have even more respect for the surfer dudes who lived next door to me my senior year.
Since it took me a little longer to finally paddle back to shore (and I thought Kayla arms was the worst workout I've done or Anthony's 21 salute), Lawrence took pity on me and decided to carry both our boards back. The boys, being who they are, just casually started walking back to the shop instead of waiting for us, so Lawrence started jogging after them when we returned our boards. Now Lawrence is pretty buff, since his job is literally to be out at sea all day surfing, but at the same time he's short, and more on the lean side rather than bulky. Me, being me, challenges him to a race back to the shop, and I swear, I totally thought I had this race, I knew it was going to be close, but I had the advantage of shoes and longer legs. So I went for it, and that's exactly how I got my ass whooped by a Marine who still can run a 5:18 mile. Well no one told me that! I even tried cheating and cutting a corner and he STILL had me by a few blocks. When he fessed up and told me that he was a Marine, I laughed and realized that this would happen to me. But it was all in good fun, and I am now going to start running so that next time I accidentally challenge a Marine, I will be ready. (Anyways, huge shout out to Maui Wave Riders, if you're in the area, definitely recommend you go.)
After surfing, the family and I met up with my mentor for lunch and then spent the rest of the evening on the south side of the island. We actually tried to go snorkeling again today in the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Reserve, which is supposedly even better than the ones we did yesterday, but the universe had other plans. As soon as we made it there, it started pouring rain and the waves were pretty rough around the rocks. So we started driving back up north until we found the Kamaole State Beach. It was a beautiful park and beach. Mom and I sat on the benches and enjoyed the view while Matt and Nick explored, and obviously I took a photo :)
Then the boys wanted to hike around and be on their own, so mom and I left for bigger and better things, aka ice cream sandwiches. But these weren't just any ice cream sandwiches, these were kona coffee chocolate chip cookies with cappuccino chip gelato in the middle. And yes, they were every bit as heavenly as they sound, can't you tell by the look on my face? haha
Post sugar induced coma, mom and I had a long ride back in class Maui traffic, but we enjoyed the view, and I made it back to our hotel just in time to sit outside our beach and enjoy the sunset!
Love you all and see ya soon!
Aisha
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