The next day we were at the dock to meet our dive boat at 5:45 AM. Those of us who love to dive were very excited to go to Molokini and to Turtle town. The range of visibility is wonderful there and we were hoping to see some aquatic life that we hadn't experienced prior to our dive, needless to say none of us were disappointed.
Upon our arrival, Todd, Melissa and I as certified Open Water Divers were put into one group and Christopher, Julie, Seth and Madi were in another group that had less experienced divers and more instructors present. We then took the plunge! When I entered the water I was astonished at the range of visibility and completed my decent along with Melissa and Todd in record time. I watched as Seth, Madi, Julie and Christopher jumped in and started to descend along the anchor line. As you can see, Melissa even poses for photographs under the water and we attempt to accommodate all of her requests. What a ham!
As you can see we had the opportunity to interact with a wide variety of underwater creatures during our outing. I have included photos of some of our favorite encounters. First, there were countless tropical fish that were so beautiful and full of vibrant colors. I think all of us enjoyed those and even had a chance to get up close to them on several occasions during the dive. Another highlight for us was our interaction with an Octopus! Melissa, Seth and I had a chance to hold one and all of us loved that. We were on a shore dive at the Grand Wailea with the owner of the dive shop, Charlie Dolfun, who found and helped us hold the Octopus. We were all very impressed with that encounter and loved diving with Charlie, what an expert!
We also sighted the endangered Green Sea Turtle on numerous occasions during our trip. The beach at our hotel is one of the best snorkel sites in the world and these magnificent creatures like to hide in the reef off the coast in that location. We saw several of them while snorkeling and also during our dive at Turtle Town. Julie, Christopher, Seth and Madi, along with their dive group saw 7-8 during their Turtle Town dive. Seth and Madi were especially impressed with that encounter. Julie and Christopher also enjoyed their first experience with scuba diving, although Christopher was a little bit congested and had some trouble equalizing his ears during his dives. Overall, everyone loved the adventure and I think that Julie and Christopher are looking forward to their next chance to dive.
Todd, Melissa and I had the most amazing experience during both of our dives. As scuba divers, there is always the possibility of an encounter with one of the most amazing animals in the ocean, the shark. The more we have had the opportunity to dive, the more we have been excited to have that experience for the first time. We had been told that it is a somewhat rare occurrence, so we weren't really holding our breath or even expecting to have that happen in the area that we were diving. At Molokini, our group made our decent first and quickly split from the other group and made our way to a deeper area of the crater. Since it is a dormant volcano and protected from weather and currents, a wide variety of aquatic life resides there. About 20 minutes into our dive I turned to the right and saw something moving in the distance, and guess what it was? !!!
A White Tip Reef Shark!!! I couldn't believe it. We knew that there were sightings of these beautiful creatures in the location, but didn't really expect to see one. We have all talked about the first encounter we would have with a shark on numerous occasions and what we thought our reaction would be, fright, excitement, etc. Well, now I know. I got so excited and couldn't get Melissa's attention so I yelled "shark" into my regulator since it is difficult to get the attention of someone in front of you while diving due to the lack of vocal communication. When I finally got their attention, we just enjoyed the experience until we could no longer see it. This experience really changed the views that some of us had about sharks, especially for Melissa. This shark completely ignored us and went about his business like we weren't there at all. I had been told that they don't pay attention to divers and that information was definitely correct. It was an awesome experience, one that Todd, Melissa and I will never forget.
We completed our dive at Molokini, talking about our encounters on the way to our second dive site for the day. We all had a great experience there and were ready for our second dive. We stayed in the same groups and again split up shortly after entering the water. This time we experienced some very large Green Sea Turtles and then made our way to a small cave. I waited for Melissa to enter first with Todd following behind me. Right after Todd took this photo I entered this cave and couldn't believe what I saw. Another Shark!!! This time it was 5-6 Feet from me in this cave. There was a very large turtle resting inside the cave, and I think the shark was checking it out, maybe he wanted some dinner. I, again, attempted to get Todd's attention since he was holding the camera. He entered the cave and tried to get a photo, but this one didn't come out to clear.
If you look closely in the center of this picture, you can see the white tip on the shark's fin. Todd barely made it into the cave in time to snap the shot, but he was able to get this picture. We couldn't believe that we had seen a shark AGAIN, twice in the same day. What an amazing day, we loved it.
After the dives we all got back into the boat and headed to the dock. We then went to Fred's for breakfast and got to talk about our experiences under the water. We had a wonderful time and I can't wait to go again!!!
We are in Ocean Beach, California for the month of July and are having a very relaxing time. This photo was taken from our deck at the house on the Fourth of July. We all love our little house and have been learning to surf and kayak. Seth and Madi are loving it and have been practicing every day.
We were able to watch the fireworks from our deck on the 4Th. It was a perfect view, we were able to see not only the Ocean Beach display, but also the Sea World and Mission Beach fireworks.
This is the OB Pier where the fireworks were set off, as you can see we have a wonderful view of that location from the house. We had guests for the week including Todd's Mom, Janet, in addition to his sister, Mara, and her fiancee Chris. 
One of our favorite adventures so far was our day of sea kayaking. This photo was taken in La Jolla prior to our departure to the ocean a few blocks away. Our guide gave us some basic instruction and we were on our way to try it for the first time. Todd's mom, Janet, has wanted to try sea kayaking for a very long time, so we thought it would be the perfect time for her to try it since we were all together. Pictured here from the left are, Seth, Janet, Todd, Madi, Me and Mara (her fiance Chris was taking the photo).
During the trip some of us were able to enter a cave and really loved that experience. Our guide assisted us in order to prevent us from bumping into the cave walls during the high surf. Pictured here are Todd and Madi inside one of the cave.
This is a photo of Janet during the beginning of our adventure. Shortly after this photo was taken she began to feel a bit of motion sickness that escalated into severe nausea. We all felt so badly for her since it had been here dream to have this experience for a very long time. She was really a trooper and attempted to continue on the trip. At one point I looked back while we were all observing the Sea Lions and saw her kayak, however she was no longer sitting on it! I alerted our guide and he was quickly at her side helping her to get back on. She leaned over to far and fell off into the water. She was able to get back on and elected to go back to shore due to the extreme illness she was experiencing, it was a disappointment but I'm sure she will try it again soon and do just fine.
Seth and Madi loved the experience. Seth and I shared a kayak and Todd and Madi were paired together.
Chris and Mara liked it as well, but decided to cut their trip short in order to help Janet get back to shore. They tied her kayak to theirs and rowed very quickly back to the beach. 
Another one of our favorite experiences since our arrival in OB has been learning to surf. We elected to take a lesson prior to trying our luck for the first time in order to have a better chance at success. This photo was taken right before we all entered the water at Pacific Beach. From the left are, Myself, Madi, Melissa, Mara, Seth, Gabe (Melissa's friend from UVM) and Chris.
As you can see I was getting to my feet, however was having some difficulty staying there! I am confident that I will be successful (eventually) since I have a month to perfect my skills. It is so fun and I was surprised that during the hour lesson I actually got to my feet as many times as I did. Some of the photos are comical, but practice makes perfect, right?!
Madi on the other hand seemed to be a natural at the sport. She got out there and was surfing in no time. We were so proud of her. Seth was a natural as well, however, the photographer didn't get very many photos of him during the lesson..JPG)
Chris (Mara's fiancee) did pretty well too. It is definitely more difficult than it looks, however we all persevered. He practiced a little bit more in OB during the days following our lesson and was getting very good at it before he went home to Kansas. Great job Chris!.JPG)
Mara, on the other hand, didn't enjoy the experience as much as some of us. I thought she was doing a great job, but at one point she said "I hate this!". She is on here feet here, so I think she should try it again the next time she is at the beach. Great effort Mara!
Following our lesson we bought a board so we could continue to practice. Seth and Madi have been surfing every day and are getting very good. Seth now goes past the white water where we were instructed to stay while we were learning. Yesterday he was out by the pier for 3 hours "hangin' ten" with all of the OB surfers. He is going to be great and seems to really love it. Todd is the only one of us who hasn't tried to surf yet, but he loves to sit on the beach to watch all of us and even provides instructional feedback! I'll get some photos of his experience when he tries it for the first time. He insists that will be soon, so I'll keep you posted!
