Hawaii Part 1

So I've decided to break up our Hawaii trip into several parts. That way you don't have to suffer through a TON of pictures all at once, just over a period of time. HeHe. We flew to Hawaii on the 16th of October. It was a Sunday, so we didn't do much exploring. On Monday we had arranged with my cousin Matt to go on a Submarine tour. Matt works for Atlantis, a company that does submarine tours on a couple of the islands. So we caught the trolley which then took us to the Hilton Hotel on Waikiki. I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit anxious about the trip. I had been told there would not be a bathroom on the sub ride which would last about 1 hour. Most people would worry about going down in the water 100+ feet. Others might worry about being "trapped" in a submarine. I however was worried I'd have to go to the bathroom. I know I know. Get over it right?! Well, needless to say, everything went smoothly. Nibbled at breakfast, which meant not much was in my stomach to make me have to go potty :) SO...we headed from the Hilton out on a boat much like a houseboat from Lake Powell. Believe it or not, but being on that boat calmed me down. I absolutely LOVE Lake Powell and the boat reminded me of it and calmed me down :) From there we all stepped aboard the submarine. It was pretty cool. Each person has their own bucket like seat and a window you share with the person next to you. We boarded last, since Matt knew the crew, which allowed us to sit right by the captain of the sub. It was really cool to see all the animals! Here are some pictures from our sub ride:

Boat ride to submarine

The Submarine

Remains of an airplane

A sea turtle getting cleaned by fish-propping up on his fins lets fish know he wants cleaning

spotted eagle ray

us in the submarine

the farthest we went down in the water

the view from the driver's spot After the submarine adventure Matt, our trusty tour guide for the day, took us up to the Polynesian Culture Center. He has an annual pass he let us use! He really was great! Anyone going to Hawaii should make sure they visit Matt and say hello! At the PCC we took a canoe ride, watched the canoe pageant, visited the islands of Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and Aotearoa (New Zealand). Our favorites were Samoa and Tonga. In Samoa we listened to a presentation about the life of a Samoan (the men do all the cooking! Sign me up-just kidding), ate Samoan food and tried to make fire with sticks. In Tonga we listened to another presentation, but this one was done with a lot of drumming. It was so funny! They had 3 volunteers help them with their drumming. It was hilarious to see the responses of those volunteers! That night we saw the Ha Breath of Life program with dancers from all of the islands. Super cool.

Welcome to the PCC

Our canoe ride

one of the boats from the pageant

Our favorite Samoan

we beat our sticks in rhythm to a song

one of the drumming displays

yummy coconut and watermelon ice cream

statues from Easter Island. Whew, that was only day 1. Get excited for the other days to come soon :)