Snuba

As is always the case, vacations go by WAY too quickly, so here we are on the last full day of our trip. Today’s event is Snuba for Nick and Sam (unfortunately, Joey doesn’t make the cutoff for this one). Snuba is a bit like scuba, where you have weight to help you dive down and a regulator to let you breath, but the tank stays in a raft on the surface, connected by a long hose to the diver. We figure it is a good intro to diving and will give the kids a chance to see how they like being under the water.

Our scheduled time is 2:30, so while we are waiting, we decide to stop at Magic Sands beach. The boys do the usual, and Sam does his best Grandpa Terry impression, deciding it is a good idea to wear his goggles into the surf and having them ripped off his head (they all actually wear them in, just Sam is the lucky one to lose his). Fortunately, the water is fairly crowded and someone finds them in the surf.

At 2:30 we move to the beach where the Snuba is and the kids go through their briefing and get all geared up. They practice for a few minutes in a sheltered area, and then head out onto the reef. We can see the little raft with the air tank on the surface so we know roughly where they are, but for the next 30 minutes, they are 20 feet down. When they get back to the beach, the instructors tells us they did great, and both of them said it was awesome.

Since it is our last night in Hawaii, we let the boys pick the restaurant for a farewell dinner and have a nice meal overlooking the water and the sunset. It is movie night back at the hotel (How to Train Your Dragon), so we pick up a shave ice for dessert and get back just in time.

Our flight tomorrow leaves at 2:00, so we are going to try and get up early one more time to spend a few final hours at the beach. We’ll see how that goes.