WEDNESDAY, July 4th, I declined the invitation to anchor on a sandbar on a pontoon boat in the ocean with Kim, Dave, and some of their island friends and instead choose to shop and relax. :) Yes, I know, I know... I am quite positive 97% of you are questioning why the heck I would choose shopping over a day on the boat, and you are entitled to that opinion. I offer you 3 words: vomit, sunburn, toilet. Two of these things I prefer to avoid, and the other I refuse to bypass.
I instead walked to the Ala Moana Center, Waikiki's mall which is like nothing I've ever been to. It's set up like a normal 3 story mall, but it's outside... Not a strip mall. Think Barton Creek ala aire libre. Anyhow, virtually all the stores were too expensive for me shop (Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, Gucci, etc...), but I did find a Crocs store. :) I bought a black and a brown pair of "Sexi Flops". That's right; of all the things I could buy in Hawaii, I bought Crocs. :) I then ate at Subway (yeah Island Adventure!!!!), came back the condo to nap, and then read the 2nd Janet Evanovich book downstairs in the breezeway commons where I could hear the surf and bad Hawaiian music. It was a lovely way to spend the day. :) When the family came back, we walked over to another friend's condo who had the most amazing view of the big fireworks show, which was the biggest I've maybe ever seen.
THURDAY, today, Dave and I went back to Shark's Cove to snorkel for real this time. Just as we found a parking spot it began to rain, cold rain. I stripped down, coated myself in sunscreen, and headed down the muddy path to the water. The tide was much lower than it was the last time we were there, and there were now isolated tide pools between the two main coves. One step into the water and my desire to snorkel waned just a bit. Actually a lot. Dave got out in the cove pretty quickly, but I chose to wander around the tide pools for a bit and give my barely-clad body a chance to acclimate just to the cold air first.
I saw a couple of neat black, volcanic rocks I wanted to take home, made a mental note of their whereabouts, and started for the pools. A few still had access to the waves rolling into Shark's Cove, but most had become separate little ecosystems early this morning. Separating this shallow area from the main body of water are big, tall rocks. I maneuvered my way through the tide pools, the slippery volcanic rock, the little kids who had also chosen the shallows over the cove, and found this neat cave in the big rock. Water from the crashing waves on the other side was spewing forth from the cave, washing smaller fish into the connected pools as well. Right next to the cave was a fissure in the rock that allowed water to rush in and then suck back out sounding exactly like a toilet flush in the process. :) Hiding in the fissure was a HUGE crab! He was not sure what to make of my presence and pulled himself deeper into the crack, just in case. On the way back to the deeper water, I saw several different kinds of smaller crabs, including a couple hermit crabs, skittering across the sand.
Dave met me as I started to very... slowly... wade into the crazy cold water. I wasn't in a big rush to freeze. The currents were pretty strong he said, and just beyond one of the rocks jutting out from the water was a seemingly endless school of fish. It took me probably 5 minutes to just suck it up and get wet. Once I suctioned the mask to my face and committed to getting in the water, the temperature was actually pretty tolerable, especially compared the the cold rain that was again falling.
All of these pictures are ones I jacked off in the internet but are examples of specific fish I saw.
The first time I snorkeled a few days ago, I couldn't keep my breathing relaxed. In fact, I was so nervously sucking in the air, that my chest actually kind of hurt from taking in such large amounts of air through the snorkel tube. Eventually that subsided, and from the moment I put my face in the water today I was fine...
Until...
I came upon the school of fish Dave was talking about. There were just so many of them! Silvery fish darting through the water in mob mentality. I lifted my head and noticed I had drifted a bit further away from the cove "walls" than I had intended. Putting my face back into the water I could see now that it was actually pretty deep there. I was in the open section of the cove. Trying to calm my breathing back down, I turned to float away from the fish school. That's when I first saw The Fish.
Not the cute orange one. The silver monster behind it.
It looked me square in the eye; unnervingly deteremined was its gaze. It didn't seem to be swimming. It just floated there, staring at me. I freaked out. I would rather pit myself against that whole school of fish than with the one. I turned around to swim back toward the rockier area. I kid you not, upon turning my body a complete 180, I was met face to face with ANOTHER evil fish! I literally screamed through my snorkel. I tried to wave my hands to scare it off (that works with other fish... the colorful kind that don't eat people), and it just floated there!!! Deep within me, animal instinct took over, and I tried to kick both at and away from the devil fish.
I flipped my body in the direction of the shore, trying to swim to safety. I was breathing really hard. That same tightness was returning. I could hear myself breathing as I realized I was closing off my windpipe. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of light. That damn fish was following me!!! I WAS FREAKING OUT!
As I tried to calmly continue on to shore, (Dave later told me that he could see me flailing in the water and briefly thought about going in but decided I was a big girl) I shifted again in the opposite direction, to the right, and was met face to goggle by the second devil fish! I squealed again as it stared at me, vicious hatred for mankind behind that solid gaze. THE FIRST FISH SWAM INTO MY LEG! You can call it the current, but I call it tactical maneuvering by two very sinister fish!
I swam so crazy fast back to the shore, removed my goggles, threw them on my towel, and turned back to look at all the helpless snorkelers, unknowing swimming perhaps to their deaths at the hand/fin of devil fish. Even now, typing this makes me nervous and squirmy. I have quite possibly snorkeled my last snorkel. As I was recounting the events of today's attack to Dave, he laughed and made the dangerous decision to go back into the water. I, however, was DONE! I dried off and relegated myself to looking for shells and cool rocks. I found several.
HOW TO SPOT A DEVIL FISH
Devil Fish can be easily spotted and differentiated from normal fish by looking for these key features:
- Devil Fish prefer to live in water.
- They generally have scales and 2 eyes, most often with a solid stare. A sure sign of a Devil Fish is one that does not blink.
- Devil Fish have fins that they use to swim.
- More often than not, they will have gills with which they deviously filter oxygen out of the water.
- If you see a fish NOT floating to the surface, it is probably a Devil Fish.
There were some other really neat things that I saw and did today, but I feel those stories will take away from the serious nature of the snorkeling "incident". Please take some time to familiarize yourself and your loved ones with how to spot a Devil Fish to best keep you safe in the event you make the unwise choice to put yourself in watery peril.
Stay safe (and dry), my friends. Stay safe.
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