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A first-ever trip to Hawaii. My expectations are high, but the islands exceeded my wildest dreams. The islands are stunning, spectacular, magical, incredible. Maureen and I will return soon.

Hawaiian Islands, part 1

Domz
2004-04-06 18:41:40

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above us, open their enormous mouths, then slowly swoop down toward our heads to scoop up a big helping of the plankton meal. Often, the rays would swim figure-eight summersaults above us to engage in a continuous feeding strategy within the plankton clouds. On their downward swoop toward me and the others, they would head directly at our faces from about 15 feet away. Then, at the last possible instant, with their open mouth just inches from our faces, they would swoop back upward over our heads (when their open mouths are within inches of our faces, we are clearly able to look down inside their wide throats, gullets, and gills). On 10 to 15 occasions, the upward swoop is so close that the ray actually brushes against the top of my head. Once, the ray does not time her or his upward swoop properly, and crashes square into the front of my dive mask on my face. Bam!

The approach of the rays is so close, and their bodies so large (some have, during our dive, a wingspan of up to 14 feet), that I would feel a strong turbulence that nearly knocks me over as they pass.

We watch this fantastic underwater dance for 70 minutes. A number of times, as I kneel next to Maureen, I turn to her and am so overwhelmed by the experience that I want to scream to her: "This is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!" Frustrated by the inability to communicate under water, all I am able to do is to put a big thumbs up in front of her face to express my joy and exhilaration. Fortunately, she does not mistake this well-known dive signal for my desire to ascend to the surface.

Afterward, we are thrilled to be able to purchase a videotape of the experience from a professional videotape diver who was down with us.

Quite simply, it is a completely unforgettable experience. By far, my best dive experience ever. It is so astounding that if I had done just that dive during my 16 days in Hawaii, it would have been my best ...