Dark Water

Aloha,

I know it has been a very long time but I have been having some severe technical difficulties and finally figured out how to get back into my blogger account...on a lighter note I have some incredible stories to catch y'all up on!!! 

    The world changes when the stars come out. It goes from a place that we are extremely familiar with, to a whole new world.  The water at night is an incredible and mysterious entity. In search of something to do on such a lovely star-filled, cloudless night, which does not happen often in Hilo by the way...the severe nerdy marine biologists came out in my friends and I. Snorkeling in tide pools at night!!! Hiking out over the smooth dark lava rocks was a bit difficult in the dark but I got to put my head lamp to good use. :) 

    Entering dark water for the fist time is frightening to put it bluntly. While I am never one to backdown from a chance to get in the water and I showed no hesitance in getting in, there was that fear in my mind and I hoped nothing was gonna jump out and eat me. As I slid beneath the dark water I could feel my heart rate speed up, and was on the edge of hyperventilation when it all disappeared and I was lost in the underwater world brought on by the night and illuminated by the beam of my flash light.  The water was literally crawling with organisms. Sea cucumbers, which usually look like dark long rocks on the bottom of the ocean have long tenticles and crawl around at speeds I could have never imagined possible. I caught glimpses of brittle stars, blue and black in color scurry deeper into the rocks as my light passed over them. Orange nudibranchs that look like gumdrops almost fluoresced in the water and an abundance of juvenile fishes slept in the crevasses of the pool.
      Of course no night swim is complete without a little antics. Bridget and I can now offically say we have truly felt the freedom of swimming completely al natural and let me tell you tan lines make for a bright full moon.... No night in the water is complete without a wet, salty, possibly fishy, I have totally embodied the ocean trip to Ken's, a local diner. Where hot chocolate and pancakes made for an excellent end to the night.

Well that is all for now :)

Aloha!!!

P.S. snorkeling photos will be posted shortly I just have to get them off my friends camera :)