Diving on Lana'i and the Luau

I have to write about our diving trip to the Island of Lana'i to a site called Cathedral I. It was Amanda and Nick's first 2 dives after being certified, their first in the ocean and their first in warm water.


We went with a company called Extended Horizons and our guide, whose name was Maren, did a really great job of showing us many different types of Marine life including the Ghost Shrimps below. These are nocturnal and we found them inside a cave which was another first for Amanda and Nick.

We also found a Tiger Moray eel with strange markings, large spots over most of it's body and smaller spots on it's head.

Later on another Moray Eel popped it's head out to have a look at us and I managed to get the camera in for a close up without loosing any fingers.

Here is a video of our group swimming along enjoying all the marine life. Maren carried an underwater whiteboard which she used to point out things like a sea turtle eating a jellyfish, weird little sea slugs which are only found around Hawaii, raccoon butterfly fish and an octopus.

I also got a video inside the Cathedral so you could see why it's called that. The light streaming through the holes in the lava rocks make it look like stained glass and there were other unusual fish inside of the lava tube cave.

After Jess headed back to Victoria, we went to a traditional luau with the roasted pig, hula dancers and all that. We were given fragrant leis when we walked in and the show started right around sunset with a beautiful pink sky as a background.

Most of the cast and servers are native Hawaiians and Judy seemed to have no trouble making friends with the guys. She seemed to really like their authentic costumes, tats and the dancers muscles!

Of course I didn't mind posing with the Hula dancers as well in their grass skirts and coconut bras. I couldn't help but notice that some coconuts were bigger than others for some reason.

Here is a video of one of the traditional native dances. The announcer told us the whole story behind it all but I can't seem to remember much of the details. That may have been due to the Mai Tai drinks (but they still weren't as good as Nick's, right Roy!)

I thought Charles would appreciate a closer video of the Hula girls shakn' their booty

As we headed back to the condo this afternoon we were treated to a rainbow in the hills right behind us and reminded again what a magical place Hawaii is.