Friday

At the beginning of the week Andy and I had run through ideas of things we wanted to do on this trip that we normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to. Skydiving being on the top of that list. We read reviews and found a place close to where we were staying, and called to make a reservation for our jump. Friday was the day.

Our jump was set for 1:30 and we woke up to breeze and rain. That wasn’t uncommon at some point each day and the tropical storms were always quick and mostly involved rain showers for 15 minutes and on it went. So we didn’t let it discourage us and decided we would meet up with the group for a snorkeling venture before we needed to leave to catch our plane.

Ted’s Bakery was a favorite spot we visited several times since it was only a few minutes from our condo and had the most delicious pastries. I ate a lot of these bad boys on our trip.

It was raining when we got to the beach but the great part about Hawaii is regardless of the gloomy weather, the water is still warm and inviting. We snorkeled around for a bit waiting for the rest of the group and they showed up just as the sun was making its way out.

I’ll be honest, when we first tried out snorkeling, I wasn’t a fan. I don’t like a lot of stuff on my face and once you get underwater I get really claustrophobic. Add that to the always present fear that a shark is seconds from eating me for lunch, and I don’t make a very good snorkeler. But I faced my fears, ditched the snorkel and just used a mask, and swam out to join the other people who didn’t seem to getting eaten. At the moment.

Not to sound completely honky donky small town, but the fish were incredible! Like fish you only see in fish tanks at Petco. Angel fish are the only ones I actually knew the name of, but swarms of fluorescent blue ones were everywhere and in every size. Teeny tiny bright ones with stripes. Countless colors of coral. A few of the ladies swam by eels (creepy!) I would come up for a breath and when I dove back down I would be in the middle of what could only a family of at least 100 fish. It was surreal. The closest I’ve ever been to feeling like a mermaid. Which I know totally exist. Duh.

While we were swimming with the fishes, the skydiving company called to let us know our jump got cancelled due to weather. We rescheduled for the next morning and swam for a bit longer before we headed back to the condo for a snooze. Beach life really takes it out of a person. Especially when you’re a ways out from the shore, and you panic because the current is stronger than you thought, and you dive under and think you are totally going to get caught in coral and most likely drown and never see your kids again, so you frantically hold your breath and swim faster than you knew possible and make it back to the shore and nearly pass out and feel like your going to throw up at any moment. That MIGHT have happened. Might.

We had also made plans earlier in the week to drive into Honolulu and meet up with my old high school friend and enjoy a night out in Waikiki. While I personally wouldn’t choose a big bustling city as my first choice to live in, visiting one is always a thrill. Honolulu is beautiful.

Katie and I went to high school together and were good acquaintances. While we didn’t stay in touch after school, we lived in the same city a few years later and rekindled our friendship. Life happened and we now have families and distant lives from each other, but when I saw that she had moved to Oahu, where we would be traveling to, I quickly got in touch and we planned on definitely meeting up. We got to meet her amazing kids and husband and they were so kind and hospitable in taking us out on the town. We had a scrumptious dinner at a restaurant right on the beach, where half way through dinner we enjoyed a fireworks show.

We walked down to Duke’s afterwards where we indulged in several tasty cocktails. We laughed and reminisced and caught each other up on the near decade since we had last seen each other. It was one of the funnest nights I’ve had in a long time. Both of us are now wives and mamas and have an entire world of things in common now.

We stayed way longer than we had planned for since we still had about another 45 minute drive and needed to be up early for our rescheduled jump. It was totally worth it. Special friendships are hard to come by and ones that can wait for years and be as if no time had passed are just that. Special. It was our last night in Hawaii and even better than I could have expected. Cheers to you sweet friend!