| SCUBATREKKERS Hawaii 2006 Story |
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| There is one place on this planet that always lures you back. It's Magic that you can't explain... SCUBATREKKERS is therefore no exception and in order to finish off the old year 2005 and to kick off the new year 2006 the correct way we decided that Oahu is the right place to be! If you want to hear all about our great adventures on that trip... read on, dude! |
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| SCUBATREKKERS are going to great lenghts in order to dive exotic locations. This time Ursi and Mike flew to Honolulu all the way from wintery Switzerland in one stretch... a journey of "only" about 22 hours! A little easier was the trip for Sandra and Bruno. They had only a leasure flight from Phoenix. Nevertheless... once on the islands of Hawaii who cares about how terrible the trip to paradise was?! |
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| After pickin up our rental car at the airport, we were driving past Honolulu Downtown all the way to the quiet windward side of the island of Oahu. In the little beach town of Waimanalo a cute gem |
| awaited our travel weary bones... the Hula Hale Beach House. This is truly a home away from home, perfect for our small group of nitrogen crazy divers. So the adventures could start, the bags were quickly unpacked, the dive gear checked for a last time and after a cold Keoki beer life startet to taste very fantastic! Two weeks of exploring the island of Oahu, diving wrecks, reef caves, turtles and planes and enjoying life on the islands. |
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| Also in 2006 SCUBATREKKERS chose to dive with Aqua Zone, a personalized operation with nice divemasters and knowlegable boat captains. And yes... Devon Merrifield, the owner of Aqua Zone is a cool dude too! We dove incredible sites such as the Corsair wreck, the magical Hanauma Sea Cave or Koko Craters with all the friendly turtles. |
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| The diving in the waters of Hawaii is probably not as colorful as in the Caribbean... but you'll find many incredible fish species not found anywhere else on this planet. Green and Loggerhead turtle swim abound all over the place, sometimes even creating a small turtle traffic jam. Last but not least, during the months of December and March the huge Humpback whales spend their winter here. While diving you can hear them most of the time singing underwater... It is the most amazing and magical feeling to listen to their sound while hanging in the blue ocean completely weightless. You are one with the nature surrounding you... I would even dare to say, that this feeling is almost as good as sex... Uups... excuse my french! |
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| Not being underwater has its advantages too, since Oahu also has so much to offer topside. Our rental car took us all around the island visiting the surfer town of Haleiwa, tasting Macademia nuts at the Tropical Farms in Kaaawa or to the end of the Leeward side past Makua to see the mighty Humpback whales jumping. There is one thing nobody should miss while being on this island: get some hot and tasty killer shrimps at one of the shrimp trucks on the North Shore. Then sit down at the beach and watch those crazy surfer dudes crashing through the huge waves while enjoying your lunch... Oh man, that's what I call vacation! Of course, some nights out in Waikiki or at the Aloha Tower in Downtown Honolulu were more than just enjoyable. If just the time would not move so fast... |
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| Unfortunately a little incident kept Bruno from getting his craved for nitrogen fix... After a dive at the Hanauma Bay he wanted to clean his dive gear in the outside shower of the Hula Hale. He did one wrong move and "kazooooom"... some intense pain went through his back. For the rest of the week he had to lay low while suffering a huge attack of lumbago. Well, not much that you can do except to hang loose and keep smiling. The next dive trip will come for sure! |
| As always on those SCUBATREKKERS dive trips, the time runs way to quick. And before you know, your vacation is over! But we will be very gifted for taking back all the great memories, adventurous dives and the friendship, which brings us back together time after time. |
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