Snorkeling at Maeda Point

So the other day, Susan and I went to Tsunami Scuba on Camp Foster to sign up for scuba lessons. Since Cliff is deployed, I get this handy little "deployed spouses card", good for discounts and even free stuff, which SO makes it worth it (NOT)! But seriously, it's nice to be thought of.

Anyway, besides the free towing (which I used right away), I was mostly excited about the free scuba tuition I get while he's gone. Only, I guess it wasn't such a good plan to wait until it was warmer, because right now they are suffering an instructor shortage, so they had no classes for me to sign up for. Total bummer.

We decided, what the heck, while we're here...let's buy everything we need to go snorkeling. I've done that before (it's only been 21 years) and was relatively sure I could do it again without having to take some sort of professionally taught course. Thanks to "the card", I even got a 10% discount...woohoo! (See honey, it's OK that I'm taking up expensive hobbies in your absence...I'm saving you money!)

Two days later, Susan called me and said, "Let's go!" So, Patrick, Coree and I joined Susan and her daughter, Sarah, and we had a great time!


For a Thursday, the place was way more crowded than I thought it would be. But what do I know?



This is the place. See how the staircase ends right on the edge? It's pretty tricky getting in. There are actually commercials on AFN warning of the dangers of this place when the water is rough...but it was relatively calm that day. Even at that, it's hard getting in and getting your fins on in the water while the water keeps pushing you up against the rocks.



Can you see where the coral ends? It just drops right off and the water goes from bath tub to slightly chilly in an instant. It was almost too thrilling. Coree and Patrick loved it and I was really impressed with how well they did.



We saw so many different kinds of fish. My favorite was Nemo (of course). We also saw an eel in the coral along one of the cliffs. That was a little creepy. Well, considering I get creeped out at the eel exhibit at Sea World, A LOT creepy! At one point, I was getting a little too close and panicked at the thought of the tide pushing me even closer to him and not being able to stop and him going all "EEL" on me, and I just had to swim away.



When we'd had our fill (OK...when our calves burned so much we were worried we wouldn't be able to make it back up the stairs) we headed back to the car to dry off and...




Eat ice cream!

They have a Blue Cave ice cream place that is nicely air conditioned. I had the best pineapple ice cream I've had since LAST time I went snorkeling in Hawaii, 21 years ago!



OK, so call me sophomoric. I made Patrick pose in here. I could barely stop laughing long enough to take this pic.

It's taken me 21 years to try snorkeling again...and now I'm wondering, would it be reasonable for me to go every day for the rest of my life?