Kayaking on the Astrolabe Reef in the Pacific Ocean

Dad likes to tell this story of either my brother or myself looking at the ocean as a young whipper snapper. We point to the ocean down in South Padre and say “wa, wa, wa wa wa!” Great story right. Anyways, this last week I got a crash course in ocean etiquette. As you can tell from the photos, I went kayaking out to the reef. The action photo says it all. From the resort, the reef is a 20 minute paddle in calm water straight out. Check out the chicken legs in the third one. All you lovely ladies out there in Internet land wish you had those pythons wrapped around you right now….

The second ocean experience of the week started as a peaceful snorkel on the north side of Ono Island. Jason drove his brother’s family, his mother, and myself to a nice corral patch a few meters from a white sand beach. Since the wind comes from the south east and we were on the north side, the cove was perfectly still. Any of you all fortunate enough to wipe a nasty dump off a baby’s behind know how smooth the water was.

The third experience was during the same snorkel trip at a dive site called Split Rock. Also on the north side of Ono, but out in the deep blue sea. I was nervous to jump in at first seeing as how it was probably the deepest water I’ve swam in. Joe and Sally came in too so I felt a little better. I wish I could post pictures from that snorkel because it was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. Corral rising up 100 ft with thousands of fish ducking in and out of it’s protection. A sight to see for yourself to do it justice.

The last ocean experience was on a boat to and from Suva these last couple of days. Jason, Joeabe, Kry, and I had to toe the Taki Tale to Suva to have the engine put back on and the floor finally fixed. The toe rope broke 4 times on our way up due to the 2 meter waves. I had to keep looking forward to keep fromm getting sea sick. The trip was good except for the last night. We worked at the Yacht Club each day and then drank some beers after work. But on the last night, I thought it would be a good idea to get a shot of rum along with the beers. As you can imagine, not a good idea. Luckily, I blacked out and threw all the beer and rum up into the toilet so I only felt a little shitty on the boat ride back to Ono. TMI? As Will and I would say after a night at Corner Bar, “Never again!” Mix the hangover with the imminent threat of sea sickness and you’ll understand what I went through-pure hell!