Sleepless in Hawai’i

It’s senseless to be sleepless after the day we just had. I should be knocked out and snoring full-bore, but I haven’t slept. It’s not distressing the way sleeplessness sometimes is. I’ve sat on the balcony with my head on my arms on a cushion on the ledge, just watching the waves under the half-moon. Listening to them pulse and push and roar and rush. It’s hypnotic, almost like sleeping…

Our manta cruise was a success—we hung motionless and flat on the water’s surface, grasping the handles on the floating light bar that attracts the plankton that attract the manta rays. Three of them danced and whirled and soared beneath us, for the full forty minutes that we hung there in the water, exclaiming through our snorkels.

The crew from Ocean Encounter really knew their stuff, with regard to the boat as well as the mantas (not to mention herding a bunch of tourists through some very unaccustomed actions). Captain Rory showed a great quirk of humor, and Justice and Ehu were great, patient and gentle with the people as well as the wildlife (and I’ll leave you to guess which category required more patience!)… Justice even texted me some video of our dive, that he’d taken with his fancy camera. If you’re looking to do this, I couldn’t recommend this crew more strongly.

That was a cold venture, though, being motionless in water after dark, not to mention being wet on the boat ride back. We got into the Jeep and cranked the heat, then went home to a long HOT shower to warm up.