Niihau is a forbidden Island southwest of Kauai. It's known as the forbidden Island because nobody is allowed to set foot on the Island unless you are invited. The Island is owned by a family known as the Robinsons. They don't really invite anyone even if you marry someone who lives on the island. The people who live on the island live a very interesting life. Once they are high school-aged I believe they are given a choice to leave the island and go to Kauai or stay on Niihau. I've heard most of them choose to leave and if they do they aren't really welcome back. I also have heard that there are between 70-150 people total there. I am sure they have a rich culture, and Niihau is believed to be the second oldest Island after Kauai.
Well, my work decided to treat all the employees to a free trip to Niihau before the crazy summer of tours begins. I was super excited because I have heard that the water is incredible over there because it's so clean. I have also heard that it's almost guaranteed that you will see sharks there! I was super excited but a little sad that Gavin couldn't come with me. He loves boats, and the ocean and we want to see all the Islands together. But it just wasn't going to work out this time with our schedules.
Since my company has a zodiac we got over there in a couple of hours. Along the way, we saw spinner dolphins!
Right, when we got to Niiahu we saw something flop above the service of the water. We looked over and there were a couple of manta rays in the water! We quickly jumped in and followed these beautiful creatures in the water. They were so big and so elegant. I haven't ever seen anything like that before. One of the captains called them the dancing mantas. I was so busy looking at the Manta Rays I didn't even notice the grey shark that was at the bottom of the ocean. The first shark I've seen, I couldn't believe it!
We went to two other spots to snorkel. One of them had tons of Hawaiian monk seals and sharks! One of the sharks got a little feisty while we were in the water. Pappa Logan dropped his snorkel and it started sinking to the bottom of the ocean. I yelled to Logan that his snorkel had fallen. Christina heard me and dove down to catch it. Right, when she dove down the shark swam up with its mouth open wide to bite the snorkel. I was watching thinking that Christina was getting awfully close to the hungry shark. When the shark saw Christina's hand and backed down. But not super low. After that, the shark kinda just swam around us for a while. It was a bit freaky but also super awesome to see a shark in action.
There were some fun caves that people were diving through. I'm not super good at holding my breath or equalizing my ears so I couldn't do it but I had a fun time trying to look for shells with Megan. These pictures were taken by one of the Captains Tara. I had my go pro with me but unfortunately, it never saved my footage.
Niihau was beautiful in every way. The island looked very dry and I could tell they don't get a log of rain over there. There is also a small island off of Niihau called Lehua. We zipped around it and saw what they call the keyhole. As you can see the water is so clear and so blue.
When I got back home Gavin was such a good sport and was asking all about it. He was super bummed he wasn't able to go and so was I.
But then at work the next week Rob one of the captains said he was going and invited Gavin and me to go with him! Gavin was able to get work with them My work wasn't so kind and didn't let me have the day off. But Gavin was able to go and hang out with Christian one of the boys I work with. They became besties really quick. My friend Megan took this photo of them on the boat. They kind look the same from the back.
So I am going to do my best to write about what Gavin told me about his trips to Niihau.
Rob wanted to leave really early because he wanted to fish the whole way out there. So at 2:10 am Gavin and Christian drove to the doc. They said the stars were incredible and they could see the Milky Way! I guess Gavin stayed up for a while talking with Rob and helping him fish. While the others passed out on the beds on the boat.
Just as the sun came up they made it to Niihau! I got a text from Gavin saying "Mal I think I'm almost there" I looked at his location because I was surprised he had service and sure enough I saw he made it!
Most of the people on the boat we're going to dive so Gavin and Christian just snorkeled up top. Gavin brought his speer gun and I guess he speared this huge Parrott fish but somehow it slipped off the line. And I guess because of all the things they were spearing there was some blood so the sharks were getting super close to them. At one point Christian had the speer pointed right at the shark in case he was going to attack.
Gavin also said that everyone drank so much beer. Sean was so drunk Gavin said he almost went overboard.
Gavin said that it was a party boat and he was glad that Christian was with him so he could hang out with a non-drunk person. Crossing our fingers we can go again in the future!
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