IS THIS THE END?
(part five of the Hawaii Chronicles)

Needless to say, I was kind of bummed by my surf accident but I was determined not to let it ruin my week. On Thursday, we had tickets for an all day outing at Hanauma Bay (hiking, snorkeling and boogie boarding) that we were forced to cancel due to the doctor's instructions to stay off my foot and out of the water. I'd already had to have a tetanus shot so I didn't want to disobey orders and find myself with a nasty infection. Thankfully, we were able to get a refund for our tickets and go on an underwater excursion instead. We sailed a few miles offshore and boarded a submarine so that we could explore the artificial reefs. I was saddened to hear that Hawaii's natural reefs are eroding away year by year. Leave it to man to ruin what Mother Nature has created. The submarine tour was fascinating though. We saw a wide variety of fish and even some of those huge sea turtles. After the tour, we browsed around the resort that we'd consider staying at to see what we were missing. Though it was nice, there were WAY too many people and I don't feel it was worth the extra $1000 we would have paid to stay there for the week. I did learn something new though - there are actually warm weather penguins. They're native to South Africa, of all places. Who knew?

Friday was spent touring the Dole Pineapple Plantation and checking out the North Shore, where the REAL surfers go to play. There was actually a shark spotted off the North Shore so my paranoia was somewhat valid. The pineapple plantation was nice, if crowded but I couldn't take the walking tour, only the Pineapple Express - a train that circles the plantation showing the different stages of pineapple growth. Of course, at the end of our tour, we were treated to chilled, fresh pineapples. I LOVE pineapples. There were a lot of other fruits grown on the plantation but we didn't get a chance to sample those. I was hoping we would but luck wasn't on our side. I thought a lot of the fruits were indigenous to the Caribbean though - mango, lychee, breadfruit.

Saturday was our last day in Hawaii. We spent the morning on the beach then had lunch with one of jezchill's friends who happened to be in town. With much reluctance, we went back to the condo to pack our bags and head to the airport. We rang in the new year on the runway then headed back hometo reality.