Hawaii Under the Sea

Sure, Hawaii is without a doubt the most beautiful destination that I have been to. There are so many secret treasures within the islands. I have thoroughly enjoyed every time that I have been. I have been to Maui, O'ahu, Kauai, and Lanai. I have yet to travel to Molokai and the main island. Those are some of the next destinations for my future bucket list. With that being said, what if I said that there is a whole new world in our world?

---

While that question may be confusing, there is one simple answer to that question. The answer is the ocean. Before getting my first privilege to travel to the islands, I had been to the ocean in California. Traveling to Hawaii opened a whole different world for me. The secrets within were miraculous -yet awe inspiring. I remember my first snorkeling experience was at Po'ipu beach in Kauai, Hawaii. Being able to see the different fish underwater opened up a whole new world -that new world in our world.

While I floated on the surface the fish swam beneath me. Some of them would fight the current as the waves rolled in and out. Secondly, each time a fish would swim by I couldn't help but be amazed at the different colors and textures present. Ocean temperatures were fairly warm, which made swimming even nicer. I continued on swimming until a school of fish swam around me. This caused some anxiety and the emotion of sheer amazement within my soul.

Later on in the trip we took a boat up the Na'Pali coast. That is the gorgeous green cliffs that line the northern shore of Kauai. What an amazing sight that was! What was also amazing was what lied beneath the surface of the water. In the 25-30 feet deep water were several fish swimming. I remember being a little worried at first with how deep the water was, as I had never previously been in water that deep before. However, I soon realized that the ocean is a vast and beautiful space that occupies our earth. There were grey fish, brown fish, and multi colored fish. I could not believe it as cheesy as that sounds. I was in awe...

My favorite fish that inhabits the Hawaiian waters is the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. That can translate over to mean something along the lines of 'a fish with a pig like nose.' It is really a gorgeous fish. They have a unique appearance for sure, which is really what makes them interesting to me. There is one more type of fish that inhabits the Hawaiian waters that may have a longer name than that of the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a... This fish is called the Lauwiliwilinukunukuʻoiʻoi.

After being able to actually explore a very tiny portion of the ocean myself, I can fully comprehend why we have only explored around 5% of the ocean. It really is such a vast, deep, and wide space. The oceans do so much for the earth as a whole. Snorkeling has given me the opportunity to understand that there is more to the world than what we see here on land. Between the land, sky, and the bodies of water that call this earth home I can safely come to a conclusion that we live on a pretty amazing planet.