Arrived at Kaahalui airport at about eight o'clock at night. We had a short stop in Los Angeles on the way, but didn't have enough time to do anything other than check in. After nineteen hours of flying, to say I was a little knackered is an understatement. We were picked up and went to the hotel and straight to sleep. Not even enough energy to eat.

The first two days of the stay were overcast with a little rain. Not what one would exactly expect from a tropical paradise, but not too much of a disappointment considering I was battling to come to terms with the jet-lag.

The highlight of the trip for me would have to be the scuba dives. After spending five weeks in London and a freezing weekend in Portsmouth getting the qualification, I was very keen to get into some tropical waters for some recreational diving.

The dive-group left at about seven thirty in the morning and the trip took about an hour to the dive site which was off the island of Lanai. We saw a pod of humpback whales on the way and stopped for a while to watch them do their stuff. They seemed pretty lazy and didn't move too much, but out of the blue they suddenly sounded and that was that. The first dive was at a lava-tube, which is a tunnel in the ocean floor formed by lava during the volcanoes active days. This one was about 30m long and pretty dark. I have to admit that I was a little intimidated as a first dive, but got through it OK. We managed to find a few Octopusses along the way and played around with them for a while. They did the usual changing of colour and inking everywhere, but it was quite nice to watch them swimming off and blending in with their surroundings. They really are quite graceful creatures. A little bit of trivia for you. Aparrently Octupusses have three hearts. One does the normal stuff and the other two control the blood flow to the skin to operate the colour changes. I'm full of useless information, but not so much as some people I know...you know who you are!!!

After an hour on the surface for a bite to eat and to release some of the built-up Nitrogen in our systems, we continued with the second dive. It was at a site called the cathederal, so called because it was a large underwater cavern about the size of a large aircraft cabin with holes in the ceiling. These holes let the light stream through, thus giving the "cathederal" effect. We ran into a large moray eel on the way out and spent a few minutes respectfully observing. All too soon though, my dive was over and I had to head back to the boat.

All-in-all, I enjoyed the dive. I was a little disappointed at the lack of sea-life and colours, but I am grateful for the chance I got to see such structures. I doubt I will get the chance to do things like that again, so I will count myself lucky!