A good chunk of the island of Rarotonga is surrounded by a shallow lagoon, protected from waves by the reef. This makes for some great snorkeling, with much of it easily accessible from the beach. Just from the beach we saw tons of colorful reef
We booked two full day private boat tours with T’s Tours Aitutaki. It was a bit of a splurge, but felt so worth it. We had an awesome time doing several extended snorkels, so time exploring the motus and islands. An absolute treat.
I had hoped to do a couple days of diving on Rarotonga and on Aitutaki, but for various reasons we only ended up doing one. Was a super fun day, with Hazel and I doing two dives in the morning, and then Kim joining us
This was a literal bucket list item for me, to swim with whale sharks. I’ve been thinking about it for decades. It was incredible. Hard to capture the size of these sharks. These are juvenile, but whale sharks are the largest fish around. These were
Congratulations to Hazel. She finished her PADI Open Water SCUBA course today and is now a certified diver. Millions of thanks to Michael Francisco for his skilled, patient and kind instruction. If anyone in SoCal wants to learn to dive, I can say he is
With our trip being extremely last minute, and Hawaii being busy, just about every activity I called about was booked solid. But I found a discover scuba for two people and signed Kim and Hazel up. When Hazel had gone to Catalina with me to
When our planned trip to the Philippines fell apart and we needed a last minute pivot, I had promised Margot Sea turtles, and that was part of what guided us to Hawaii. This spot delivered for sure.
A nice weekend at Catalina with Hazel. The goal was to get Hazel’s PADI dive certification. We didn’t do that, a combination of mostly fear and slightly rough conditions (to a lesser extent) meant Hazel didn’t get all of the dives necessary and skills done
Perhaps the greatest AirBNB ever, but sadly no longer available. La Flamboyant was an old sailboat anchored in the harbor in Mo’orea, and we had a few days there. An easy swim to an incredible reef, sharks and rays swimming under the boat while we
My favorite part of Cabo was spending time in the ocean. We did two days of snorkeling on our short trip. Didn’t see much at the Arch, but Cabo Pulmo the next day was really nice. It was Hazel’s first time using a snorkel and
A few months ago, I found some cheap fares to Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands. Kim and I decided to spend our thanksgiving there, and had a great time. Rarotonga feels to me much like Hawaii in terms of the ocean life and the geography
Ok, calling it Mexico makes it sound more exotic than it is, but I had a fun weekend diving. Headed to San Diego with my friend Mitzi. Kim was invited, but declined due to an aversion for cold water. Saturday we did three dives at
I (Geoff) did a one day dive trip out to Catalina yesterday. Warm water (for CA), decent visibility, and saw some cool stuff. 3 tanks in water from about 25 feet to about 65 feet deep. Nice bunch of people on the boat.
Hi everyone! I had a good flight to Guatemala and landed yesterday morning. Geoff picked me from the airport and impressed me with the spanish he learned in one week of intensive spanish lessons (6 hours a day, for 5 days). So, he´s now our
I suppose, after my last post, it would be hard for Guatemala to get worse. If it did, I probably wouldn´t be posting! After arriving it Antigua, I spent a few days recovering my leg and exploring the city. I was hanging out with Babke,
