I’m now officially a PADI certified open water diver. This means I can sign up at places to do basic SCUBA dives with compressed air. I still had issues going down in depth. Everyone else in my group could dive to 20 feet with no problem. I had to sink down a few feet at …
I’ve finally arrived in Hawaii for my long-awaited work vacation. I have holed up in a hostel a block from Waikiki Beach where I plan on getting face cancer from my laptop over the next 10 days. It has been over three years since I was last in Hawaii. My previous trip was the interregnum …
I intended to go to Hawaii first so i could get my travel bearings in a place I was familiar with. The last week has been very instructive in how to go about the day-to-day grind of traveling. Things I’ve learned: If you can find a place with free wireless internet access, stay there as …
I’m currently staying at a hotel about two blocks away from the Waikiki beach. I couldn’t get into a hostel but the hotel I’m staying at is only a bit more per night more than a private hostel room, and I get my own bathroom and a kitchenette, so its not so bad. Considering how …
Today I had the classroom part of my PADI Open Water Dive certification. I rocked. I’m good at test taking. I’m taking my instruction at Lahaina Divers, which seem like a pretty good outfit (the fact that they’re a block away from my hostel doesn’t hurt either). SCUBA is something I’ve never really given any …
I’m writing this in my room at the Arnott’s Backpacker lodge in Hilo, Hawaii. I’m 3,903 miles as the crow flies from my starting point in Minneapolis and now 5 hours behind CDT (Hawaii doesn’t have or really need daylight savings because of their location closer to the equator). The weather here is, as always, …
I’m finally leaving Hawaii today. I’m off to Guam for my SEVENTH crossing of the International Date Line of my trip. This is also the longest flight of my trip by a wide margin. It might just be the longest flight I take during the entire trip. I am very much ready to leave Hawaii. …
I leave the Big Island today for Maui. Other than visiting Haleakala National Park, the only thing on my agenda is getting SCUBA certified. I have an 8:15am flight from Hilo to Maui which should take like 15-20 minutes. I can’t check into my hostel till 5pm, so I’ll try and get my visit of …
I have some stable internet for the next two days. I will be off to Volcano National Park for the rest of the day and I should have a good sized update later tonight (or tomorrow morning for most of you). Tomorrow (Saturday), I’ll be up on Mouna Kea for the day looking at telescopes …