Hamburgers yummmm

As usual we are still behind on reading our chapters. We really need to ask for manuals whose pages do not emit powerful sleeping potions. Something to consider for next time but for now we will continue to wake up early since that seems to be the only time we can make progress with our reading. Today we will go over the chapter review questions therefore they must be completed. We have lucked out the last 2 days because the review got pushed back without the instructor realizing that we were unprepared. Today was our re-do mapping dive in which I believe we have a plan for success. One team is taking compass cordinates from our center rock (rock X) to each of the larger rocks that somewhat surround it. That group is also taking depth measurements from the surface to the highest peak on each rock. The second group will swim through the underwater channels between the rocks to get path lengths and depths. This will allow us to show which channels you can fit through and which ones dead end or are too narrow. Once we add some direction and measurements to our original rough draft we should have created a very nice dive map to aid in guiding groups around the site.
Our map dive went quite nicely and each group completed their tasks within the 60 minute time frame provided. Although it was very difficult to focus on measuring and compass bearings while surrounded by a beautiful garden of corals. I was even able to get one last swim through the area to check my original rock shape sketches. Then it was on to our next task of the day which included a discover scuba diving overview followed by an open water exercise in which we took turns as the discover scuba diving leader. Discover scuba diving is an introductory experience that allows someone to try out diving prior to investing in the open water certification course. Basically the class consists of one or two dives overviewing the basic skills required to complete a closely supervised, shallow dive. First the student would learn the skills in confined water and then they are allowed some time to swim around underwater and explore in a very supervised matter. The key skills we were graded on were our close proximity with the students, ability to help stabilize the student so that they can focus on the task, solve problems the student had with the skills, and provide encouragement when tasks were completed well. Once again when we were acting as practice students we were given problems to have in order to create a more realistic experience for the dive master intern in training. Our whole group of interns did very well on this exercise.
After our dives were done for the day, we all quickly showered and met at the Blue Coral resort to complete our maps. I also had to bring Adam, one of our fellow DMT's, some antibiotic and steroid ointment. His foot had an open wound which has not had a proper chance to heal since we are always in the water. The area around the cut was starting to get a little swollen and may benefit from some steroid ointment. I also gave him some anitbiotic ointment and advised him to protect it better with a bandaid and a sock while diving to allow it to heal. With no doctors on the island, I am finding my little pharmacy of over the counter medications I bring while traveling to be greatly appreciated. There are supposedly some little shops on the island that have a small supply of both over the counter and prescription medications that are bought by a per tablet price. I told Adam if he wanted me to I would go around with him if he needed other medications. By the time I was done chatting with Adam the rest of the group had finally rolled in. Unfortunately, happy hour at a place that does not serve food does not exactly create the ideal work conditions, especially after a long day of diving. We did make some progress until our bellies could not be ignored any longer, plus by this point we were spending more time naming the reef and passages with witty spin offs of our names. Naming these structures was definitely not necessary and it is hard to tell if the instructors will find this humorous or unprofessional (Bonnie's big bolder, Rick's smooth sandy bottom, etc).
It is interesting as we get used to all the different restaurants since they all have somewhat similar menus yet we are advised where to only order pizza, where to only get curry, or the place we ate tonight in which it is only advised to get the burgers. Jeff made the mistake of ordering the pork adobo which was extremely salty and drenched in soy sauce. My burger was a little greasy but definitely hit the spot along with the slightly too salty fries that I thoroughly enjoyed dipping in ketchup, much crispier and delicous compared to yesterday's french fry failure. Then it was back to Malditos for some cheap drinks and socializing with the other interns. We talked to Alan for a while about the difficult day that he had. He is one of the instructor interns who has completed his course but has had some extreme difficulties trying to arrange a flight back to his home in England. Some miscommunication occured that resulted in a ticket booked on the right day yet a month late. He had this part sorted out yet was having some outrageous logistic issues trying to get access to his bank account in order to verify when the refund came through. Unfortunately he did not have enough money to buy another ticket until they gave him a refund for the ticket that was incorrect. Tonight will be Alan's last night in Malapascua and he was off to see if he would be more successful sorting out this mess in Cebu where the airport and bank are located. I wished him the best in his flight back home and then it was off to bed for Jeff and I.

I have attached some pictures from the blue coral bar where we sometimes go for happy hour.

You've got to map it map it

Lots of reading everyday which caused us to have to wake up at 5:30 AM to complete a bit of reading prior to our 8:30 AM start at the dive shop. Today we will be mapping a dive site. I took this as an opportunity to pretend to be an early world discoverer that had to map out a new area of the pacific to claim as their own passage. I really don't think the others shared in my sense of adventure. After a short briefing, our team consisting of 5 males and myself were off to have our first look over the area. It was decided by the group that we would first explore the area from the top via snorkeling to get a broad view and then get a closer look at the details by scuba diving. My first sketch was a mess, I started too far over on my slate and there is no way I would later be able to make any sense of what I had drawn. Adapting to the project and the realization that I needed a new method I tried again on an extra slate I had. My new tactic to choose a center point and work around that was a far better method. Soon our 60 minute time limit was up and we had to surface. Most of us then went for lunch at a local eattery where we were advised to order the curry. I had fish curry and Jeff had chicken curry but I made the mistake of ordering the fries instead of rice. The curry and fish was excellent yet where is a culvers when you need one? I had really been craving dipping something in ketchup, sounds silly but I have seen bottles of ketchup and I have just been waiting to order something that I would get to use ketchup on. The fries I received were greasy with oil, not crispy, kinda limp, and they did not bring me any ketchup. I soaked them in my left over curry sauce and tried not to pout. During my french fry disaster the boys were still talking over the plan for our next trip out to the dive site to formally map it. I eventually had to tune them out for the sake of not conveying how riduculous they sounded. They all just went around in circles, changing the plan, coming up with plans that were the complete inverse of the other, and evidently not really listening to the others. It was seriously like being on a reality show where the group is told to work together yet everyone is attached to their own idea with no regard to anyone else's idea. When we got back to the dive shop we found out that we had missed a discussion with our dive master instructors, if 5 out of the 6 interns are not aware of the discussion does that point at a miscommunication or failure to follow direction? Anyways, the instructors wanted us to verbally convey the plan to the group to ensure we were all on the same page. This did not go over well at all but ended up as a scramble of thoughts without a cohesive underlining plan. The instructors did not appear at all enthused. Off to the dive site it is, except now that it is later in the day we had a change of current due to the switching tides. Our dive site that at 10 AM was clam had now (3PM) changed to a strong south east current. On top of that we also had issues with the dive boat's rudder that seemed to only pull in one direction. After a fight with the rudder and some clever fixing tactics with the scarce tools available it was time to anchor the boat and jump in. If this was a fun dive the current would have been less of an issue as we would have swam into the current for a bit and then drifted along with the current for the remainder and as long as the boat could pick us up, we could complete a fine dive. Instead we were supposed to map, our plan entailed to first snorkel the perimeter as we did that morning but the current did not allow us to get far, no matter how hard we swam. The current is usually easier to overcome underwater with the shelter of coral reefs and rock structures so we changed the plan and all went under. As we swam through the underwater paths between the rocks we were making some head away or so I thought, until I turned around to check on my buddy (Jeff) and realized all the boys were holding on to the anchor line. I joined the group and then someone motioned to go up, we were aborting the dive. There was some surprise and disapproval felt from the instructors as we all flopped back onto the boat. Later back at the shop we realized during our debriefing that the disproval was not necessarily for calling off the dive but instead for our scatter brained plan and lack of working together. Tomorrow we would get another opportunity to map the area and we were informed to have a better plan. I had made a decent map from the morning and sketched this out on a piece of paper so the rest of the group would be able to follow my drawing. As we looked over some of the other diver's drawings and found several similarities making it evident we had a good start. I then took over as the leader, as Jeff pointed out, and wrote up what each group would attempt to measure or take compass readings of on the next dive so that we could take our sketch to the next level of accuracy. It was now about 7 PM and I was still wet/humid and had not been back to the room since the morning. Desperate for a shower I still could not leave the shop until I saw Peter complete his snorkel test. The snorkel test is the last check off before the diver receives his or her divemaster badge. Peter, who had struggled a bit during the course, was eagerly awaiting the completion of his last test. It was not until almost 9PM before the time had come for Peter to put his mask on as Penelope filled a bucket with a mix of spirits and a little soda then poured it into the funnel mounted on the snorkel. Peter completed the snorkel test like a champ and after a few congratulations, Jeff and I were off to bed.

Spare keys please

As the days go on it is slowly becoming easier and easier to sleep until first light. We are slowly adapting to the time change and even becoming a little less bothered by the constant crowing of roosters. Today we started at the dive shop at 8:30 where we had a discussion on discover local diving, which is one of the classes we will be able to teach when we are done. Fortunately for us this really just became a discussion about why and how you would go about setting up and running this class. Then we discussed how to judge conditions, such as spotting current, what tide changes affects, and a little about making the call when it's ok or not to dive a site. It was followed by a dive at chocolate island (I didn't catch how it got it's name). I guess this is not a very popular dive site, which really makes me wonder what the popular ones look like. To me, it was an excellent dive, it felt almost like being back in Fiji, except there really were not that many fish. The corals on the other hand were phenomenal all kinds of soft and hard corals in countless colors, absolutely breathtaking. I wish we could have brought our camera, but we are not allowed to bring it on any of our training dives. Eventually there will be opportunities for that in the weeks to come. We returned to the dive shop with just enough time to put our gear away, rinse off and eat lunch. Then it was time to get our gear on the next boat. This time we were doing a certified diver lead, luckily for us we got to play the role of freshly certified divers and did not have to do any leading this time. Basically there were 2 of our fellow dive master trainees (DMT's) that switched off who was in charge (the divemaster), this was at the instructors discression of course. Jeff and I along with 2 other DMT's got to be the divers being led and we were all given background stories. While Jeff and I were freshly certified open water divers, the other 2 each had about 10 dives, so overall we were all to play as a very inexperienced group of divers. We were then given things to purposely mess up to see how the "divemaster" would handle it. This started before we even got in the water, someone's fins were all of a sudden missing a fin strap, this was quickly resolved and it was time to jump in the water. Jeff had been told to have an uncontrolled descent (flapping around on his back) while I was to try and descend with the snorkel in my mouth instead of the regulator. These issues got resolved and when we reached the bottom, one of the other divers had bouyancy problems and was crashing into the bottom. Then throughout the dive we would be given more things to do to see if the "divemaster" noticed and how he reacted. This ranged from Jeff having a flooded mask and panicing to someone else swimming off in the wrong direction and so on. Overall I would have to say the 2 DMTs in charge handled most situations pretty well, but it was an eye opening experience for what we have coming up in the near future. Once again we returned to the dive shop, rinsed and put away all of our gear. Then headed off to our room for a quick shower. We got ready to go back to the dive shop for dinner but just as Jeff closed the door to our room, he realized he had locked the keys in the room. No big deal we will just go to the dive shop and get a spare to open it back up. Well that seemed like a good plan until we found out that the only key they had for our room was the one that was locked in it. Jeff went back to the room to try several keys while I waited at the dive shop and got them to print out the lease agreement for our new townhouse in Hawaii Kai. It turns out one of the guys from the dive shop ended up having to break into our room to get the keys out (we won't be making that mistake again). So Jeff came back with the keys and we signed the lease for our new place (YAAY) then had them scan it and we sent it in. So it is official we now have a place in Hawaii. We sat at the bar above the dive shop and had a couple drinks to celebrate. There were several other DMT's around so we hung out and talked about the day's dives and things to come. Unfortunately we still had lots of bookwork to get done so we made it another short night and headed back to the room to read as much as we could fit in before the book cast it's sleeping spell on us. Before starting in on our reading, I did have a chance to skype my mom prior to her going on her vacation (Florida and a Carribean cruise). It was nice to chat with her for a bit and get caught up on my nephew's birthday and family information. It was a little glitchy and it is hard to get a strong internet signal so we conversed while I was in the common area of the housing unit. Hopefully I was not too loud as it was 8:30 PM our time and about 7:30 AM her time. Tomorrow it's back to the dive shop at 8:30 and we are working on mapping a dive site.

Ants go marching two by two

Today we started with an early morning dive which was not a problem for us. We wake up very early since we still are not used to the time difference or noises yet. It has become a normal routine for us to wake up frequently throughout the night until we finally give up and start working on something, often this is before the sun comes up. Today at least we had a reason for waking up early which consists of diving to see Thresher sharks. We had to be at the dive shop by 4:30 AM to set out for our 5 AM dive. This was also our first dive which will serve as our orientation to the dive procedures along with an opportunity for the instructors to assess our baseline diving level. The procedures for the interns includes transporting our equipment to and from the boat. The crate that holds our fins, mask, BCD, regulator, and about 12 lbs of weights is not a light load to transfer on a regular basis. I am hoping that all this excertion and heavy lifting will pay off with some killer biceps and a few pounds off the core by the end of the month. Also, it is a little ackward feeling watched during pre-dive, dive and post-dive procedures. Usually I am used to the dive boat crew being pleased that I have a good clue on how to deal with my own equipment but in this situation we need to be exceptional so that we can convey the confidence and procedures to new divers. Our dive was very good, with a few shark spottings. Thresher sharks are distinguishable by their very long tail that comes to a point at the top. The first shark we saw was the closest and was an amazing sight, he was easily 8-9ft long. This dive site is in a protected area and is home to several cleaning stations that the sharks often visit. The stations are just out of sight from where we are allowed to dive but close enough that you will see several sharks coming and going. I believe this is one of the only places in the world where they consistently see the threshers. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take our dive cameras out on any dives that we are being assessed and performing skills. Later we hopefully will have more "fun dives" where we can capture some of the amazing marine and micro-organisms to share photos. Next on the agenda was a practice for our skills test. There are 24 skills that we need to know well enough to emphasize every step in a demonstration, teaching style to our practice students. Most of the skills are scuba skills except for the last 4 skills which are actually snorkeling skills. The last time we have formally addressed these skills was 6 years ago during our open water scuba course. There is a quick one line description of each skill on one of our slates yet the detail required is not in writing anywhere. The approach the instructors take is monkey see, monkey do (Demo and mimic style). Two of the other dive master interns that are futher along in the course would demo the skills, then the instructor would demo the skill, and then it was our turn. No words allowed which makes sense when under the water, but even the above water demo needs to speak for itself without a sound from the leader. We have learned that many of our exercises are some what piece mealed together, learn minimal from the readings, learn a little on the demos and a little more from the instructors. Then utilize the other diver master candidates to fill in the missing links with helpful accronyms or any other helpful hints passed on to them. Hopefuly by the end all these puzzles will be solved. All of this skills training is done around the bay in a protected, swallow area of the ocean that is more ideal for skills assessment. The only problem is due to the swallow water depth it is a great place to get a scalpt sun burn that leaves a distinguisable line where our maskes start. Jeff and I now have matching sun burns. After 101 minutes underwater performing skills and probably another 30-40 minutes on the surface, it was time to head back. On the way back from the bay, we did another swim test which is the tired diver tow for 100 meters. Jeff and I took turns to push or pull the other for the distance while being timed. Jeff finished at 3 min and I finished at 3 min 5 sec which resulted in a score of 4 for both of us. Next why not complete the 800 meter swim with snorkel, mask, and fins? We swam the same route as our 400 meter swim but completed the course two times. Jeff did get a head start and I did once again swim a little further then I should have (I like to be thorough), so yes he beat me with a time of 14 min 45 sec and myself at 15 min and 30 sec. He is quite speedy with fins on. We both recieved 4 points. I would have to say that at this rate we are scoring pretty well to make our 15 point total among the 5 swim tests. Later we found out that one of the boats we were dodging during our 800 meter swim was bringing back some of our fellow dive master interns from a dive. They were asking who were the speedy swimmers and wondering who was the third swimmer that was left in the weeds. Yes, Jeff and I were the speedy ones, poor Rick just could not keep up. During our down time, we also had to try to read some more while trying not to fall asleep from our very long day. Our plan was to go back to the room and work on our reading but then we found out that all the dive master interns were going to get together for dinner. Being the first opportunity to really meet everyone it would be rude to refuse the offer and go back to our room to read, right? Without much time to get ready, we hurried back to our room only to find an army full of ants that somehow found a way into our very secure ziplock bag of cookies. Not at all what we wanted to see. Jeff hurried out to dispose of the bag and eventually the ants realized the provisions were gone and they one by one and two by two left our room. Quickly we scrambled to meet the group at the sunset bar prior to heading off to dinner. We needed to go with the group as we had never ate at Momma's before. It is not your traditional restaurant but instead a local lady in the village that cooks many meals throughout the day for locals and travelers. For dinner it is necessary to make reservations so she is aware when the group is arriving and the number to cook for. She made fried chicken, fried pork, vegtable medley, sour soup, adobo pork, rice, and noodles. Each person had a plate and would tell her what we wanted to try, she would put a scoop or two of each choice on your plate and then it was time to eat. As she had no electricity we ate by candle light. Prices there are very low around 110-160 PHP for a plate full of food. The prices seemed somewhat arbitrary since Jeff and I had heaps of food compared to others and some how had a lower price. Regardless, all the prices were far less than back in the states or the prices at the dive shop. The rest of the interns convinced us to stay out a while longer (it would be rude to eat and run right), they lead us to an establishment that had billard tables. Interstingly soda is more expensives than rum which leads to an abnormal pricing scheme at Malditos, 60 PHP for single, 50 PHP for a double and 40 PHP for a triple rum and coke. Needless to say for an american dollar one can get a very concentrated beverage. We could not spend too much time out since by this time (10 PM) we had already been up for 18 hours and still needed to read our chapters before bed. So we got our flashlight out and headed down the maze of paths that led through the village and made our way back to the room.

Our holiday ends today

It was hard to sleep with unfamiliar sounds of roosters crowing (they definitely do not just crow in the morning but all through the day and worst at night), lizards calling and the occasional dogs barking. Thankfully we did not have to be to the dive shop until 9:30 and we managed to catch up on some sleep in the early morning. Well I caught up on sleep but Jeff was still on Hawaii time and was up at 1 AM. We will be able to sleep in longer since getting ready in the morning should be quicker. There is no need to apply makeup as this will most certainly just sweat off after a few minutes in the hot sun (it has been very warm consistently high 80's/low 90's, quite humid, the temperature at night is also hot and muggy). Yet getting ready does take more preparation as we need to remember to bring out tolietries to the bathroom, along with shower towels, the estimated amount of toilet paper and our mobile plastic bag that serves as our garbage container. I got ready quickly this morning as I was very thristy and hungry for breakfast. Oscar's restaurant is our main eattery, it is located on the roof of the dive shop which is where we receive intern discounts on food. Mainly we receive a 20% discount on all food and drinks except for the super discounted Filipino meals which are 50% off. Worried my stomach would get queezy, I opted for a sandwich and my body gladly welcomed the replenishment of calories and nutrients. I also could not resist having a mango shake as well which was very refreshing.

Jeff and I met for our orientation which was quite intense. Basically they create a revolving 2 week curriculum that there is no way you will succeed at. Based on the diver's needs they will revamp it to suit your deficiencies when the second 2 week set comes up. By the end of 4 weeks all the charteristics of a surperb dive master are met. We have already learned from our instructors what scores it takes to pass per PADI guidelines, and the higher scores they hold us to.

After the introduction to divemaster, we then placed orders for our staff T-shirts, watched a short video on chapters 1-3 of our divemaster manual, and then went out to our ocean pool for our 400 meter swim (no snorkel, fins, etc). The start was a little off shore and we swam along the shore to a rocky point and then swam back while avoiding a couple anchored boats and people swimming. I never make it easy for myself and went at an angle, swimming more than necessary, and finished in 7 min 45 sec. Jeff finished at 10 min. Less than 6 min is worth 5 points (the instructor stated he only witnessed one 5 ever), a time of 6-8 min is 4 points which I got, and 8-10 min is 3 points which Jeff got. There are 5 swim tests and we must have an accumulative score of 15 points which is an average of 3 points per test, considering this was Jeff's most worriesome of the 5 skills and my best, I hope we can make the grade.

We then met with the Operations Manager to go over our package to ensure we were all on the same page. Like true Bennett travels, the office had not recieved all the paperwork from our contact which we had completed a month prior to our arrival. Fortunately, Jeff had the information saved on his phone and was able to show him our package description and payment information. The packages are all individually tailored to what specialties are chosen along with what prerequesties that still need to be completed and if any gear is needed. All of our prerequesties are completed, we have all of our gear and they were very impressed with the amount of dives we have already completed. After that was all sorted out it was time to pick up our dive master crew pack which come in their very own canvas bag (about the size of lap top bag) and consists of our dive master manual (274 pages), instructor manual (162 pages), EFR instuctor course book (8 pages), scuba tune up dive book (40 pages), Encyclopedia of recreational diving (350 pages), plus several dive slates (large water proof index cards), and ERDP (fancy dive time calculator). With all this reading to be done, it was time to head back to our room and hide from the sun for a wee bit.

When we got back to our room we started on reading the required 3 chapters right away. By this time both our bodies and brains were tired and the heat was not helping us feel very motivated yet we had a reading assignment. Basically we would read a few pages, fall asleep, read a couple more, fall asleep. Needless to say it is going to take a long time to finish the book at this pace. We spent the next couple hours repeating this cycle until we finally gave in to falling asleep, we did not even make it out for dinner. We had a big day planned for tomorrow and would have to be up at the dive shop by 4:30 AM for the Thresher shark dive. Our instructor had stated that our holiday ended today and it will be assignments and work from here on out. We definitely were already coming to terms to this reality.

Justin Bieber is everywhere

After a good breakfast at the hotel we were ready to set off to Malapascua island. A couple picked us up from the hotel and escorted us across the island of Cebu, it was a 3 hour car ride to the dock on the north east side of the island. Luckily this couple was very nice and had lots to say which made the trip go fast. We learned lots of interesting information from and about them. Turns out they are moving to Vancouver Canada in a couple months (that will be a bit of a climate change). He is going to be a physical therapist for dogs, I am not sure what she is going to do but she was telling us how she used to work as a baby nurse for wealthy families in NY. She would live in their house in the baby's room for up to 16 weeks, until the baby was sleep trained (I immediately asked her how she felt about Hawaii). Her sister also has a vey interesting job, she works at a school in the Philippines that is for Korean children to learn english. The parents send their children, ranging in age from kindergarten to high school, to the Philippines for a 6 month course. It sounds like there are a few Korean teachers that will come along with the real young children otherwise it is 2 Filipino teachers to about 50 students. The teachers it seems are in charge of the students 24/7 (Jeff asked if they had these schools in other countries/languages, already planning a 6 month break from children we don't have yet). We talked about many other intersting subjects to make travel time pass quickly.

Finally we reached the boat that would take us on the 30 minute trip to Malapascua. I was not aware my balance would be tested as I "walked the plank" (a narrow board about 7 feet long) from shore onto the boat while holding my heavy bag over one shoulder. Maybe this is why they go bare foot, sandals definitely did not help my balance but luckily the crew lended me a hand to help across. As we were waiting in the boat for supplies to be loaded there were some local children jumping in the water and hanging on the boat. It seemed they were trying to get as close to us as they could, then started speaking english but the only words that came out were "give me money", "just one peso" and "Justin Bieber". When the boat shoved off it became very apparent this was not a usual boat. It consisted of a long skinny boat with giant bamboo outriggers on each side, most of the beams and some of the walking areas were constructed of bamboo as well. The bamboo was tied together with nylon rope then the outriggers were tensioned with wire. Jeff found it very interesting that when it was time to start the engine they had 3 guys grab ahold of a rope with several knots tied in it and on 3 they gave it a giant YANK to pull start the inboard diesel engine. After the engine was running they controlled speed by pulling on another rope hooked to the throttle. The person in charge of steering the boat sat towards the back and controlled the ruder via another long piece of bamboo. Not exactly the modern mechanics that Jeff is accustomed to. Regardless, it was a smooth and pleasant boat ride on a calm ocean of very blue water.

We arrived on the beach in front of the dive shop and after a short introduction of the operations manager it seemed as though they were not quite sure what to do with us. For us this is quite usual when we travel out of the country even with many attempts to confirm our reservations prior to arrival. After a brief discussion, we were led to our room followed by three workers carrying our luggage. I do not know how they determined who got the short straw but one of them had to carry our big, heavy bag versus the smaller carry-on sizes. They may bave been speaking Filipino but it was obvious they were talking about how heavy the bag was. Through the varying zig zag dirt paths we reached our building. We were greeted in our room by 2 friendly lizards both of which still had their tails. The room can be explained as simple, there is a bed, two bambo end tables, one hand woven attempt at a dresser, two lights and one fan mounted on the wall. Around the corner from our room is a locked door that leads into the common area. This consists of a small couch, 2 chairs, TV, stereo, and an unused kitchenette with spices (I already know where the pepper is) and little else. There are 3 bathrooms around the building that were all missing the same thing... toliet paper. We had about 3 hours before our welcome dinner to get acquinted with the area and seek out toliet paper. There are several small shops around the village that sell around 20 items, some stores are a little bigger. Therefore it was not hard to find toliet paper, cookies, and water. A few Ipad games later and off to the restaurant we went.

As we waited in the bar area before dinner we met a couple of fellow divemaster interns. Rick was one of the first people who really started talking with us along with Peter who was a little less chatty. It was very interesting to learn some insight on the dive master program from both of them. Peter has almost completed the dive master internship and although Rick is just starting his dive master training, he compeleted all of the book work prior to arriving and was quite knowledgeable about the process. Rick is also a kite surfing instructor, coincidence, I think not. We learned a little more about kite surfing this evening and hope to continue to learn more as the month goes on. I also found it quite unique that while Rick was here, his wife is in California learning to be a yoga instructor. Her program sounds very intense, just staying in the hot room (42 degrees C and 50% humidity) alone would be a struggle let alone trying to keep balance in the ridiculous poses. Besides this, there is also hours of meditation, reading, and watching India movies until 2:30 in the morning. Yet little time to sleep since they have to be back in the heat room by 6 AM for more yoga. Rick along with the others agreed he picked the better internship.

Then it was time to move into the dinning area and order our meals. Jeff and I had not eaten since breakfast at 9AM and were not shy at all to be the first to order and receive our food. The welcome meal is complimentary and consists of 3 courses, I chose the fish cakes, fajitas, and bruschetta. All eyes were on us as we devoured the fish cakes. The bruschetta came last and was suggested by the other divers as they probably knew by the third course I would be full. I ate one and then offered the rest up to the group, who did not hessitate at the gesture. All the members of the table were given a dice which can be traded for a free drink. During dinner we met several of the staff dive instructors, along with other interns from varying levels of dive experience and certifications. These introductions were not in the formal sense as one might expect during a "welcome" dinner. It was more like everyone showed up knowing they would get a least one free drink and if they happened to sit close enough to us then they introduced themselves and moved on. This wasn't the case with everyone but it definitely was not as welcoming as one would assume. When we get to know some of these people better we will be sure to "formulate" proper names and update accordingly. Most of group are from Europe and we were definitely a minority. The only other person from the US that we have met was actually born in the Philippines but grew up in New York. After a couple beers and many stories later it was time for us to take off to bed.

After dinner we still did not know much about what the month would entail but were told to meet for orientation the following day at 0930. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Leaving on a jet plane

In true Bennett fasion we were running late to the airport, fortunately we made it just in time to be the last passengers on the shuttle from the rental car return to our terminal. When we got there it was a long line which was not moving, luckily we did eventaully catch our flight on time. Being late can be a tricky thing, it makes an uneasy feeling in my tummy waiting in the long line to check in and then through security yet it makes for a very short wait at the gate before boarding. I only had a quick couple of minutes to call my mom and talk to her on the phone for one last time before we went "off the grid" for a month. Now with Skype it will make the distanace much more tolerable, I imagine. We still do have several hours until we can reach a WiFi site therefore it was important to chat with my mom for even the few minutes I had. Once we reached our seats we were greeted with the normal blanket and pillow but it was grouped with other baged goodies as well which included a headset, slippers, and even a little tooth brush with tooth paste. This way we can continue to feel somewhat fresh throughout the several hours of traveling. I had already packed my toothbrush in my carry on this morning but was sad to realize our tooth paste was in a big container that would not be allowed. The flight also provided fun little stickers to convey if we wanted to be woken up for meal time or do not disturb, very clever.

International flights are much like domestic first class as there are many free movies to choose from, free alcoholic beverages, and free meals. With my Wall-e blanket on my lap it is like being home on a lazy day of movie watching and hardly getting out of the bed. The only thing that is missing is Hitch and Marbles which these days you can even have a virtual cat app that you can feed and will purr (but it is just not the same).

We arrived in Seoul, Korea an hour earlier than our itinerary had stated. This left us some ample time for quality people watching. It was interesting given the quantity of people buzzing around and the cutural diversity at the airport. Although quite entertaining, our eye lids were already growing heavy as we waited for the next flight. When we boarded our next flight it was about 12 AM Hawaii time but we had to try to stay up for the 4 hour flight that remained. We would arrive in Cebu, Philippines at 11 PM and would need to be able to sleep once we reached our hotel. Our bodies were aching for a nap. Luckily, once we made it through customs someone from the hotel was waiting for us at baggage claim with a sign for Mr Jess Bennett (a little was lost in translation).

Our hotel in Cebu was quite nice. Jeff opted for the slightly more expensive option for 2,600 PHP (dive internship discounted this about 1000 PHP). PHP is the Philippine peso which 42 PHP is about equal to 1 USD. The lobby was very nice, our room had air conditioning, the roof top pool and hot tub looked amazing and breakfast was very tasty. If only the little cockroach would not have greeted us in our room, I would have said the hotel was outstanding. A couple pictures are attached of the roof top hotel. Tomorrow we will tell you about our trip to Malapascua Island.

The islands are getting smaller

Since today will be mostly a travel day we decided it would be a good opportunity to fill everyone in on what this trip to the Philippines is all about. The hunt for this "vacation/internship" started 2 years ago when we got back from Fiji. We enjoyed that vacation so much and the diving was so unbelievable we knew we would have to return. I immediately started researching how to go back to the south pacific for longer, cheaper and fit in more dives. This is when I discovered scuba diving internships, they were relatively inexpensive and include as many dives as one would desire. I contacted TSD almost 2 years ago for the Philippine dive internship and have been waiting for this day ever since. To date we have collected many dive certifications with our highest level as rescue divers, others include basic, advanced, nitrox, and shark awareness. An accumulation of tropical and cold water dives has landed me at 84 dives and Jeff at 101 dives(I did not partake in the ice dive or others with similar water temps- Burr). After the month of diving in the Philippines, we will complete another 50-80 dives including our certifications as dive masters, under water photography, and equipement specialist. There are many skills and tests necessary to complete the dive master certification which will lead to many days of reading the encyclopedia of dive theory along with water time to perfect our skills. This certification is the first professional level certification offered by PADI allowing us to lead divers on trips and assist instructors during classes. Jeff and I have an idea what this month will entail yet I imagine it is just the tip of the ice berg (or top of the palm tree).

Today our first flight will leave Hawaii at 12 PM Hawaii time and head to Seoul, Korea (flight time= 10.5 hours). We will have a 2 hour lay over and then start our next flight to Cebu, Philippines (flight time= 4 hours). Arrival in Cebu is at 11:30 PM their time therefore we have hotel reservations and transport set up for the night. The next morning someone from the dive shop will personally pick us up from Cebu and escort us to the dive resort on the island in the Philippines called Malapascua (this is a very tiny island). Some interesting facts, there are no ATMs, doctors, or roads on Malapascua. Although it seems the size of the island does not stop the divers from having a lot of fun, judging by the pictures on the intern website.

Based on our timeline we will be traveling for a couple days until we reach a WiFi source therefore do not be alarmed if there is a couple day delay before the next blog entry. We time traveled back 5 hours from WI when we were in Hawaii and we will now enter the future about 14 hours ahead of WI time when we reach the Philippine (crossing the international dateline). Definitely trying to see how much we can confuse our internal clock. There is WiFi on the island at the dive shop but we are unsure if there is WiFi at the intern housing. Get ready for some brief blog interruptions that will return with amazing underwater pictures.

I would like to thank everyone for the blog viewing support, Jeff and I are excited to report that our blog is now over 1000 views !!! We also are excited to report we have viewers in different countries including Russia, Australia, Canada, Fiji, Germany, Columbia and Hong Kong.

We have enclosed some pictures of the "Blue Room" at Karen's house where we have stayed for the last week.

No time for clean laundry

Once again we started our day with a run/walk on the beach. When we returned we were greeted by another new couple, luckily Karen had already set out yogurt, fruit and a croissant for them. It was fun to chat with Stan over breakfast as his son and daughter-in-law moved to Hawaii about 8 months ago and love it here. We swapped stories about packing pods and transporting pets to Hawaii. Unfortunately the daughter-in-law had a set date to be in Hawaii for work. Therefore his son had to stay behind in Texas to wait for the dogs to be able to be transported to Hawaii with only a minimal quarantine time of 90 days. Hitch and Marbles (our cats) would not be happy with any quarantine time and they are also not looking forward to the plane ride in cargo.

We had a lot of tasks to complete today since tomorrow we leave for the Philippines for a month and will not have access to phones. This meant it was time to put a call in to Pod headquarters and give them the green light on shipping our worldly possessions across the big blue ocean. Which led to a fun game of what did we pack in the pod again?? Many of these items have been in boxes for several months at this point which makes the inventory list they asked for a little challenging to create. We had several other errands to tend to, one of which was laundry. It was not feasible to pack enough sets of clothes to last 48 days. We had a debate about whether we ask Karen if we can do some laundry or just do it since the machines are in our room anyway. Jeff ended up asking Karen if it was ok to do 1 load of laundry before we left. Much to our surprise she responded with an abrupt NO, it costs too much. We were left with the decision to go to a laundry mat before we leave or wait and see what kind of clothes washing the Philippines will bring. Decision was made we are going to roll the dice and hope Malapascua island has more than the ocean to wash your clothes in.

We then once again headed over to Hawaii Kai, this time to look at Frances' townhouse. From the outside it already had us quite intrigued. Frances showed up to give us a tour of the inside and it is hard to get past the open wood floor living/dinning room that looks through a wall of glass doors onto a large deck. The view of the pond, palm trees, and mountains is just what we ordered. The kitchen and bathrooms are somewhat outdated but definitely mangeable and far better than others we have seen. I already see the potential to make this a welcoming Hawaii Oasis. The views in the spare rooms also look out in the same direction as the deck, there is an excellent view of Koko Crater for our guests to partake in light to moderate stair climbing. There is a water entrance from the deck to jump into a kayak and head to the ocean. Marbles and Hitch will surely enjoy there own views, also cat proofing will be necessary so that they don't scurry onto the deck and kayak away. Now with less than 24 hours until we fly out, we need to procure the necessary documents to ensure this place is ours (credit scores, letter from Jeff's employer, lease application, etc). Good thing we got a start on our to do list this morning since the items are stacking up. I guess we definitely will not be doing laundry.

While we were over in Hawaii Kai we stopped at one of the local dive shops and had a very interesting discussion with them about their dive club. It seems we would get all kinds of discounts on dive trips as well as gear rental and purchases. They also have some really exciting dive trips on their big boat that they take to other islands, such as a 3 day trip to Maui and Molokai. On top of this they also have several events throughout the year, Shelia told us about their Thanksgiving event where they had 13 deep fried turkeys last year (down from 16 turkeys the previous year- gobble gobble). Sounds like they also have a 4th of July party and even costume parties throughout the year (good thing the Halloween costumes are in the pod). This should keep us busy on the holidays.

The first phase of this adventure is coming to a close, let's check how we did...
Job: Jeff has a job, Bonnie has a possible lead
House: Location picked and application in process
Moving: Pod ready to ship 5/11 and will reach Hawaii 6/7. Jeff also will get $5,000 relocation money
Money: We managed to only go out to eat for 5 meals in the 8 days, use 2 tanks of gas, and swap soda for water

Overall: Jeff and I have really enjoyed Hawaii so far. For being an island there are still very diverse areas to explore. Some areas have all the normal shops and restaurants like the mainland while other areas have fewer, yet it leaves little to want. I still have not seen cheesecurds on any menu yet, I imagine they may be somewhere in Oahu (there was cheese on a stick in the mall but I don't think that counts)

Good morning Lizzy

I had a startling visitor when I grabbed for my toothbrush this morning. I jumped back and squeeled but luckily it was harmless Lizzy the tailless Lizard. Since we only have one day left I think I safetly can disclose that I have not seen very many bugs in the house. A few small ants and an occasional lizard is very tolerable. I had heard horror stories of Hawaiian bugs such as big flying cockroaches and huge centipedes that have fangs and can sting. Therefore I am pleased to say I have not seen any of these yet and would like to keep it that way. Not sure what the Philippines will bring but I imagine I will not be story free by the end of that month.

We found a couple new places on Craigslist today but unfortunately they are not ready for showings yet. Therefore we decided to head to Hawaii Kai for a little fun in the sun. As we entered the parking lot at Hanauma Bay (Ha-Now-Ma Bay), Jeff's phone rang. It was a call back from a Hawaii Kai rental that we had left a message with yesterday. This place is very nice, on a "pond" that leads to the same canal that Bob will be living. It has a very impressive pool overlooking the "pond" in which I could definitely swim some laps. I say "pond" since Jeff was corrected when he asked if it was on the canal, she clearly stated "no it is on the pond". This "pond" is really just a large open area at the end of the canal that they use as a marina.
Our appointment is set for tomorrow at 2PM to view this place and hopefully Frances will not decide she would rather live there too.

Hanauma Bay is a gorgeous location that is now a state park. Prior to visiting the beautiful location one must watch a 15 minute movie on proper wildlife etiquette. Then one chooses to take the journey to the Bay by foot or van. Appropriately the van ride is $0.75 on the way down and $1 on the way up. The trip back up the steep hill is much more work yet it is all worth the trip. Jeff and I doned our snorkling gear and approached the water. An annoucement was promptly made warning snorklers to be aware of the current, stay within the buoys, and best to stay where you can stand. I thought it was rather interesting that this announcement was timed right prior to us plunging into the water. Did we look like risky, trouble makers? Since this is a wildlife reserve, some of the fish were very big, probably larger since they only have natural predators and humans can not threaten them. I did tug on Jeff's fin to show him a large Honu (turtle) swimming by. After watching many new Hawaiian colorful and playful fish it was time to return to land. Once we reached our towels we had a small picnic which brought an audience of pigeons. One by one they crowded around hoping for an offering. The video warned us of feeding fish and we were unsure about the pigeons but decided not to get into trouble our first time at Hanauma Bay.
On our drive back to Karen's we stopped along the Hawaii Kai highway at many scenic stops. The views in Hawaii Kai with the bluest water and rocky mountain formations are breathtaking. I guess I can not blame Jeff for having his hopes set on making Hawaii Kai our new residence.

I asked Jeff if he wanted to climb the Koko crater (Stairway to Heaven) tomorrow. He thought this was a potential idea but may be best to wait for our unknowing house guests, I mean friends and family, that are seeking a little exercise. With only 1,048 stairs to the top, one would most likely consider this light to moderate exercise.

Please enjoy more pictures of Karen's house including the elephant parade. We also have included some scenic views from Hawaii Kai: Hanauma Bay and another scene from the Highway. Plus a picture of Lizzy.

I can catch birds

I have woke up early every day since we have been here. Today was the first that it was raining at 4AM. We have had great weather so far which makes you take if for granted, until the weather changes. The rain actually cleared up by the time we usuallly run on the beach, unfortunately we, I mean Jeff had already turned in his rain excuse to sleep in longer. When he did finally get up and get rolling we were headed out to check out another property. This was due to the fact Bob was unsure if he wanted a tenant or just claim it as his own residence. So we checked out a townhouse in Ewa beach which is the cookie cutter community that is updated and new, parts of this are appealing. It has the big garage and many amenties that are not usual for the Hawaii area. The community center also has a nice size pool that I was glad to see was not busy. There are plenty of appealing sites yet it is close to an almost scary community and far from a beach we would feel comfortable parkng our car at. We then headed over to Ko'olina which is basically living on a resort, no really it is. We would probably have crowded beach time full of tourists, this may grow old. Yet the property is more updated, in a very safe area and we would have access to 3 pools, gym, tennis, beach. On the other hand, it's far from anything else. So back to square one and we are set on Hawaii Kai. Anxiously waiting all day for the phone call from Bob whether or not we have a place to live. We decided to go back to Karen's side of town for a late lunch and some decision making.

While we were back at Karen's we had another door bell incident. This is the second or third time that while we are at the house someone rings the doorbell and starts saying "Hello, Hello". Now this seems to always happen when we are the only ones at the house, since we have no idea who it might be and really wouldn't know how to deal with them, we have just ignored it thus far. It definitely makes for an awkward situation, as if there aren't enough of those already. After they went away we decided to walk down the beach to a restaurant across the street from the main parking area. On our way we got the phone call from Bob that his wife had found a job and they are moving back to Hawaii. This left us back at square one still looking for a place to live, fortunately we still have plenty of time. As we headed down the beach we found it very interesting to see our normal Kailua beach on the weekend, very different, yet the crowds were still small and entertaining. There was a huge gathering of kite surfers which I could only imagine how complicated that could get with several people all trying to control their giant kites in the same area.

Eventually we got to Buzz's where we had drinks and dinner. This menu was a little more pricey yet we had already committed on staying and this is the main restaurant in walking distance. At least I got my $10 out of the drink as it was very little mixer and a strong brew of spirits (they were not kidding when they called it a lethal Mai Tai)... we have been watching our money so a $10 drink better be worth it. The calamari steak "Pupu"(appetizer) was quite good except for it was in a somewhat rich sauce. Unfortunately I have to completely stay away from rich foods and in my absolute can not eat list includes any description that includes alfredo, rich sauce or cream based. We also shared a steak salad and finished the meal with a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake. We over heard the waitress explain how dinner is completely different, the whole place changes and gets fancy, "they even add an extra fork". We thought this was an interesting description and may have to try it out?

After leaving the restaurant we passed many lazy Hawaiian birds. They don't seem as scared when a person either by foot or car are coming right in their direction. They just slowly walk across the path or street. With the boost of Mai Tai courage I was pretty sure I could catch a bird. Jeff after finding this gesture quite entertaining did convince me it was not necessary as we already have enough problems finding an apartment that allows cats, so birds would not help. Jeff was rather thankful that we did not come across a mongoose as it would have been hard to talk me down from trying to catch it. During this trip I had already decided on my mongoose catching strategy to zoom in by it's side and "catch it by the belly". Mongoose beware, I wonder how our cats would feel about a brother mongoose? Interestingly the mongoose are not Hawaiian natives but were actually brought into Hawaii for rat control. No animals were caught today and we continued our walk on the beach back to Karen's house where we sat out by the pool for a while. Karen came home while we were out there to inquire about the days events, we told her about losing the place in Hawaii Kai. We then told her how we had checked out Ko'Olina and we got the standard response "You're gonna hate it" we did get a little bit of valuable information from her about the area, which was nice.

We were then off to bed until Jeff's quick awakening at 1AM with the realization that we were not leaving until Wednesday 4/18 as he half asleep fumbled for his phone to confirm. I am glad he figured this out prior to us getting to the airport at 10 AM on Tuesday. Time to go back to sleep.

Please enjoy the pictures posted of Kailua beach, Karen's antelope, and a few peaks of Karen's house. Tomorrow we may share more pictures of Karen's house including the elephants on parade.

What's for breakfast??

This morning had a very interesting start. As Jeff was in the room adding to yesterdays blog I went into the kitchen to start making breakfast, just as I have most mornings. I should add that the last few days one of the other guests (We will continue to refer to him as pool boy) has poked his head out of his room as I am cooking. It's as if he is hoping Karen is in the kitchen making breakfast for him and his wife, he generally heads back into his room rather quickly with a very disapointed look on his face. This morning was very different as one of the new guests I had not yet met came out to inquire about breakfast (I could see the hunger in his eyes). He started asking me several questions while he was fixing his coffee and rummaging for food. I did my best to answer what I could. Then he asked me where the milk was located, I quickly offered up some of mine fearing for his well being if he had found the 1% milk that "tasted ok". At this point it dawned on me, he thought I was Karen and that I was cooking breakfast for him. I quickly introduced myself to prevent him from trying to eat my breakfast. Soon after his wife walks into the kitchen and starts looking for the sugar. She opens the cupboard to find a 10# bag of sugar and quickly giggles "oh look it's American size". After this Jeff came out to the kitchen and we talked to the new guests a little more. We found out they are from Hamburg, Germany and seemed like nice people. I found it kind of funny that they were the ones who informed us that we are about 3 miles away from the house where Obama grew up in, I had not heard one thing about him since we have been here. We then ate our breakfast in peace out by the pool.

Before leaving for the day we had a quick chat with Karen to ensure she was updated on our whereabouts for the day. She often gives us advise about residency in Oahu, long story short she has basically told us that "you're gonna hate it" for just about every location, except her house. Now that we have been looking at places she will at least agree that certain areas are better than others.

Back to the realty front, we spent the day again traveling around the island in pursuit of finding our ideal location to live. Prior to deciding we could relocate to Hawaii we did our research which included reading blogs/reviews of both the good and bad sides of island living. Supposedly many people feel somewhat trapped, rock fever, and one way to cope with this is to visit the mainland and drive. I have only been in Hawaii for a few days now and we have been driving a lot so the last thing I want to do is drive! Of course this my perspective but I really don't think I am ever a person who wants to drive. This brings us to our next dilemma, today we visited a very nice townhouse (the best yet) which is right on a canal in Hawaii Kai. The location is ideal from the beach, Hanauma Bay, and Kona Brewery (with the pizza slice/salad combo). If I get the position I applied to, which has many outstanding benefits, the drive may be a little long(I am not sure if I like driving). So we spent the rest of the day traveling to many different locations around the island that may be a closer commute. North Shore which had good surf, the Hawaii feel, but still far away and the beaches would be hard to run (I did almost twist an ankle walking). There were a lot of surf children especially a little girl around 10 years old (that had a fine pink surfboard) she had no fear of trying to catch a wave. This made me most fearful since there are no lifeguards on duty and any child of ours would likely be fearless. Ewa beach seems like an ideal alternative yet it is cookie cutter houses and mainland restaurants. I really want to feel like I live in Hawaii, not a wannabe mainland like suburb. Therefore none of these locations could stand a chance to the appeal of the place in Hawaii Kai. After realizing that the clinic I would work at(that is if I get this job) starts at 6:30 this may make the drive far more tolerable since I will most likely beat much of rush hour(and if I don't get this job any other job would be closer). So we came to the conclusion Hawaii Kai is the place for us. We called Bob, the owner, to tell him the good news and it turns out he agrees with us that it is the best place to live. It seems between the time we met with him to see the townhouse this morning at 11am and 5pm when Jeff called to tell him we wanted it he has made the decision to try and convince his wife they should move back to Hawaii. So here we are again, we have finally decided on a location and a place just to find out we have to wait around to find out if it is even really available. Our favorite game- Hurry up and wait...

A day in Waikiki

Happy birthday Jeff ! I really gave it my all to give him a wife with a job for his birthday. I suited up and was well polished for my meeting. The pharmacist I met with was a scuba diver with a BMW so hopefully I get extra points. Currently the facility did not have any posted positions but it appears they have a position that will be posted soon that may be a good fit. They seemed impressed with my hospital experience and would keep me in the loop if other openings would occur as well. Of course with every good news brings a new twist. If I do get this position which seems quite ideal, it may require a lot more windshield time. Once the position is posted I will have an official interview to follow; it may be awhile until I find out if I officially have this job. Back to the game of hurry up and wait.

We spent the rest of the day strolling around Waikiki. They claim Hawaii is very expensive yet the entertainment of people watching we witnessed was worth every free cent. Although free is a relative term since it did cost $11 to park. We did have a nice birthday lunch at Five-O Bar & Lounge. Good prices on 1/2 and full order Kalua pig nachos, meatballs/little smookies, or crackers with assorted dip spreads. They had a small local beer selection as well. They must have been running an afternoon special or assumed we were locals since our total bill was less than what we had figured (maybe they knew it was Jeff's Bday). Beware of drinking beer and touring Waikiki, many small shops yet very few bathrooms. I played the part as a guest in many fine hotels/resorts on the strip in desperate need of a bathroom. I also met a new friend in one of the nicest hotel's bathroom (This is a rather common occurance for me). I learned that she was from Hawaii originally, went to TX univerisity for soccer, and then moved back. She informed me of the best place to get a tatoo. Jeff was impressed with all the information I found out. While I was learning about Alana, Jeff was learning about the relocation perks he will get from his new job. I think we both learned equally valauble information.

When leaving Waikiki we learned that rush hour Honolulu traffic cannot be tricked even though Jeff tried. Having little knowledge of where we were going or how to get there Jeff headed through downtown during rush hour trying to make it to the other side. Yet every road that appeared to be a good path via our trusty map, would again turn into a one way road heading in the opposite direction of our desired destination. His new strategy was to ditch the map and play follow the leader allowing the cars in front of us to navigate the way out of town. This led us to a familiar road that would take us where we wanted to go, but this road like many others downtown was at a standstill. Time to consult the map again which led us to several more frustrating one way roads. Finally we get close enough that we can see the road we have been trying to get to for the last 40 minutes. We are almost there and what else but "Right turn only" (we needed to go left). After a little more manuevering and only one U-turn we finally made it out of the slue of one way mazes that is downtown Honolulu. Fortunately drivers are rewarded with a very scenic drive through the mountains once you complete the maze(this is reminiscent of credits rolling at the end of a video game).

Now it's Karen time, there really wasn't anything over the top today. However I do feel it is worth mentioning that for the last few days when we arrive back to the house she is in our room doing laundry (the washer and drier is conveniently located in our room). This always seems to create a slightly awkward situation as we head into the room and Karen along with her pets are sometimes reluctant to leave. We are starting to become accustomed to this dance at the doorway to our room. Aside from that, Jeff had another discovery in the fridge today, the hot sauce had fallen behind the shelf and he had to remove the bottom drawers to recover it. During this he found a yogurt with Dec 2011 date on it, normally he would have just thrown this away without hesitation but given the milk situation he wasn't sure if it would "taste ok" to Karen. This created an internal dilemma weighing Karen's wrath versus the well being of a fellow guest. He did end up disposing of the expired yogurt yet the milk is still there. As we were finishing dinner, Karen came out all fancied up for a night out on the town, she claimed she was only meeting friends for coffee but the bright red lipstick all over her teeth told a different story.

We then retired to our room to start writing this but it had been a long day and we only got about half done and were too tired to finish. So we decided to call it a night but about half an hour later the antelope started going nuts making all kinds of noise. After about 5 minutes of racket, we heard new people coming into the house. I think it is possible I heard a child but I can't be sure so we will have to see what the morning brings and who these new mystery guests are.

But I wanted my water cold

We started the day the same with a run/walk on the beach yet today was much brighter in terms of climate as well as our progression toward our goal. When we got back to Karen's home everyone was still asleep this time. I tried to outwit the hot pan handles this time by immediately placing hot pads on them which was a success, one could say we are adapting to our surroundings.

We left the house early today to get to Honolulu on time. Not knowing how traffic would be despite being after rush hour, we alotted 1.5 hours for transit and arrived in 30 minutes. With an hour to explore, we drove through Waikiki. We found many common home town restaurants that were on the upscale strip amongst shops and hotels (Chili's, Red Lobster, Tony Romas to name a few). This does not include the Sizzler near Karen's house, we didn't know those still existed. We also found the running paths through homeless park that we will most likely avoid. Granted the natural scenery is a fine place to venture but the abundance of homeless camps would deter my entrance into this park. Although if you had to be homeless, on a beach in Hawaii would be a mighty ideal location. Eventually our self-guided tour had to come to an end and Jeff had to suit up for his interview. I very patiently waited the 1.5 hours in the car on pins and needles(he did at least crack the windows in the car for me). We were pretty confident Jeff would have no problem with his experience yet one never knows. In true Jeff fashion he had a poker face as he reached the car and I could only worry for the worst, maybe homeless park is not so bad afterall. Turns out his interview went very well and was offered a day time position consisting of 4 ten hour days which results in a 4 day weekend every five weeks; not so bad. The dealership appeared to have a lot of incentives, a good crew of guys where Jeff will fit in nicely. It is not your usual midwestern shop due to the limited space and therefore necessity to stack cars three high on both the show lot as well as inside. I wonder how often someone pushes the wrong button and crushes a new car? It would also appear that regular exercise will not be tolerated at this dealership as cars are brought to and from your stall by way of walkie talkie. When you need parts, you type the request into the computer and BAM they are delivered. All in all it seems like a great opportunity.

Rental search continued today with a couple of strike outs. One place was horribly outdated and the cochroach in the shower is a sure turn off, really? The next place we looked at was very nice inside as well as the feel of a tropical treehouse. Unfortunately it takes several flights of stairs to reach your tree top escape. We have several more viewings left and are still very optimistic. The viewings did lead us back to Kona Brewery to enjoy a new pizza slice of the day and salad. Do you think they will notice when we eat there every day this week?

If you recall the negative Illionis couple from a post or so ago, we had a parting discussion with them prior to their departure. I did not get into the details ealier but you have two very distinct reactions when you tell people you are moving to Hawaii. The optimistic supporter and the shear buzz kill. I imagine it is not a surprise that the Illionis couple told us that we would not find jobs, living expenses are "ludicrous", and housing costs are "obscene". I have gotten very good a zoning this type of conversation out which is far easier in Hawaii as I fade into the views of water, sun, and mountain ranges. Regardless, before they departed they inquired on our job interview status in which they were very impressed with Jeff's job offer. Then when they heard I was interviewing at a hospital and asked what I did for living the facial reaction was priceless. They had a quick realization that we were not two silly naiive 20 somethings that had not thought this journey through.

Our Karen moment of the day: the refrigerator temperature battle has now begun. Karen comes through the room when we are gone and tiddies up which is fine. Pretty sure she crossed the line today with trying to regulate our refrigerator temperature which Jeff had intentaionally turned up in order to keep our water cold (Having the fridge on max cold instead of medium for 7 days must really break the bank). Mind you this fridge is not out in the open but located behind a door which is also our clothes closet in our room. Kinda makes you wonder what else she is rummaging through. Karen's place is great don't get me wrong, but it is mighty interesting as well, seems there is never a dull day when Karen is on the loose. Tonight as we were eating dinner by the pool, Karen's two antelope also kept us quite entertained as they barked and scurried after imaginary objects.

Hope all is well back on the mainland at 1 AM : )

Where's the pepper ???

We started our day with a run/walk to Lanikai. As we passed numerous early day adventurers (humans with and without dog companions). We played the can we say good morning first and are they Hawaiian locals or vacationers game. We were a little caught off guard on how to rate the lonely small pug dog that was all alone attached to a brick on the beach... surely he was local and had misplaced his human. He was very cute and knowing he surely does not have rabies I was tempted to pet, hug, and squeeze him, but it is my first day and did not want to get in trouble if his local human was soon to appear (evident later his owner was close by snokeling). Our game concluded that people with dogs are definitely local, people without tans are most likely vacationing, and people with their own coffee mugs probably have a beach house close by and should be our new friends !!!

We returned from our run a little sweaty, a little stinky, and surprised by a new house guest in the dinning room (a male with a tan and an accent). We only muttered a few words before we scurried off to seek cleanliness. In the privacy of our room Jeff declared the new male visitor was surely Sharon's pool boy.

----> we need to break for a moment, we think for the protection of our blog we will now start to change names to protect peoples true identities; we will from now on refer to Sharon as Karen and Karen no longer has two dogs instead she has two... antelope?.

So after getting ready for the day we went out to the kitchen to prepare breakfast (we have the full kitchen to our disposal). We rummaged through the cabinets and found what we needed to fix breakfast. Well almost everything there was still one ingredient missing, Where's the Pepper? This is when we realized how perfect this place was for us, we had spent most of the time on the plane playing hidden object games. Now, we were living in one but like any game the excitement only lasts so long and eventually you want to finish the level and move on. So just like on the Ipad we were going to use the "HINT" button, in this case it was Karen who was sitting at her computer 10 feet away. I should have known the game of life doesn't have a hint button as her response was "it's your kitchen just look around" after Jeff commented on how he had looked just about everywhere she did finally yell a hint from her seat about the area the pepper was located in and we found it. Now this alone would have been enough excitement for breakfast but the real surprise came when I went to pick up the pan I was cooking eggs in only to find the handle was non-insulated metal and just as hot as the burner. Fortunately the pot holders were an easy find(plus I am tough GRRRR(meow)) and I was able to finish my eggs. Now Jeff not being a big fan of eggs thought he would go the easy route and have cereal. Karen had informed us that she had plenty of cereal we could eat and had mentioned that there was some 1% milk in the fridge we could use. She had made a comment about having tried the milk and said it was ok to her, which seemed rather strange but as the conversation carried on we came to realize she drinks 2% milk and wasn't sure she would like the 1%. This led us to only buy a small container of skim milk, so Jeff pours his cereal and heads into the fridge to find this 1% milk only to discover it has a date of March 29th stamped on it (seriously who keeps milk 2 weeks past the date, and offers it to paying guests!!!) thankfully he hadn't poured it on his cereal yet or tried it for himself. We now take Karen's opinions with a grain of salt (which I still haven't found by the way). It was very nice to eat our completed breakfast outside by the pool though. Karen does have a beautiful place to stay with a nice pool and property on the channel. As Jeff cleaned the dishes, by this point I was a little scared of the kitchen, I ventured out to the channel. I settled down at the ledge and enjoyed watching the paddle boat crews and surf board paddlers. Behind me I had heard a lot of birds flying around that I had assumed were scared of an intruder present, until I turned around to realize I was heavily outnumbered. Surely they were seeking food of which I did not have. I calmly backed into the gated pool area where I felt much more comfortable. Ever since watching Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds when I was younger, I was not willing to chance it. To my surprise there were yet another 2 visitors poolside. For some reason I assumed they were midwestern so naturally one of my first questions was where they are from and sure enough they were from IL. My excitement was broken by their disapproval of my Wisconsin upbringing evident by the male stating " I would have thought in Hawaii we wouldn't have to deal with packer fans". Alas to say that this conversation did not go in a direction worth commenting on any further then stating "if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all". Who can be negative on a holiday to Hawaii ?

Starting our exploration of Hawaii real estate was interesting to say the least with navigating several new areas and learning that we have been horribly mispronouncing city names. I made use of my master navigating skills and we explored a few areas that could potentially be our new home. We visited Kaneohe, then made our way through the mountains to Honolulu. We drove past the BMW dealership then along the south east coast through Waikiki, Diamondhead and to Hawaii Kai. Hawaii Kai appears to be our favorite at this point but we still have much to learn. We ate dinner at Kona brewery (Thanks Katie for the recommendation) which had a very well priced (same as what we would have paid in WI) and very good meal while sitting outside overlooking the bay. Our next stop was our friend Ceanne's favorite when she lived on the island, Hanauma bay. This was by far the most breathtaking place we have visited and we will be certain to spend many of our days in the beautiful blue water below. This state park costs only $1 per car for parking and even has it's own resident cat, I wanted to pet it but it was between the fence and the cliff just too far out of reach. This was all wrapped up with a gorgeous drive the rest of the way around the south east tip of Oahu. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.........

Jet lagged

It started like a normal trip to the airport. Patiently playing the hurry up and wait game from one line to the next. Passing time with people watching, I didn't know parents are still utilizing the child on a leash method. It seems brilliant yet wrong at the same time. After the time passed our plane arived and it was our boarding call. The first indication that this was going to be no ordinary flight was when we lined up for boarding in 3 seperate rows and realized there were 2 boarding doors each with it's own "hamster tunnel" into the plane. Thanks very much to Jeff's sister Jill, we were in the express "hamster tunnel" which lead us right to our first class seats. Little did we know this was only the beginning of the benefits to follow, we of course knew that first class meant bigger seats, free drinks, and a lunch. So when they made the announcement that they were serving food and informed economy class the options were in the back of the inflight magazine with their prices Jeff grabbed the magazine and made his choice. OHH no that food listed in the magazine is only for the economy class. First class gets their choice of steak or pasta, which starts with a heated dish of pecans, a couple small courses before the main course, then ends with a make your own sundae ice cream bar. This entire process felt like dinner and a show watching the flight attendants put everything together. We managed to entertain ourselves for most of the 9 hours by playing games on the Ipad (Kudos to my parents). We did take a break from the games to watch the movie "We bought a zoo" which Jeff pointed out made my eyes "leak" a lot, but I greatly enjoyed the movie. There were a couple of visits to our seat from the snack tray which Jeff took full advantage of. Then when we get into the last hour or so of the flight, what else, but another meal. This time we got a salad and a steak burrito. So now we know why the seats in first class are bigger, because by the time the flight is over you need it.

We arrived into Honolulu to a gloomy day, but it was still 76 degrees and much nicer than most of the year in WI. Leaving the airport we got a view of the neighborhoods we don't want to live in and got our taste of some good ole Honolulu traffic. But as soon as we hopped off of H1 the houses got bigger, the fences smaller and the scenery much better. We headed east through the mountains (yes there are some tunnels that go through them) which were gorgeous mountains, we even saw a waterfall in the distance. Once we got through the mountains we found a rather nice neighborhood and made our way to Saron's house (the B&B we are staying at). Sharon welcomed us in and showed us our room, we chatted for a while and headed out to explore a little bit. We ended up at the local Safeway (grocery store) we had to buy some groceries and thought we would try to get a handle on some price differences. This is when we realized that would be a little hard to do since we don't really know how much things cost back home. The $10 case of soda, deli turkey @ $10/lb, $4 gallon of milk, $3 doz eggs, and the $0.69 ramen noodles all seemed on the high side. Things were definately more expensive but not everything was outrageously so. I did find it rather interesting that grape jelly was $2 cheaper than any other flavor. After we returned to Sharon's to drop off our groceries we decided to take a walk to the beach. Kailua beach (claimed as one of the best beaches in the country) is a very nice beach and we discovered that Kite surfing looks like a lot more fun than real surfing, we were watching these guys jump 15 feet into the air and zooming all over the place all powered by a giant kite. We also saw some kind of large canoes that were paddle racing, they started out on the beach and had to push the big canoes in (amazing race style). We then made our way back to Sharon's to wind down the night.

We tried to stay up as late as possible to acclimate to the new time zone yet by 7PM our eye lids become much to heavy to ignore (midnight WI). Knock Knock... Sharon wanted to ensure our room was well cleaned and thought she may have fogotten to clean the bathroom mirror. Jeff told her it was fine even if she hadn't cleaned it, we weren't worried about it, but that wasn't cutting it for Sharon. In comes Sharon and her 2 dogs through the room into the bathroom on the otherside of our bedroom, and just as eagle eye Sharon had thought it was a little dirty. She got it all shined up and after only a minute or so of asking the dogs to come with her the whole gang exited our room. It may have struck as more odd to be staying at someone else's home except for the fact we had been staying at a long term B&B (my parents) for the last 6 weeks after our house was sold. We never did have a Sally/Taffy visit quite like this at any point while we stayed there.

We tried our best to finish this post on the proper day but we were a little jet lagged so after waking up at 1am and forcing ourselves to stay in bed till 5 here we are at 5:30am finishing it up before our run on the beach. ENJOY!!!!

our journey begins...

How did we get here? Only half serious I told Jeff's dad at Christmas we were moving somewhere, maybe Hawaii. Little did we know at that point how quickly a simple idea could turn into a beautiful reality. Since then, we sold the house (which was another whole blog topic but we won't get into that now), 2 cars, and numerous other possessions (thanks Craig's list). Then we came to the task of getting our cats prepped for this upcoming adventure(who knew Hawaii doesn't have, nor do they want, rabies). This became a long to do list to avoid quarantine and ensure a safe arrival to Hawaii: microchip, rabies blood titers, and a new nose for Hitch(I was hoping for a big red clown nose but her gorilla nose seems to meet the function over fashion criteria). The time flew by and now we are here, one day left to complete our pod packing, run some errands, and next stop Hawaii. We can't wait to meet Sharon and see what kind of adventures and quirky rules she has to bring.