Swimming with Manta Rays and Becoming One Day Younger

Written by Charles October 10, 2013

Yesterday we went snorkeling twice!  One time was at the hotel off the beach, and the other was the manta ray snorkeling. Regular snorkeling was fun because we saw turtles and lots of coral.  There was brain coral and finger coral of all sizes!  There were two huge schools of fish that I saw.

Two words for the snorkeling with the manta rays: amazing and cold. It was at night in a little bay just off the airport. We took a catamaran (a boat with two hulls) and then got our snorkeling stuff on.  We jumped into the water, and we nearly drowned at how cold the water was.  After five minutes in the water, I was already shaking. After everyone got in, we all grabbed onto this surfboard with handles on the side. The strangest thing was that there were lights on the bottom.  We swam over to this huge area of light in the water, which I thought was the light from lava coming out of the ocean floor.  It turned out to be a huge set of spotlights facing straight up.  The guide told us that the light attracted plankton, which the manta rays eat.

You can see where this is going; ten freezing people in the water, holding onto a surfboard that attracted plankton.  After a few minutes, what looked like a bunch of dust was swarming around our lights, and that's when it came at me. I thought at first it was a shadow. The shadow came right at me, and I started to get worried that it was a shark. It turned out to be a manta ray because it came right at the lights with its giant mouth wide open. The manta ray started to do back flips, catching all the plankton around our board. It kept on coming right at my face, which made me scared. These things aren't the cute cuddly stuffed animals that you would probably imagine. These were ten feet wide with mouths about four feet wide. The manta rays are really amazing though. I would describe them as a giant underwater bird stuck in slow motion. It would flap its fins just like a bird's to move, and its fins kind of moved in the same way too.

This went on for about thirty more minutes; us being cold and amazed, while the manta rays had a feast.  Finally we got back onto the boat because the manta rays had eaten all the plankton, and all the humans had frosted over solid and could be used as ice cubes! Then I found out that my brother was scared of them, so he didn't get in and got to sit on the boat cozy and warm.  William does not really like large animals in the water, and I don't blame him.  They got inches from your face and it could freak you out.

Written by Charles October 11, 2013

We went snorkeling again and saw the same awesome stuff today. We are leaving Hawaii today and going to New Zealand!  After snorkeling, we rented paddle boards and played around on those. Later we did school work for two hours, like everyday, with the same horrible wifi. (I'm in an online school, so I need good wifi.)  After that we packed our suitcases and said goodbye to Hawaii.


Do you want to hear something confusing? If yes, keep reading; if no, shut the computer down because this is a head spinner.  On the flight from Hawaii to New Zealand we get nine hours in the air. You might say "so?" but just keep reading. We have to skip Saturday completely!  Yup, completely. I think it will be the only time in my life I can say its Friday and tomorrow's Sunday.  So that means that I'm one day younger or something.  In my head its all really confusing.

It has to do with crossing the dateline near midnight, and you skip a day going west.  Going east, you lose a day, so there I guess there is what I call some funny business going on here.  (My brother usually does all the funny business.)

A Quick and Funny Story:
In 1990, there was a volcano threatening to erupt on Hawaii. A vulcanologist found the lava tubes that were supplying the volcano with lava.  The vulcanologist told the military where to drop bombs, and they did.  The military stopped the lava flow and saved a city.  The US can remember that day as the day that the US claimed victory over Mother Nature!
True Story!


Written by William

We went on a boat ride to snorkel with the manta rays. I was really excited until I saw one, and it was really big! I got nervous...five years ago when I had my bone marrow transplant, the doctors told me I coudn't go within 100 feet of an animal because I had a high risk of infection and dying from it. Since then I have been scared of animals. I stayed on the boat with my dad and watched from above. There were some other boats with divers and snorkelers, and we noticed a light mast with red and white lights to indicate there were divers. We saw three manta rays, and we heard all the snorkelers going "oooohhhhh" and "whoaaaa!" when the manta rays were passing. 

Big Island, Hawaii

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Written by Charles October 9, 2013

We went on a tour today, which was fun. We drove through the barren wasteland of the west side of the island. When we got to the east side, it magically turned into jungles that everyone imagines. We first went to a waterfall called Rainbow Falls. Then we went to a state park that had lava trees. Lava trees form when lava from the volcano hits a certain type of tree that has high water content. The lava cools around the tree and forms a spire of rock with a hole in the middle.

Then we went to some cliffs that were like 50 feet tall. After we looked at the cliffs, we went to a lava tube, which is like an underground river for lava. We could get in because part of it had collapsed. We went in and walked around the tunnel for a while.

After that we went to a black sand beach. We had to walk for half a mile on newly formed rock, which formed about 20 years ago. After the hike, we stopped at the black sand beach. It was super wild to see black sand on the beach. Our guide told us that there is also a green sand beach on the south side of the island! It is one of only three in the world. The sand is an olive green, but we didn’t see it.

Then we were supposed to go to a place where you could see the light of the lava in the clouds. It was such a downpour that the visibility was bad, so we had to skip the cloud/lava gazing. I got let down pretty bad then. When we were in the van going back on the 2-hour car ride, I thought the van would shake itself apart! Tomorrow we are going on a helicopter tour of the volcanoes! We might even get to see lava flowing down a mountain! The guide said that there is a forest burning because of the lava, so I’m excited to see it.

Written by Charles October 10, 2013

Today we went on the helicopter tour.  It was one of the most awesome things I have ever done.  

We took off and flew past one of the five volcanoes on the island.  Then we flew in the helicopter to Kilauea.  (The most active volcano in the world!)  I saw the main crater, and there was even smoke coming out of the crater!

Then we left the crater and flew to where the lava was actually flowing!  It was not a river, like people imagine, but it was a very slow moving mass.  The only place we could see the orange was at the very edge of the mass.  (There was only little orange dots showing that there was actually lava.)  We also saw a bit of the orange in a hole in one of the lava tubes.  It was still really cool though.  

After that we flew down to the coast and saw where an entire neighborhood that had been destroyed by a slow moving lava flow.  (No one was hurt.)  When I say slow moving, it is slow moving.  The lava moves at about 2ft per day.  After that we flew away from the volcanos and headed north along the coast.  

We went past the rainiest city in America, which is called Hilo.  It gets about 300 inches of rain a year.  (Seattle only gets an average of 63 a year.)  After we flew away from Hilo, where it was raining.  We flew along the coast towards the rain forest.  

As we flew along the coast, the pilot showed us the Valley of the Kings, which is where the Hawaiian  kings lived.  We hovered in the air looking at it for a minute or two.  Then we flew off to my second favorite part of the trip, next to the lava.  

It was the valley next to the Valley of the Kings.  We flew in, and it was amazing.  There were the tallest waterfalls I have ever seen.  There was also a ton of bright green rainforest all around me.  The tallest waterfall was at least a half mile tall!  

After the awesome valley, we flew over a ridge.  The ridge led us into a line of valleys which were not as all cool. After the other valleys we went back to the airport. The exit from the jungle was really fast.  It changed from rain forest to a wasteland in about a mile! 

We did not do much more today.  We did school for about two hours, then we swam in the pool at the resort for something like three hours.  Tomorrow we are going to go snorkeling with the manta rays.  I'm really excited for it.

Written by William October 10, 2013

When we went on our tour of the Big Island Hawaii, I saw a waterfall. It was really cool. After that, we went to see lava trees. Lava trees are made from when hot lava hits a certain tree that contains a lot of water, and the lava cools around it really fast. We also went to see a lava tube, which is formed when lava makes a path underground (which can lead all the way to the ocean). We saw a little island that was formed sunken into the ground from the lava tubes.

We also went on a helicopter ride. It was so cool because we even got to see the tallest mountain in the world, if you include under sea level. We also saw the location of an eruption. That was the BORING part. The exciting part was seeing the active lava. It was not like boom, bang, there goes the city; it was really surprisingly slow. 

We also went snorkeling and saw a big school of fish, turtles, and a lot of coral. I could even take pictures with my underwater camera!

East to West

Written by Charles October 8, 2013

Over the last 5 days we were in Cincinnati.  My parents had to go to dinners and conferences there.  My brother and I went to one of the dinners, which was at the zoo.  William and I went there and walked around for a bit.  As we were coming back William felt something wet on the back of his shirt.  He asks me what it is and a bird had gotten a direct hit!  My dad had to clean the poop up with a couple napkins.  We ate near the elephants, which were super cool to look at.

It’s our first full day in Hawaii at the hotel/resort.  When someone thinks Hawaii, what pops into mind is usually lush green jungles and mountains with white sandy beaches.  Well, you would be wrong.  On the side of the Big Island that we are on its mostly brownish black volcanic rock, instead of jungles.   The rock comes from the lava that comes down off of the volcanoes.  We saw lava boulders the size of small cars on the way from the airport.  We took a pearl white limo from the airport to the hotel, which was a complete surprise.  At the hotel we ate dinner and on the menu there was a ton of gluten free foods, which was a relief.  (My brother, mom, and I have to eat gluten free.) 

Today we already went snorkeling, which was super awesome.  I saw a lot of fish and even a whole school of fish.  My favorite thing that I saw was four huge green sea turtles.  I brought an underwater camera, which ran out of batteries half way through the snorkel trip.  It died right before the turtles so I did not get any pictures of them.  Later today we are going on a hike to one of the three volcanoes, which I think will be really awesome.

Written by William October 9, 2013

I’m back! We were in Cincinnati this last week, and we saw a lot of our friends. I also had to get my blood drawn at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and it was not fun! We went to this one event at our old school, Summit, called Fall Festival. I got my face painted like a knight, and I also got a tall silly hat for a prize after winning the game where you have to knock down the pins. I saw a sheep and a lama, which was cool, and luckily the lama did not spit on me.

My dad did a 700-mile bike ride to raise money for the cure for HLH. The ride was from Mississippi to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where we watched him and his friends finish the ride. That night we went to a dinner at the zoo, where we saw elephants, ducks, giraffes, and peacocks. It was fun because I got to see a few HLH survivors like me.

Our travel day yesterday was a very long day. We flew from Cincinnati to LA, and there was a 4-hour layover there. We got lunch, did some schoolwork, and then hopped on the plane to Hawaii (which I like to pronounce Ha-wee-wee). On the flight over I saw a volcano, but I am not sure if it was active or not. I also saw some volcanic rock near the airport, and I thought “uh-oh.” I was thinking maybe the volcano will erupt while we are here. We rode in a stretch limo to our hotel, and it was really cool!

Today we went snorkeling, and I saw giant green sea turtles. They were larger than I expected them to be, so I got a little scared at first and started swimming toward the shore. My mom had me come closer to them, and then I became less afraid of them.