Sunday: Surfs Up and the largest open air shopping mall in the world!

Aloha!

We woke up to rainy weather, but why would that bring us down? We are in paradise!

The day started out with a good but early breakfast, some people needed their morning coffee to wake up.

After breakfast we all went to the beach. We split into 2 groups, the first went on the Catamaran boat trip, and the other group went surfing.

The Catamaran boat trip was way more amazing than we expected! The water was so clear, that you could see all the way to the bottom. First we saw sea turtles reaching for air at sea level. We were all ready with our cameras to get beautiful shots of the sea turtles playing in the water. While everybody was watching the sea turtles, the captain yelled “Look at your right, there is a monk seal”, so all of us ran to the right side of the boat. There are only 900 monk seals left in the whole world! They told us it is a goal of scuba divers to get a picture of the monk seals. It was amazing to get that chance, when they are so rare. We were told that it is whale season but who had expected to actually see a whale? We didn’t, but we crossed our fingers. Our luck was with us today, we saw whales! It was unbelievable to see these huge animals moving slowly around in the water. We all sat on the deck to watch the huge tales coming up from the sea, when the whales jumped to dive under the water. After a while we headed back towards the shore, but stopped on the way to get a nice swim in the ocean, you had the option to jump from the boat. The water was so salty, but it still felt so fresh after feeling a bit sea sick.

When the boat was back at the beach, it was time for us to go surfing while group 2 had to do the Catamaran boat trip.

Everybody looked forward to surfing, but it was way harder than expected! First we got a lesson how to surf on beach and when people were ready to go in the water it was time for us to start paddling out. We all realized how strong those surfers are because paddling against the waves was tough- but catching a wave was so much fun and gave new energy to continue! Some of us had the talent while others ended up with scratches and big bruises on arms and legs. It was worth it though and all of us had a great experience on the boards.

In the evening we went to a big mall, and we got a lot of shopping going on. The dinner was at Bubba Gump, which is the restaurant from the movie “Forrest Gump”. Our meal tonight was awesome. This day couldn’t be a better start of this incredible week. Our faces were filled with big smiles, sore arm muscles and a lot of first times.

Helena Borch and Josefine Hoppe from Denmark