I'm sitting here in the MOST AWESOME beach house I have ever stayed in and thinking about how wonderful our honeymoon was.
I won't say there were not some "not so good" points and Amanda wants me to share that story with you.
I call it -
HOW I LOST MY WEDDING BAND IN 25 FEET OF OCEAN
To start this story I have to tell you about a poor man on our flight from LA to Kauai. As we were flying the stewardess made an announcement saying "A gentleman has lost his wedding band in the bathroom, he just got married this Saturday and is very stressed. If you find it please turn it in no questions asked." It seems the poor groom took it off to wash his hands and not being used to having a ring left it. Well Amanda looked at me and said "Lesson learned, don't take off your wedding band in the bathroom." If you readers know how Badger thinks this translated out to me as "Don't take off your ring no matter what or you will be sad."
Cut to Thursday as Amanda and I were trying on our gear for our snorkeling adventure. Clyde and Captain Paul were giving us a run down of how the trip was going to go and said "Please, if you have on any jewelery take it off now. We will not go find your wedding band at the bottom of a lava tube in the ocean!" My little badger brain thought back to the poor guy on the airplane and said "Nope, holding on to my ring" so we proceeded to the boat and went out to the ocean! Now let me tell you, this is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen! We were snorkeling with about ten Sea Turtles and they would just come right up and look at you! The bottom was crystal clear and you could see coral and big deep pits called Lava Tubes. As I was swimming I felt something touch the tip of my finger and looked down just in time to see my brand new wedding band slip right off my finger! I dove but could not get down fast enough! And had to pop up for air so I did not see where it landed!!
I popped back up and found Amanda, I was almost in tears by how stupid and sad I was. I told her what happened and she just looked and said "You're kidding right?" Clyde our guy was on the boat and said "Alan! What happened?! Did you loose your ring???" I told him and he alerted Captain Paul. Paul said to show him where I thought it landed and I did my best to show him.
This is where I learned what a "Free Diver" was. Now think about this... I'm six foot one inches. So the water is five times as deep as I am tall. Or almost two stories down. This guy not only went to the bottom but stayed down there long enough to look. He could not see it. He told me to search up top while he went up and down. Now I am looking down and getting all worked up. Let me tell you folks, you swallow a lot of sea water when you sob into a snorkel... Feel me?
After watching this guy dive again and again I finally said "Look brother, I love ya. But you guys said it would not be possible to find a ring at the bottom of the ocean. I can get another." he looked at me and said "You sure? I don't mind man..." I said forget it. No reason to ruin everyone's trip. To say I was crushed would be an understatement. Amanda was as awesome as always. She kept saying "It's OK baby.."
So Clyde announced that we would be moving on to our next dive in ten minutes. I decided to relax and just keep looking. Just then I saw Paul pick something up and look at it. He swam to the top and started yelling at Clyde and the look on Clyde's face said it all! Paul had found my ring!!! Clyde and Paul both started waving me and Amanda back to the boat and announced the good news. I looked at Paul and said "YOU JUST GOT YOURSELF A $100 TIP!!!"
We all got in the boat. Paul put my ring in a safe place and we went to the next stop. Our next dive was in shallower waters and a little longer and when I got back to the boat all that sea water I had swallowed came back out along with anything else in my tummy. I was done diving at that time. But I was happy! I had lost my ring in a deep ocean and now had it back. A one in a million shot to be sure!
The rest of the week went like this -
Thursday night we went to a Hawaiian Luau - Ton's of cheesy fun and AWESOME food!
Friday we went on a horse back tour to Silver Veil Falls and had a lot of fun. It was just Amanda and I and a guide.
Saturday we went to Pearl Harbor and Waikiki for shopping.
Today we are going to the Coconut Festival and then dinner and after that the red eye flight home to Chicago. We both LOVE Kauai and hope to come back on our five year anniversary if not sooner.
Here are some more pics -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanbadger/3981033550/in/set-72157622358148677/
Holy Crap! I can't believe they found it, you are one lucky man! (but we knew that when you found Amanda - he he he
Glad you had a great time!
See you soon.