Aloha! The journey started off with an early morning flight. Because of traveling through the US, I had to be at the airport for 5am to catch our 8am flight to LAX where we would take a connecting flight to Hawaii. Traveling with Scuba gear is always interesting. There was a lot of planning involved for packing my suitcases. I had to make sure that all my essential gear was in my carry on just in case my luggage didn’t show up. With going to such a remote location such as Truk, this is essential.
My checked luggage had all the equipment I could rent if it didn’t show up. This consisted of Fins, masks, snorkel, wetsuit and gloves. My carry on bag had my back plate and harness, primary and backup lights, regulators, my dive computer and chargers. On top of all this I had a carry on backpack, which consisted of all my camera gear for when I’m on land or on the boat. It meant sacrificing some clothing and only taking the essentials.
Going through security wasn’t too bad. They made me open up my carry on and explain what I had inside. They swabbed it and sent me on my way. My fellow travel partners that were carrying more complex equipment had a harder time. Matt was carrying his rebreather. This is a unit that converts exhaled C02 into oxygen again. It looks like a mini vacuum cleaner, and very much like a bomb. The LAX airport was a pain. We got in at terminal 1 and had to walk all the way to terminal 7. It took about 15 mins. After that we had to re-enter through security (harassed again) to catch our connecting flight to Hawaii. We stopped off quickly for a bite to eat and to recharge.
Upon arrival the tour company Fly & Sea had organized pick up for us. It was a quick 20 min drive to our hotel. We stayed at the Ala Mona Hotel in Waikiki.
Despite only spending 4 hours in the room, the hotel was great. After storing our gear in the room and a quick shower the 8 of us met up and went for a walk while trying to find a restaurant. We talked to a few locals and they all seemed like such wonderful people. The weather was great, shorts and t-shirt weather. We walked for about 20 mins before finding an amazing Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse called Benihana. It was busy but we managed to get seated quickly. Our chief, Shaun, was entertaining despite most of us being zombies from exhaustion. I ordered the Hibachi Chicken dinner. It came with a nice soup, ginger salad, grilled buttered shrimp, fried zucchini and onions, steamed rice and sesame garlic chicken. The meal was served with a ginger sauce for the vegies and a mustard sauce for the meat. I also ordered a Mai Thai to drink, as they were the special. My bill came to $35. I loved Hawaii and plan on coming back for a proper visit one day. Living in Hawaii wouldn’t be cheap. After walking in a few shops I could see it being expensive to live here. The people all seemed so nice and happy, I guess it’s the island culture. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to sleep as we had an early wake up of 3am to catch our shuttle to get us to the airport for 5am to board our flight for 7am to Truk!
My feelings of excitement are through the roof! I can’t wait to touch down in Truk.
Until tomorrow!
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Justin Steele
The Green Ranger