Sat Afternoon: Christmas Sailing!

My brother-in-law Richard Ridao had bid on a sailing cruise for 20 at a benefit silent auction and won! He is a doctor and the owner of Club50 fitness center. He decided to take his staffs and family on a Waikiki Sailing cruise as a thank you for their work all year. It was wonderful.

It had been so long since I had been on the water. I was loving every minute of it. Bradley wasn't so sure at first. Initially he clung to my arm and eyed the ever deepening water very warily. Soon we were pounding into the waves, heading toward Diamond Head off Waikiki. The boat began to heave up and down and to my surprise he loosened up and started enjoying it! I was shocked. It seemed the rougher it was the more fun it was and before long he was at the rail giggling as the bow plunged down the back side of a big wave, splashing them all with sea water!

I was telling both boys about how much I loved sailing and how I wanted to sail around the world. When I was just out of college I was dead set on doing just that. I was going to raise my family at sea and we were going to learn about culture after culture by experiencing them first hand. We would study the history and traditions of whatever part of the world we were in. Alas, life happened differently than expected. I can't say it isn't as good either. We have a great life, filled with love and friendships and wonderful memories. Just sometimes, I wonder if...

When we reached our mooring spot off Waikiki beach, a bunch of us immediately went into the water. It was about 40 feet deep over a place called Turtle Canyon. True to it's name we saw several seaturtles during our time there. Underwater, there was a big school of black trigger fish and some slender blue fast-looking fish I didn't recognize. I also saw a big turquoise-green parrot fish (Uhu).

Bryan decided he wanted to get in the water too. His swimming skills are still developing so we strapped him into a life preserver and let him join me. He did great! He was surprisingly calm in the deep water and was content to float around and watch everything from the surface.
I, on the other hand, could not resist the impulse to dive deep and see if I could touch the bottom. After several ever deeper scouting dives, I was able to do it. Looking up at the surface from 40 feet below reminded me of my scuba diving days with my Dad. That was one of our father-son activities together. I haven't scuba dived for probably 15 years now. Maybe I'll get re-certified sometime.

The sail back was calm and relaxing, everything a Waikiki sailing tour should be. We had a Christmas gift grab bag game on the way back, and Santa even showed up suddenly to pass out toys to the kids. It was a perfect day enjoying some fun activities that I haven't enjoyed for a long time.

Peace, Love and Forgotten Pleasures,

Rich