Naialani

It rained Saturday Night and into Sunday morning... Im in the water rain or shine, but when it rains I stay in shallow waters. The rain can makes the ocean cloudy and angry. Perfect water for a swimming Tiger shark.. Its funny sharks are ALWAYS in the ocean but somehow cloudy, murky water just makes me more nervous than crystal clear water.. Its gotta be a human thing dont yah think?=0D I am an island gal............

I looked down the shoreline of the beautiful Bay today and saw stones.. Stacked carefully one on top another, balanced, just a breeze away from tipping over.. my eyes scanned the beach.. Who built this? Stacking stones are seen alot along the remote rocky coastlines of Oahu..built by fishermen as a way of showing respect to the ocean. Its a beautiful tribute to an ocean that gives each of us much. The stones against the blue water was just so beautiful. It was even more beautiful when i found the people who built this little monument of respect. They were kids, Hawaiian kids, at the beach for the day.. what a wonderful thing... The sentence on the picture? it says "in this place that i love " in Hawaiian. i am an island gal...

Saturday and Sunday May 22 & 23 2010.. dolphins dolphins dolphins=0D. I never ever get tired of seeing them. Kit a friend of mine was with me Sunday. I told her, "keep swimming, Kit" and she did... soon she was surrounded by dolphins.. She lifts her head out of the water and starts yelling," I AM THE LUCKIEST PERSON ON THE PLANET." Dolphins do that to you. Kit came here to Hawaii only a couple years ago. She has worked hard her whole life. I met Kit on the beach at Waimea. Kit WAS all business. Her life of work and more work, diagnoses and healing makes her just a little different by all outward appearances. Kit is a doctor. I have no greater joy in my life than seeing the ocean transform a life. Dolphins see by sonar.. They see our hearts... their sonars allow them to look past outward appearances.. All the knowledge and all the logic that Kit possess disappear in the presence of the dolphins. I am curious to see as time goes on and i know it will happen, just...

Rain and Rainbows go together so Ive learned to carry an umbrella with me when i go to the beach on the North Shore of Oahu. We all know that a rainy day is perfect for sleeping. We all know that the lapping of waves on the oceans shore can be idyllic.. TRY BOTH rain and ocean together.. Most people head for dry ground, but if you have an umbrella handy you are treated to Mother nature at her finest!! Only those who really want to be on the beach stay.. these three visitors from Japan thought it a good time to put on grass shirts and take some pictures!!! =0D I am an island gal....

In the 2 hours I spent sitting with this monk seal he raised his head at EVERY single adult who got to close to him.. he would give a snort or a full on BARK and it was an impressive sight. Big men would JUMP at the sound.. .....Then i watched as this little boy and his father stood in front of the monk seal. This little boy was delightful. He would bend his little body over and "RROOOAARRRR" at the monk seal, he would point and laugh and holler "SEAL SEAL"... NOT ONCE did this seal lift his head.. in fact he never even opened his eyes!! I wonder what the understanding is between children and animals? Im pretty sure i had the answer when i was a child, problem is the older i got the dumber i became! I am an island gal....

Sunrise at Waimea Bay on the north shore can be stunning. Usually I am alone on the beach.... Sunday I had company.. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is a solitary animal that is protected by the Federal government because the Hawaiian monk seal is bordering extinction. He was a grumpy seal and rightly so.. they are hunted by the great white shark and i imagine that's enough to make anyone grumpy! I sat with him for 2 hours just talking to him and every once in a while he would give me an "oh SHUT UP LADY" snort. As soon as the Bays lifeguards got to work they started roping the area he was laying in off.. it is illegal to get too close to these guys. I so enjoyed those 2 hours and I was amazed at the beauty that was happening around me while i waited. The rainbow that showed up while Mr seal was laying there was wonderful. The beauty of Planet Earth continues to take my breath away! I am an island gal.......

The water in the Bay has calmed down enough for me to swim into the big cave at the bay. I enter the crystal clear water of a little bay that's sits within the Big bay and made my way toward the cave. The tides are still high, the ocean not quite ready for the low low tides of summer. I enter the big cave that is still partially filled with water. The tide is pushing me in and out of the cool cave like a ride at the carnival! In and out... in and out of the cave, all the while I'm trying like crazy to get a picture from the inside of the cave looking out. It was on my 20Th trip with the tide back into the cave that I heard the splash behind me. Now, for me a splash behind me causes my heart to immediately start racing. Why? well when sharks feed they have a certain tail movement that causes a splash. I hear the splash and my brain goes into overdrive, "LANI", my brain screams, "DON'T look back,just swim to shore".. i feel my legs getting weak.. "LAN...

Saturday and Sunday i could hear myself whining... The weather has been awful!! Dark, Cloudy, chilly.. Then this morning, Monday, the weather changed.. and Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu became heaven on Earth! When the Bay is this beautiful which she is almost all summer long I am left just speechless. I sometimes feel like Waimea Bay is the favored child of Mother nature!

The weather has been sooo foul here on Oahu this past week, I've had had to resort to swimming in this little Lagoon. It drives me BONKERS! not swimming in the open ocean.. BUT i was relieved to KNOW i am NOT the only bonkered human on this island.. The man trimming this coconut tree has got me beat!! is BONKERED a word? LOLOLOL I am an island gal..

I was trying to figure out if this is the same turtle or two different turtles. Same beach, different days, I break into song and both days the turtle put his fin to his ear! Im thinking i need to change my tune. I must learn a turtle tune! =0D I am an island gal......