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Exhibit B: Makai.

As with other tropical vacations, most of our time was spent in the water...or underwater. I don't know about y'all, but I am a fool for the snorkeling. Even during a monsoon. One of the things I dig about this place is the sheer number of turtles, doing turtle-y things like sleeping under coral heads or snacking on limu on the outer reef fringes. Occasionally they cruise the haole snorkelling beaches, but the best turtle viewing is usually in the snorkeling equivalent of the off-piste areas. This one was taking his pet goatfish for a...walk? Fin? Swim?

Occasionally the turtles need a break from doing turtle-y things and haul out on the beach. For a while I thought this one was dead, but unlike the Norwegian Blue (beautiful plumage, innit?), this one WAS actually just resting. The Monk seals also haul out and take a break from things monk seals do when they are not taking breaks. Most of the good fish viewing is right under the surf break. Kihikihi. Weke. Remember kids - it’s all fun and games until you get ragdolled while watching fish.

In case you were wondering, I DID actually fish on this trip. I spent some time fishing itty bitty seaweed flies in the foamy green for aquarium fish, and they didn’t disappoint. Since the surf didn’t get much below 8 feet for most of the trip, I also spent most of my aquarium-fish-fishing-time trying not to die on the slick-ass reef…as a result, this is the only photo that turned out. While walking on the outer reef of another beach, I severely misjudged both the depth and my ability to nimbly cross a coral gap near one of the reef entrances. Luckily, I held on to my fishpole as I went ass over teakettle into about 10’ of crystal clear warm bathwater. Unluckily, the zip closure of my third-world flybox (let’s hear it for Ziploc bags!) was open and I managed to soak my entire collection. I managed to get about 7 hours of flats time on several little juicy bits in search of bonefish, and in that time I saw 9 of these incredibly frustrating creatures and had reasonably good shots at 6. Of those, exactly ZERO wanted to play with me. Bonefish are jerks. “Drive until you see the cows” he said. “When you see the cows, you are close. Follow the guardrail and where it breaks, walk makai and the ‘o’io beach will be on your right”. Sure enough, this guy was right where he was supposed to be. Unfortunately, the ‘o’io were not. I managed to hook a few papio and a few Awa’aua as consolation prizes from the cow beach. And far too soon, it was time to get back to reality. I got one last look at the south side before we ascended through the clouds... Until next time.