New Zealand Adventure: A Reef Shark and Swimming with Dolphins!

Indigo and I on the submarine.

     Oh my goodness I don't blog for one day and all of a sudden I have so much to write about! It has been a very eventful few days.
     Yesterday we had a pretty laid back morning. Rob took the kids to the pool while I ran to the grocery store then did a few jobs at the apartment. This is not thenpart that makes one think I've had an exciting time. We took the kids in to town for lunch. Then we went on a submarine. It was a proper submarine and not a dressed up glass bottom boat. We had to take a boat from the peir to the sub then crawl down the hatch to the seating area. The sub can fit 48 people but our tour only had 13. It was nice to have loads of space and be able to look out both sides. All along the sub were big round windows. After a short saftey breifing we set off. First we went to a coral reef that was about 50-70 feet deep (they had a big depth gauge on the boat). The reef was amazing. There were tons of parrot fish, box fish (a type of puffer), yellow tang, angle fish, mu, butteryfly fish and so many more that I can't remember the names of. Every where we looked there were more things to look at. Then we went to a place called
    After our awesome submarine tour we wandered the shops a little then went for a swim at the beach
     After that we came back to the apartment fed the kids and put them to bed. Then one of Tanya's tri buddies came over for dinner with his partner. They were super nice. I made bison burgers. I was a bit worried that they wouldn't turn out very well. I didn't want to give anyone a bad interpretation of bison burgers when theynhad never had them before. I really like bison and have missed it being in NZ. They turned out fine though and people seemed to enjoy it.
    Today we got up early to go on a dolphin swimming tour. We got on a boat and went up away from Kona along the coast. We quickly fooubd a pod of Hawaiian spinner dolohins. They are one of the smaller species of dolphins. The pod was moving along the cozst to their resting grounds. Our boat would speed ahead of them and we would all jump in and they would swim under us. They are phenominally beautiful when they swim. We missed the first jump because the kids weren't ready. The second jump I was swimmimg with Indie. She was so excited to see dolphins. I got to see them pass under us twice. The third time I stayed on the boat for a bit with Tally because she was cold and very upset about the whole ordeal. The dolphins stuck around so after a bit Tanya got on the boat and I went back in the water. The dolphins were super close to us. The pod had a number of babies with them. It was aweso,e to watche the babies feed and play. They were so adorable. I can't seem to find the right words to explain how awesome it all was. It was like watching a national geographic film in real life. It was actually a bit sureal. As we were snorkling abovd the dolphins we could hear them squeking to ezch other. It was like listening to someone speak another language in a cafe. I was impressed how well Jack, Kaiya and Indigo did with the experience. They were so excited. They were behaving the way I felt. They pointed out all sorts of cool stuff. Kaiya showed me a giant brain coral. Jack showed me his attempts at free diving. Indie pointed out lots of fish. One of my favorite parts of the trip was during the last swim. I was swimming above some dolphins. They all had babies with them. Theynstarted to head for the surface and came up not more than 20 yards from me. They were so close that I could see the threre colors of grey on them and the scars on the mothers. One of the babies had a big open wound which looked uncomfortable. They came up for air and I got to see them above the water and in the water at the same time. If there was a word for more than super awesome it wouldn't totally describe it. I loved everything about the experience. I am so grateful to Rob and Tanya for taking me on this amazing adventure with them.
   After the boat tour Tanya went out training and the rest of us went back to the apartment for lunch and some down time. We had afternoon tea at the team kiwi luncheon. All the kiwi atheletes got shirts and had a photo together. We met another au pair who is living in Taupo. She seemed really nice. Our kids played tag and hide and go seek together. After the meeting we watched the parade of nations. I of course hzd to cheer for New Zealand and the USA. The kids got so much candy! I'm not sure we will ever be able to eat it all. They might explode if I give them that much sugar. We wandered through expo and did a super secret surprise for Tanya. Then we headed home.

near the peir. It was nice because the beach was pretty enclosed and shallow which was nice with the kids. Jack and I went on a little adventure and swam along the edges looking at fish. He knows so much about fish. I was amazed.
the oasis. It is a large chunk of lava rock on the sea floor which is surrounded by sand. All of the fish congregate on the rodk because it has coral and alge for them to eat but it is also a safe haven. It was amazing. It was like walking into a huge school of fish of all different types. I loved the oasis. It was avsolutely stunning. Rob got some good photos which I will post when we are back in NZ. At the oasis we saw an eel. It was very cool. Then we moved along the sea floor going down to 100 ft and saw two ship wrecks. At the first ship wreck I was still a bit in awe of the oasis and didn't pay much attention. A diving company had attached a plastic skeleton to the shipwreck for a Halloween night dive. Sounds pretty scary. At the second ship wreck Inwas back in focus mode. The second ship they call crazy lady because a couple sailed here from Alaska. The husband had to fly home for a family emergency. While he was gone his wife thought that there were termites on the fiber glass boat and tried to smoke them out with some flares consequently lighting the boat on fire and sinkjing it. We saw a white tipped reef shark at the ship wreck. It wzs a juvinile only about 6 ft long. The shark was pretty afraid of the sub so we only saw it for a second. We saw another eel. I learned lots on the sub (some of which I've already forgoten!) but mynfzvorite fact has to be thfat parrot fish poo white sand. I also found out that the light changes as you go deeper so bright colors glow. It was quite cool.