Over the Edge 2012

This past Saturday I went OVER THE EDGE again for the Special Olympics.  The first time I went Over the Edge was in 2010:

WHEN PIGS FLY - 2010

The event was held at the Sheraton Waikiki again.  The signage indicates that rappellers go up (must go up to come down!) and that viewers go out to the RumFire bar.

NO TURNING BACK NOW!

My first stop was to check in.  Of course you have to sign one of those waivers that has in bold that you could die or be seriously injured...Lovely. But I signed my life away and got number and name badge.

CHECK-IN

After I checked in I had to go over to a staging room where they harness you up.  The guy in the picture was really nice.  He goes all over the country for Over the Edge event and after the event in Hawaii he is flying to Texas for an Over the Edge there.  The guy that I actually got to harness me up was such a sourpuss and kind of ruined the experience temporarily.  This time around there was no cameras allowed up (hence I had to go back around and take all these pictures after I went down) and he made me redo my hair, lectured me about my outfit...what a dud.

STAGING

Next you get a little briefing with other ropes experts and staffers.  My briefing this time was actually more thorough as they made us practice the possible scenarios we may run in to - like what to do if you get stuck, how to release your safety, etc.  Basically I re-learned that since someone like me doesn't weigh enough to help the rope naturally overcome it's friction after I release my lever, I'd need to use my right hand to feed the rope through.

RAPPELLING 101

Then they have you do a practice run over just one floor.  (The ropes expert in the previous pictures told me on my practice run that I was only the second person he'd ever seen rappel down in heels!) The practice rappel is really pretty because it's right by the koi pond.  Once you've successfully rappelled down one floor, they deem you ready to go down THIRTY-ONE FLOORS!

PRACTICE RUN

I went with two other guys.  One was an EMT and the other was in the Navy.  I went first in the practice run (They told me, "Ladies, first" - right...I'm thinking I was the bravest one!).  After we all did the practice run, a volunteer took us up 31 floors to the rooftop!

A SHORT, BUT LONG WALK

LAUNCH PLATFORM ON THE TOP OF THE SHERATON WAIKIKI

The next three photos are some of the previews of the ones the professional photographer took.  I know there's more of me, so I can't wait to see the rest of the gallery.  However, very happy that out of 160 rappellers, I was one of the few to make the preview in the Honolulu Magazine photo gallery!  Here's the link: http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Event-Photo-Galleries/November-2012/Special-Olympics-presents-Over-the-Edge-11312/index.php?cp=1&si=0#galleryanc

DIAMONDHEAD IN THE BACKGROUND

GETTING HOOKED UP IN MY ELF BOOTS

OVER THE EDGE 2012

Here's a view up to the top from the ground...you can kind of see a black dot at the top - that's a rappeller!

The hardest part of going Over the Edge at the Sheraton Waikiki is getting over the lip.  Basically you climb over the scaffolding and then you have to walk slowly down that lip until you get to the edge.  Then you lower yourself until your head is below the lip...so at this point your feet are above you - I can tell you this is VERY difficult to do in heels :) then you drop your feet and hopefully don't bash your head against the lip.  The rest of way is a free rappel since you are not in contact with the building at any point for the rest of the 31ish floors :)

CLOSEUP OF THE LIP ON THE ROOF

When I went, of course the guys said, "Ladies, first" again. All the guys at the top were amazed that I was doing it in my heels.  I was like, "PSSSHH, let me show you how a woman does it." Haha. 

The EMT guy went over next and actually passed me.  He stopped and asked if I wanted him to wait for me...what a gentleman.  But I wanted to take my time. I felt like it was harder than I remember.  The views were just as gorgeous though.  Crazy how small people look from 30 floors up.  No turtles swimming around this time that I could see.  I really wished they had let me bring my camera...this time I knew what pictures to take! Oh well.  I had to keep stopping because it was so tiring!  The EMT kept asking me if I was okay.  I just told him I was tired...I'll tell you, 350 ft of rope is HEAVY.  Eventually I invented my own two-handed grip technique and that made it easier, but by the time I was around the 10th floor up, I just wanted to be DOWN.  The sun bakes the hotel and so you feel the sun on you, radiating heat from the hotel wall, and you get no breeze because you're sheltered in the little alcove you rappel down so it's really hot.  Also I totally had the blood cut off in my legs from the harness...not the most comfortable of experiences. 

  

At the bottom they do an interview for the live stream. The host is so nice.  She works for the Special Olympics and she rappelled down herself!

 

After your interview, you are greeted by Special Olympians, take a picture and you get your t-shirt.  This year's t-shirt is SO much more awesome than the 2010 one.  I can't wait to wear it!  I also got a helmet because I was a returning rappeller!

After I rappelled down I changed (I wasn't about to go wandering around dressed like a Christmas elf!) and then hung around for an hour and half, taking pictures, talking to people (I got invited to a birthday party!).  It was so fun and I wish I could convince some other people *cough* *cough* *HINT* *cough* *wink* *wink*  to go with me in the future.  I'm just sayin'...

I JUST WENT OVER THE EDGE

It was a fabulous Saturday in Waikiki.  I can't wait to do it again! (Although I'll feel better when I've raised the rest of my $200 dollars that I need to make the minimum)

BEAUTIFUL DIAMONDHEAD

Fairwinds II

CHECKING IN

Last year at the Chocolate Festival I won in the silent auction (Seriously, out here some silent auctions are actually a way to get a BARGAIN!) an afternoon snorkel cruise for two on the Fairwind.  Whenever I scope the racks of brochures outside places like Walmart, I always look longingly at the brochure for the Hula Kai.   The Fairwind is a sister ship to the Hula Kai.

This past Saturday we finally booked the cruise.  (Good thing too since it expired on October 13th) We checked in and they had a very nice waiting area.  Though, I will say that the parking lot was pretty rough considering how nice the set up is down by the dock. I was a little worried because the weather was looking gray and overcast the whole darn way we drove around South Point.

A little side trip in this narrative: There are three ways to get from my side of the island (Hilo side) to the other side (Kona side) 1) Saddle Road (up the middle), 2) Upper Road (up the Waimea way), 3) Around South Point (Down the bottom of the island).  I always go Route 1 or 2...but Chris wanted to go Route 3 and he was driving.  When we stopped at Punalu'u Bakery I ran into an old Mt. View elementary friend who has moved to Oahu a few years ago! What a small island(s) it is!  Anyway, my point is that it took over three hours to get from Keaau to Keauhou and so I would just like to point out...my routes are faster.  Just sayin' (the woman is always right ;p).

 

THE FAIRWIND II

Now that I have taken you on a driving tour of the Big Island, it's back to our adventures on the high seas!  We boarded the Fairwind with these nifty plastic boarding passes they give you (like the ones on the cruise ships only you don't get to keep theirs...what a shame...they are losing out on a merchandizing/souvenir opportunity here).  The captain raised the sail and we promptly motored our way out to Kealakekua Bay.  Yes, you read that right...we raised a sail and then used our engines.  Chris was confused and so I responded...the sail is decorative (like, DUH!).  I'm sure he actually knew, I just didn't give him a chance to tell me ;p  

We finally reached the bay and rounded the corner to see the Captain Cook monument.  This marks the site where he was killed and the land around it actually belongs to the UK.

CAPTAIN COOK MONUMENT

After a safety briefing it was time to get in the water.  I was overjoyed because even though the water was extremely flat the whole journey and I was wearing a seasickness patch, I really really hate being in boats (Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head!  No, really, I hate ALL boats.).  I was shocked how cold the water was, but being as I'm miserable on a boat I hopped right into the freezing water.

VIEW OF PART OF THE REEF FROM THE BOAT

I was totally unprepared for the beauty underwater.  Chris was perfectly content to just go diving immediately into the deeper water, but I am a lazy snorkeler and just want to be able to float around and have the fish likerightthere. 

CHRIS ASCENDING

We saw all kinds of fish:

SCHOOL OF YELLOW TANG & TRIGGERFISH

TRUMPET FISH

PART OF AN EEL! (CHRIS SAW IT, NOT ME)

NEEDLE FISH

CHRIS POKING AROUND (NOT LITERALLY, HE KNOWS TO RESPECT THE REEF)

CHRIS WITH A SCHOOL OF TANGS

PENNANT BUTTERFLY

I THINK A TRUMPET FISH (BUT A REALLY WEIRD LOOKING ONE)

ORNATE BUTTERFLY

 After swimming around for an hour and a half it was time to head back to the boat.  I was shocked that I managed to swim around for that long.  I guess trying to keep up with Chris kept me warm.  We climbed back on the boat, but not before Chris got in one last hurrah!

JUMPING OFF THE BOAT

I was not feeling that great on the boat ride back, but I survived and I definitely perked up when we were approaching the harbor and a bunch of spinner dolphins starting jumping and swimming in the waves made be the boats.  It was really awesome.  Here's a picture of one:

CAN YOU FIND THE DOLPHIN?

I'm going to have to upload the videos to YouTube and attach them later (supposed to be studying now).  The videos aren't anything special, but it's still pretty cool.

THEN as we pulled into the harbor there was a baby giant manta ray just swimming along.  I wish I had gotten a picture, but I couldn't get the camera out in time.

All in all the day was really nice and I loved snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay.  Here's the final picture of our trip and my favorite picture of the trip:

SUNSET

CHRIS TOOK THIS AWESOME PICTURE OF ME WITH THE FISH

Champagne Pond

This past week was fall break here in Hawaii.  We didn't plan for much because I think both of us just needed a real break.  Luckily our friends from Oahu, the Buelow family, were renting a cottage in Kapoho and we spent a day hanging out with them.  The house they rented was right against Champagne Pond.  I had always wanted to go there, but couldn't convince Chris because he seemed to think we'd already seen it.  Champagne Pond is a natural pool of the most crystal clear water.  What's even better is that it's heated with freshwater that's heated from the volcano.  The warmed freshwater doesn't make it really hot, more like a really pleasant temperature to splash around in.

CHAMPAGNE POND AND IT'S "BEACH"

 As you can see from the above picture it has a "black-sand" beach, which doesn't really feel very beachy since the rocks aren't broken up into a sandy texture.  It's definitely a "beach" that made me glad that I had swim booties on!

The Buelows are: Mark, Steph and their two sons, Gavin and Dylan. I won't post too many pictures of the Buelow boys since that's more Steph's story to tell (She has her own blog too!), but I do want to include some of my favorites.

GAVIN, THE SNORKELER

DYLAN (THEY CALL HIM A BADGER)

This picture just makes me laugh and think of all the times I've had with Lindsey and Greg :)  I guess it's just the experience that all siblings have!

BROTHERLY LOVE

 While we were hanging out, Steph got some really amazing news so it was so neat to be there with her and her family for that.  But I won't tell since it's Steph's story to tell (again!).

Chris and I decided to take out the underwater camera housing and go for a swim (the pond is pretty small).

ME THROWING SHAKAS

Chris found a cave/ ledge thing that you could swim under and since it was low tide you could actually breath a little once you sat up a little.  He hung out there for awhile and convinced me to give it a try.  I thought that I saw something gross lurking in the back and so I wasn't too thrilled to hang out under th

DOESN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE I AM UNDERWATER AND IN A CAVE!

We swam to the back and this is what it looked like, looking out towards the ocean:

I was goofing around while Chris explored...

SOMERSAULTING

So I didn't even realize he was taking pictures while I turned somersaults in the water! My snorkel wouldn't stay clipped to my mask for some reason and it was a big pain trying to keep putting it back on so I just stopped trying.  I still kept swimming though.

It was hard to stay underwater since the water was so shallow and it resulted in some weird pictures.

AWKWARD

The bottom of the pond was really neat.  The rocks were different colors.  Mostly we saw a lot of yellow rocks.  It's probably the reaction of the rock/water/volcanic gases.

BOTTOM OF CHAMPAGNE POND

Chris had the camera for most of the time which is why I'm in a lot of pictures.

HANGING OUT ON A ROCK PILE

 I did take some pictures, mostly of the fish.  Mostly I saw these striped guys everywhere.  I don't know what kind of fish they are, but they are little. UPDATE: Chris says these are manini...which mean 'little' in Hawaiian!

We hung out at the beach for a little while. The kids snacked and the adults talked before we decided to pack up and head back (literally just swimming across a little 6 foot area) to their rental.

We spent some time hanging out.  Mark made some banana and peanut butter sandwiches and we ate everything in their house it seemed!

This is the amazing pond they had in the front of their house...the rocks are blue!

This is the pond they have in the back of their house! On the other side of the wall that Mark is standing on is Champagne Pond...told you it was convenient!

  

After we ate lunch and Dylan napped, we packed up in the Buelow's rented van and did a little drive down the coastline.  We stopped at Mackenzie State Park for the boys to explore a giant lava tube.  Steph, Dylan and I stayed up top, but it seemed like the boys had a lot of fun.  They went through on lava tube and then it opens up into a little path before another, bigger and deeper lava tube.

CHRIS AND GAVIN (I SWEAR HE WAS ACTUALLY HAPPY!)

After the lava tube we hit up Luquin's for some Mexican food before it was time to say good-night to the Buelows.  We had so much fun hanging out with the Buelows! (It made me more than a little Oahu-sick...boohoo!)