Shark Dive in Hawaii

Major bucket list item completed! I can't believe I did it! I didn't think I would ever really get the chance to go on a shark dive, much less in Hawaii, in warm, beautiful water, and to get my husband to go with me at that. But I did, and it was so much better than I could have expected! Of course I was apprehensive. I was concerned about those big sharks ramming into the cages in hopes of shaking one of us out between the bars, which by the way, are quite widely spaced.

I was also concerned that after paying for a tour, I would only see a couple of sharks...and then I worried that the water would be freezing... and I hate being cold. But the North Shore of Oahu was the perfect place to do it, because not only did we see a ton of sharks, but the water was WARM!!! I chose North Shore Shark Adventures as our tour guide after reading some Trip Advisor forums. They were great, punctual, informative and had a GoPro movie service for an additional fee. The pictures on this post are from their movie, which I then turned into still shots and edited via iMovie. We reserved an 8am slot and headed out. It was a clear and already hot day, so the boat ride out to the cages felt great, though the water was rough and made for some queasy stomachs.

 I don't know what other tour companies do, but the NSSA company does not chum for sharks. Chumming is when you throw fish parts and blood into the water to attract sharks. It works, but makes for gross swimming water and attracts more sharks into the bays.  This company takes you out to where the crab catchers keep their nets, a couple miles into open sea. Every morning when the crabbers go out to collect their crabs, they throw back all the smaller crabs per regulation. The sharks have learned that if they just hang out by these nets, they eat good every morning! Oahu makes an ideal spot to do a dive; not only are there a ton of sharks just hanging out on any given day, but they have been recently fed and have no interest in human consumption! 

Like I said, the water was rough, so getting into the cage itself was precarious and didn't do anything to set my mind at ease. I was the first one into the cage so I had to manuever around to the back of the cage. In doing so, my leg shot out between the bars as one big wave knocked the cage around. Since I had yet to stick my face into the water and see the proximity of the sharks, this didn't cause me much concern. However, a moment later when I decided to take my first look and saw a shark within an arms distance from me, I was counting my lucky stars! 

 Once I stuck my head under the water, I forgot all about the rough sea!  I was mesmerized by the world below, by these awesome creatures. They didn't seem concerned about us at all. 

Big Papa 

Trying to keep balanced- Me on the far left

Most of the sharks here were Galapagos sharks. The ranged from 8-10 feet long and many of them were pregnant (we were told, I certainly couldn't tell). 

Jed

 

The sharks often swam within touching distance

  

Hi Mom! 

There were so many sharks! 

Everything was going fine!  We had gotten use to being so close to the sharks and were feeling at ease with our situation...until the Barracuda showed up. According to our guide, this guy was close to 5ft long, the biggest he had ever seen!  Though he was long, he wasn't very wide and could have easily fit through the bars of the cage had he wanted to. 

This isn't a great angle to show how big he was, but it was the best shot from the movie I could get. Barracudas are known for being bold and voracious and can get up to 27mph when attacking, however this guy was in a good mood, thank goodness. 

What an awesome experience! So glad we did this, it was a great way to start our 2 week trip!  I love pushing the limits of my comfort zone!  

I'M A NURSE! I'M A NURSE!

Yay! It's official!!!! (Well technically, it's not yet official, I am still waiting for HR to make it official) After 2 long years and 2,000 resumes lost into internet oblivion, I have been hired as a Telemetry Nurse at Highland Hospital!

Full of dashed hopes, I agreed to go with Jed to hit the trail once again and do a road trip through some of the National parks, a collection called the Grand Circle. Our plan was to leave on Thursday the 15th, but I woke up to a voicemail on Wednesday morning asking me to come in for an interview that Friday! So putting our plans on hold, I went in to wow the hiring management with rehearsed moving stories that would pull on their heart strings. I was so excited to move them to tears, I had practiced the lines in my head over and over, but would you believe it, I wasn't asked a single question that allowed me to share them!

time off!

Miranda and I are enjoying our early retirement, and it's a pretty special time. I start with Deloitte in August and Miranda is waiting to hear more about when she starts with Highland. Until then, we are free to do whatever we can dream up. At present, we're hoping to taking advantage of the series of storms moving through tahoe this week. Next, we're planning to complete the Grand Circle road trip through Utah and Arizona. And if time allows, we hope to spend time in southeast Asia after that. We're excited to see what the next few months brings!

Desolation Wilderness

After my 220 mile hike on the John Muir Trail, I didn't think I would ever want to see a trail again, but its amazing how quickly you forget the bad (blistered feet, carrying a heavy pack, sleeping on the ground) and long for the seclusion and beauty of the great outdoors.

It didn't take Jed long to convince me to get lost in the woods with him for 3 days.

I am just amazed at what natural beauty is out there that most people never see. Our trip started at Echo Lake.

We hiked 7 miles out to Lake Aloha the first night.

We continued on higher in elevation and even hiked through snow though the weather was about 90 degrees!

We continued on about 2 more miles out to Clay Lake the second night.

The weather was so hot and the water looked so tempting but it was FREEZING! Jed got up the nerve to jump in but I could only manage to splash myself a couple times.

Clay Lake was beautiful but got to be really cold and windy in the evening.
Jed made us delicious hot drinks to keep us warm.

Lemon Zabaglione

If you like lemon bars, lemon meringue pie or lemonade, you will love this recipe. Though it's name sounds mysterious and fancy, it is super simple and quick to make. This can be made 30 min ahead. I served this in bowls like pudding with cut-up strawberries. If you feel like being super impressive, you can arrange fruit in a shallow heatproof dish, spoon the Zabaglione on top and brown it under a broiler or with a propane torch if you're the type that has one : )

FOR THE ZABAGLIONE:

2 Large whole eggs

4 Large egg yoks

3/4 Cups of sugar (we used 1/2 cups and still felt like it was pretty sweet)

Finely grated zest and juice of 2 medium lemons (about 1/4 cup juice)

1/3 cup white port, muscat, sauternes or other sweet dessert wine (I used muscat)

FOR THE BERRIES:

2-3 cups of sliced strawberries

1 Tbsp white sugar

MAKING the Zabaglione: Combine all ingredients in the top of a double broiler and set aside. I didn't have a double broiler and just put all ingredients in a large heatproof mixing bowl. Fill the bottom of a pot with water and bring it to a simmer. Whisk the mixture in the bowl until it is light and thick. Place the mixture over the simmering water and whisk vigorously until it has tripled in volume (just eyeball it) and is thick and even lighter in color. It will be about the consistency of pudding. Total whisking time will be 6-8 min. Remove the bowl or top of the pot from teh heat and whisk to cool slightly (to keep the egg yolks from scrambling).

Cut up the strawberries and add the sugar. Mix together.

Serve immediately with the fruit on top or set aside and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Use within 2 hours.

Asian Style Short Ribs

I didn't take a picture of this meal, but don't let that stop you from trying out this recipe! If you ask any of my family members, I haven't ever been known as a great chef, but my youngest sister-in-law informed me that I went to the top ranking after this meal. According to John Ash, it's hard to screw up short ribs, but its also hard to get them any tastier than this creation of his. I served this over rice and it was fantastic, but you can put it with noodles also. This recipe also calls for the short ribs to be in 2-inch sections, so don't leave your butcher until you get them cut smaller. I didn't and spent about an hour trying to cut through bone before I gave up and went back to the store to have them re-cut. Since short ribs have a ton of fat, it's a good idea to make them early in the day and let the juices sit in the refrigerator for a couple hours so the fat can congeal and be removed before making the gravy. If you aren't a big beef fan, you can also do this recipe with pork or lamb shoulder.

Recipe by John Ash

4 lbs beef short ribs with bones cut into 2-inch pieces.

salt & freshly ground black pepper

5 Tbsp of olive oil

1 Cup chopped carrots

1.5 C light or medium bodied red wine (I used 2 buck chuck from Trader Joe's)

4 C homemade beef or chicken stock or broth.

1/4 C rice vinegar

1 C soy sauce

3 Tbsp packed light brown or palm sugar

2 Tbsp chili-garlic sauce ( I used Hot & Spicy Chili Oil)

3 Tbsp finely grated orange zest

1 Tbsp Chinese five-spice Powder (I didn't have this so I used 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 6 cloves & 6 peppercorns instead)

2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of cold water to thicken.

I also added Chulula Hot Sauce to my recipe.

PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 375 F

Step 1: Season the ribs with S&P. In a heavy-bottomed dutch oven or casserole, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil on high heat. When hot, brown the ribs on all sides. Remove ribs, pour off any fat from the pot. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pot. When hot, add the onions, ginger and carrots to the pot and saute until they are lightly browned (3-4 min.). Add the wine, stock, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, chili-garlic sauce, zest and 5 spice powder. When everything is simmering, return the ribs to the pot. Cover tightly and place in the over for 2.5-3 hours or until the meat is very tender and almost falling off the bone.

Step 2:

IF MAKING AHEAD: after the baking is finished tranfer the ribs from the pot to a storage container. Strain the liquid into a separate storage container (discarding solids) and refrigerate both for up to 3 days. At serving time you can easily removed the fat from the liquid. Boil the liquid uncovered until it is reduced by about a third (about 5 min). If you want a thicker, gravy-like sauce, lower the heat, stir in the cornstarch mixture and simmer for another 3-4 min. Taste the sauce, season with salt and pepper if needed. At this point I didn't think it was spicy enough and added Chulula hot sauce. Tabasco would also work. Reheat the ribs in the finished sauce.

OR TO SERVE IMMEDIATELY: if you don't have time to refrigerate like I did, then when the meat is done cooking in the oven, remove them from the liquid and cover with foil to keep warm. Strain the liquid into a different pot or a bowl, discarding the solids. Let the liquid sit for a few minutes to allow some fat to rise to the top. Skim off as much as possible. Boil the liquid uncovered until it is reduced by about a third (about 5 min). If you want a thicker, gravy-like sauce, lower the heat, stir in the cornstarch mixture and simmer for another 3-4 min. Taste the sauce, season with salt and pepper if needed. I would also add the hot sauce.

This was seriously delicious. Jed made a Tofu and Spicy peanut sauce salad using half a John Ash recipe and half his own creativity, to go along with dinner. Dessert was a Lemon Zabaglione. Recipe to follow. All these recipes came from the John Ash: Cooking One on One cookbook. Slight alterations were made.