Snorkeling With Sea Turtles in Hawaii Goes Hysterically Wrong

Heading into our Hawaiian Honeymoon, I only had one goal...swim with a sea turtle.  That didn't exactly go as planned!

Leading up to our vacation, my extreme desire to swim with sea turtles became a major joke between me, my husband and our inner circle.  I still don't know if he actually believed it or not, but he insisted that the sea turtles would try to bite him in his well...how do I say this..."stuff." Knowing how much it meant to me, he was bound and determined to find me a sea turtle to swim with.  While doing his research, he realized that booking an actual "turtle tour" wasn't exactly a cheap option and often the tours could be canceled due to weather/traffic without the promise of a refund or rescheduled date. We were both a little bummed by that realization, especially with how often the forecast seemed to change while we were there.

The silver lining? We stayed at Turtle Bay Resort on the north shore of Oahu.  They offer resort guests a full day of FREE snorkel equipment for each day of their trip! We grabbed some masks and flippers and explored the cove right next to the resort.  We saw a dozen or so different type of fish and some cool coral...but no turtles.

When we took a break, we went up to Roy's Beach House for a drink and hubby blurts out "Are there any turtles in that cove or not?" Our bartender, Dave, was very honest with us that they didn't hang out in the waters we were in because of how many people use that beach. He wrote down another beach on a coaster and told us we'd have much better luck there.

That's when hubby decides to smuggle the resort snorkel gear into the trunk and make the 15-20 minute drive because he'd promised me sea turtles.  When we got there the waves were HUGE and I told him "OH HELL, NO! I'M NOT SNORKELING IN THIS...I'LL DROWN!" At this point, he's determined to find me a turtle and insists that he's going in.  He'll signal me when he finds one, so be ready.

I watch him waddle backwards, flippers and all, into the crazy waves. He's getting pummeled by the waves and is having a hard time standing up long enough to get his mask on.  When he eventually tries, the band on his snorkel breaks and it's very clear this adventure is over. He feels like a bad husband, but I can't stop laughing from what I just watched him try to accomplish.  Between giggles I'm able to get out  "You tried.  It's ok. We'll just book the $80 canoe trip for tomorrow and figure it out. But...before we go, let's go see what all those people further down the beach are staring at."

He pouts the entire way over to the group...but lo and behold, guess what they're looking at?  Two HUGE sea turtles that had wandered onto the beach to sun themselves! I'm freaking out and he decides to run back up the trail and across the street to grab my phone to take photos with.

We snapped our fair share of photos before going back to the resort.  When we get back into the car, I notice that his elbow is all scraped up and bleeding.  "Uh...hun, what happened here?" "Well...I fell a couple times trying to get the camera." ::face palm::

He's a good man.  Marrying him means never having a dull moment for the rest of my life. And I saw my turtles, so he gets brownie points!