I wanna scuff through the puddles
Crash into the sea
Dunk my head in the bubbles
Get water all over me
Dive like a sub, rise like a whale
Flap my flippers like a big fish tail
Belly flop off a board you bet
ANYTHING AS LONG AS IT’S WET!
As much as I do miss being home for my birthday, I’ve also somewhat adjusted to well….moving it around. Since my actual birthday this year fell in the middle of the trans-pacific crossing, it was going to be somewhat difficult to do much on the actual day so the celebrations were split in half: with dinner a few days before the day, and the rest once we reached Hawai’i this morning.
First off – I adore Hawai’i, much as I hate to be so stereotypical, there is little not to love about the place. I could spend several months or more here and be perfectly content with my lot in life. So there are definitely worse places to celebrate a birthday!
Scheduling, on both Amras and my parts (I work days, he works nights, it makes things somewhat difficult sometimes), prevented us from making any plans in the evening despite being here overnight, but we had the day free. Mostly because we have an awesome boss who made sure that things would work out that way. In other words, instead of going out dancing, we went for plan “B”:
Aloha to the Wet n’ Wild Hawaii waterpark.
The perfect antidote I would say to being stuck on the ship for 5 days during the crossing from San Diego. And, because he is prone to these flashes of awesome, Amras bought me a day at the park as my birthday gift.
We’re a couple of big kids really, and I will swear by everything that that’s a good thing.
The park is almost all waterslides, big waterslides, including the kind that I normally would not go near with a ten foot pole. You see, enclosed slides normally petrify me because of my mild claustrophobia – if the tube is big enough that I can sit up? No problem. But the ones where I have to lie down? Big problem. However, I am discovering that that’s only really true if they are proper “dark” slides, the slides here – as it turned out – had track lighting inside, which ended up making a lot of difference. Of course, I didn’t know that before I started, but I have been feeling remarkably brave lately so I figured it was at least worth a shot, to say I’d done it if nothing else; so even though I was shaking in my metaphorical boots I stepped up to the first semi-enclosed flume ride, took a deep breath, settled myself into the inflatable tube and pushed off…
And absolutely loved it.
So, flume rides were a go from then on – all of them, even the crazy “Tornado” which spun us around so fast I almost lost my new sunglasses on the first wave (note to self: next big investment is going to be a waterproof go-pro with a chest harness, I need to get video of my theme park stuff!). It reminded me of the graviton at the fair back home, because it was all about the centrifugal force.
After several hours – or what felt like several hours – of hauling inflatable rafts up and down the cliffside (freya but that was a lot of stairs!) we took a break for lunch (mmm park food) and watched a series of people eagerly attempt to conquer the surf simulator. An upwards racing wave that I’m still not quite certain how it worked. Said upwards wave was not something either Amras or I was about to risk trying, as neither one of us has ever surfed before and aren’t in a position where we could risk sprained ankles or broken fingers. One of us plays bass guitar and the other one types all day, and both work standing – that would not be a good thing to mix with a sprained ankle! That said, it was enjoyable to watch. One of these days I’ll learn to surf…but not today.
Epic fail there, try again, you can still impress the girls
Hawai’ian roller coaster ride, one of these days maybe I’ll learn. I’ve always been a cold water girl though. Not really a chance to learn to surf.
Having conquered all the flume rides, I found myself staring at something else which – if I am honest with myself – I have long found somewhat intriguing, although I’ll admit it might be more in the same vein of fascination that I have with the concept of sky-diving: “why in the world would anyone do that?”. I’m talking, of course, about Racer waterslides.
Towering way higher than I had intitially thought, they drop quickly and they move fast. That part I was fine with, that part looked like fun. I approached this adventure with actual excitement, after all, fast is fun when it comes to waterslides. So I picked up the racer mat that’s required for the ride and started eagerly trotting up the stairs….
Then slowed…
Then stopped..
I…don’t know if I can do this
Why not? The slides are open..
Not at the top, see all that at the top? That’s totally enclosed.
And so it was, a twisted tangle of green and yellow tubing that opened up to the inclined slides. My stomach went into knots.
A small explanation there: my claustrophobia is far from severe, I mean I can ride elevators and everything. It is also something that I am absolutely determined to not let get the best of me. Yes, I was slightly terrified, even going so far as say some pretty stupid things to try and talk myself out of it, but goddamn it I was going on this dumb ride! Just to prove to myself that I could.
Think of it like you’re reading a book.
Huh?
The riding position is exactly like when you read your books love, like on your tummy, think of the handles like your pages. Kick your feet up behind you, just like you do when you’re reading.
O…kay
You’re going to do great. I’ll see you at the bottom
And then the lifeguard blew his whistle and I threw myself onto the slide.
As it turned out ,the slide had track lighting and airholes, and actually let in some natural light, which fixed basically everything for me. Also, the slide moves so fast that you don’t even realize you are enclosed until you are suddenly bursting into bright sunlight and zipping down the incline.
When I sloshed my way out of the splash pool at the end I could feel the grin on my face. I’d done it, I’d actually done it. And much to my own surprise the first words out of my mouth?
Can we go again??? Can we go again??
Which I think surprised Amras as much as it surprised me.
We closed out the day with a trip down the lazy river, which involved a lot of giggling as we spun each other around and bounced off the river walls.
The park was closing earlier than we thought because it was off-season, so we had more time than we anticipated before we had to be back to the ship. We had our cab driver drop us off at the mall, which contained a huge party supply shop.
It is October after all, Halloween is just around the corner. I was dearly needing a new costume for the crew party. There’s nothing wrong with the Green Fairy after all, but I’ve worn it at least six years in a row (I had it before I was even on ships), time for a change.
So I did some thinking and some digging and came up with another idea, which I am most looking forward to carrying out…
But as for what that idea is? Well that will just have to wait until Halloween then won’t it?