{"id":4392,"date":"2016-10-08T01:52:01","date_gmt":"2016-10-08T08:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=4392"},"modified":"2016-10-08T01:52:01","modified_gmt":"2016-10-08T08:52:01","slug":"everybody-get-wet-honolulu-hawaii-10072016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=4392","title":{"rendered":"Everybody Get Wet \u2013 Honolulu, Hawai\u2019i \u2013 [10\/07\/2016]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pinup2\"I wanna scuff through the puddles
\nCrash into the sea
\nDunk my head in the bubbles
\nGet water all over me
\nDive like a sub, rise like a whale
\nFlap my flippers like a big fish tail
\nBelly flop off a board you bet
\nANYTHING AS LONG AS IT\u2019S WET!<\/em><\/p>\n

As much as I do miss being home for my birthday, I\u2019ve also somewhat adjusted to well\u2026.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\u2019i this morning.<\/p>\n

First off \u2013 I adore Hawai\u2019i, 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!<\/p>\n

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 \u201cB\u201d:<\/p>\n

Aloha to the Wet n\u2019 Wild Hawaii<\/em> waterpark.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re a couple of big kids really, and I will swear by everything that that\u2019s a good<\/em> thing.<\/p>\n

The park is almost all waterslides, big<\/em> 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 \u2013 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\u2019s only really true if they are proper \u201cdark\u201d slides, the slides here \u2013 as it turned out \u2013 had track lighting inside, which ended up making a lot of difference. Of course, I didn\u2019t know that before<\/em> I started, but I have been feeling remarkably brave lately so I figured it was at least worth a shot, to say I\u2019d 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\u2026<\/p>\n

And absolutely loved<\/em> it.<\/p>\n

So, flume rides were a go from then on \u2013 all of them, even the crazy \u201cTornado\u201d 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<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

After several hours \u2013 or what felt like several hours \u2013 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<\/em> racing wave that I\u2019m 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\u2019t 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 \u2013 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\u2019ll learn to surf\u2026but not today.<\/p>\n

Epic fail there, try again, you can still impress the girls<\/em><\/p>\n

Hawai\u2019ian roller coaster ride, one of these days maybe I\u2019ll learn. I\u2019ve always been a cold water girl though. Not really a chance to learn to surf.<\/em><\/p>\n

Having conquered all the flume rides, I found myself staring at something else which \u2013 if I am honest with myself \u2013 I have long found somewhat intriguing, although I\u2019ll admit it might be more in the same vein of fascination that I have with the concept of sky-diving: \u201cwhy in the world would anyone \u00a0do<\/em> that?\u201d. I\u2019m talking, of course, about Racer waterslides.<\/p>\n

Towering way higher than I had intitially thought, they drop quickly and they move fast.<\/em> 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\u2019s required for the ride and started eagerly trotting up the stairs\u2026.<\/p>\n

Then slowed\u2026<\/p>\n

Then stopped..<\/p>\n

I\u2026don\u2019t know if I can do this<\/em><\/p>\n

Why not? The slides are open..<\/em><\/p>\n

Not at the top, see all that at the top? That\u2019s totally enclosed.<\/em><\/p>\n

And so it was, a twisted tangle of green and yellow tubing that opened up to the inclined slides. My stomach went into knots.<\/p>\n

A small explanation there: my claustrophobia is far<\/em> 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!<\/em> Just to prove to myself that I could<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Think of it like you\u2019re reading a book.<\/em><\/p>\n

Huh?<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2019re reading. <\/em><\/p>\n

O\u2026kay<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019re going to do great. I\u2019ll see you at the bottom<\/em><\/p>\n

And then the lifeguard blew his whistle and I threw myself onto the slide.<\/p>\n

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<\/em> fast that you don\u2019t even realize you are enclosed until you are suddenly bursting into bright sunlight and zipping down the incline.<\/p>\n

When I sloshed my way out of the splash pool at the end I could feel the grin on my face. I\u2019d done it, I\u2019d actually done it. And much to my own surprise the first words out of my mouth?<\/p>\n

Can we go again??? Can we go again??<\/em><\/p>\n

Which I think surprised Amras as much as it surprised me.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It is<\/em> October after all, Halloween is<\/em> just around the corner. \u00a0I was dearly needing a new costume for the crew party. There\u2019s nothing wrong with the Green Fairy after all, but I\u2019ve worn it at least six years in a row (I had it before I was even on ships), time for a change.<\/p>\n

So I did some thinking and some digging and came up with another idea, which I am most looking forward to carrying out\u2026<\/p>\n

But as for what that idea is? Well that<\/em> will just have to wait until Halloween then won\u2019t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[86,16,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-contracts","category-ports-of-call","category-tropical-rain-2016"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-18Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4394,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4392\/revisions\/4394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}