Manta Rays!

When we decided to take a trip to Hawaii's Big Island, I started researching things to do there. One thing kept coming up over and over again: night manta ray snorkeling. Intrigued, I decided to look into it. Years ago, people started noticing a number of manta rays in the water on the Kona coast. That is where lights from ocean-front hotels and restaurants would shine into the water. It turns out that the lights attract plankton, and manta rays eat plankton. Some entrepreneurial genius decided to start taking people out into the water to watch the manta rays eat. From there sprung the most popular thing to do on the Big Island. 

Basically, it works like this: There is a portable, floating platform, with lights and handles attached. Donning a snorkel mask, you get in the water, grab onto a handle, lay on your stomach, and put your face in the water. Then you wait for the manta rays to come. When I was first reading about this, I thought "Nope. No way I am doing this." Getting in the ocean when it's dark while holding onto what amounts to a surfboard with a car battery on it to generate electricity for the lights? That sounds like a recipe for electrocution! And the ocean at night doesn't seem like the safest place. However, the more I read about this adventure, the more I knew I had to do. I knew the likelihood of us going back to the Big Island was slim and I didn't want to leave with regrets. Thankfully, my brother and sister-in-law had done a nighttime manta ray snorkel on their trip to the Big Island a few months ago so they were able to assure me that it was not as scary as I built it up in my mind to be. Pushing down my inner screaming, I told Husband I wanted to see manta rays. I found a company that appeared to not use a surfboard or a car battery, made the reservation, and hit the "pay" button. Then I spent the next few weeks wondering how I could cancel. 

The night of the tour came and I was ready to call it off, but my dear, sweet, patient, rational husband reminded me that manta rays are harmless (they don't have teeth), and that he would be right beside me so if a shark suddenly appeared out of the darkness, he would save me (I am beginning to realize I have a lot of irrational fears. I should probably look into therapy). Besides, if I can swim with sharks, surely I can hang out with some manta rays and live to tell about it. I put on my brave face, and off we went to see some manta rays. We got our wetsuits on and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset while waiting for the tour to start. I had to get one last picture of the two of us, just in case.

After a short boat ride, it was time to get into the water. Husband jumped in right away and I knew if I wanted to be next to him, I had to jump in next. This was the scariest part. The ocean is DARK at night. D-A-R-K. And scary things live in the ocean! But, we paid a ton of money to do this so I really had no choice. I jumped in and swam to the floating platform. I put a pool noodle under my ankles (this helps keep your legs parallel to the surface and away from the manta rays), grabbed onto the platform, said a little prayer, and stuck my face in the water. Within minutes manta rays were swimming by us, eating all the plankton. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing! They were so close to us that if I wasn't holding onto the handle for dear life, I could have touched them. A couple of them brushed up against me as they passed by. It was so cool to watch them approach out of the darkness, their wing-like fins flapping as they swam through the water to the lights. Husband called them "majestic sea flap-flaps," which he apparently saw in a meme at some point, and that description fits them perfectly. 

After about 30 minutes, which really seemed like 5, it was time to swim back to the boat. I didn't want to leave. I could have stayed and watched the manta rays all night long. I had the hardest time deciding which videos to post. I hope the ones I posted below give you an idea of how truly spectacular this was. A huge thank you to Husband for taking these videos. This meant he was holding on with one hand the entire time in order to operate the camera. That is true love. 

Mountains and Dinosaurs

When you live in the desert, you sometimes find yourself desperate for some green and trees (and by "sometimes" I mean pretty much on a daily basis). A few weeks ago, I found myself longing for an escape from the beige world that surrounds me. A quick Google search for "cabins in southern California" returned results for a town called Idyllwild-Pine Cove in the San Bernardino National Forest. Intrigued, I did a little research and decided that this was the perfect place for us to get our greenery fix. We rented a cabin and spent a great weekend doing small hikes, sitting around outside, and just generally enjoying being surrounded by mountains and trees. 

We also discovered that we like bird watching. We spent a lot of time looking for and identifying various birds in the area. I want to get a California bird book and binoculars! I may have found my new hobby. 

Our backyard for the weekend

On a hike at the Nature Centre

Manzanita Tree: These trees were everywhere and cool to see. 

The red bark grows over the white and is really, really smooth.

Giant pinecone!

In front of Suicide Rock

Ernie Maxwell Trail

Can we take a moment to look at how long my hair is? 

I can put it in braids!! 

More Manzanita trees

Acorn Woodpecker

Stellar's Jay

House Finch

Western Fence Lizard

On our way home, we stopped in Cabazon to see the world's largest dinosaurs. If you have seen the movie The Wizard, you may recognise these dinosaurs. Apparently they are also featured in PeeWee's Big Adventure, but since I haven't seen that movie so I will take Wikipedia's word for it. We have driven by this roadside attraction numerous times, but have never stopped until now. It was a fun little stop. There is a gift shop in the pink dinosaur and you can go inside the green one (we didn't do that). Gary the Elephant said this was the highlight of the trip for him. 

Gluten Free Find: 
Idyllwild Pizza Company has delicious gluten free pizza. I also recommend the greek salad from this restaurant.  

Hollywood

Since we were already in the area (see previous post), we decided to check out a few of the iconic Los Angeles sights. Many of the things we wanted to do were closed due to COVID but we were able to cross a couple things off our California bucket list. Our first stop was the Griffith Observatory. Here we had great views of the city and the Hollywood sign. However it did not lend itself to great pictures with the sign. I really wanted a good picture with the Hollywood sign and this location was slightly disappointing. We did a quick internet search and came across a travel blog that mentioned great photo ops with the Hollywood sign in a nearby neighborhood. We hopped in the car and made our way through the streets of Hollywood to the destination in question.

We arrived in the neighbourhood, interested to find out that it actually leads into the old Hollywoodland subdivision. Although the pictures from this location proved better, and we had a chance to get a few pictures at the cool arches for the old subdivision, these pictures (and the view) still weren't quite right for me. Another internet search provided us the information we needed: direction to a park where we were able to get a picture that made me happy. If you are ever in LA and are looking for a great spot to take a picture with the Hollywood sign, put 3000 Canyon Lake Drive into your GPS and start driving. You will wind your way through streets with signs that say things like "No vehicle access to Hollywood sign." While it is true that these streets won't lead you right up to the sign, they will lead you to the park that will give you a great vantage point for pictures. 

The view from the neighbourhood

One of the arches

The view from the park. Finally!

We also stopped at the Walk of Fame. It was really cool to see all the stars and the Chinese Theatre. Sadly the theatre was blocked off so we couldn't wander through the hand and foot prints in the cement out front. I did manage to get a few pictures through the fence though. This is on our list to go back to once things open up again. 

Despite the numerous closures in the area, it was still fun to get the opportunity to see some of the sights. I am hopeful that LA will open back up before we leave California so we can do the rest of the things on our long and ever growing bucket list. 

Gluten Free Find: 
I had heard a lot of good things about Erin McKenna's Bakery and wanted to try it out. I ordered a salted caramel éclair, a maple donut, and a slice of lemon cake. I did not like the éclair or the donut and was disappointed that I paid so much money for something that didn't taste very good (warning, this place is pricey, even for a gluten free bakery). The lemon cake, on the other hand, was delicious; worth every penny. It's not worth going out of your way to visit this bakery but if you are in the area and you decide to make a stop here, I highly recommend the lemon cake.