The BIG SURPRISE is documented....(previous post)

...but the month-long celebration of our 65 started in Maui. This year we traded our Lake Tahoe (not that we're tired of it) Time-Share for a week in Hawaii and it was a very good choice. It was beautiful from the start and our room had a terrific view of the ocean from the living room so we just moved our mattress on in for the week.  Randy's a bit of a "hotel snob" but changing to a better room would mean "no view" and I would have none of that so we compromised.

Top right is from our balcony. I actually was in the ocean quite a bit but I'm the picture taker here so Randy is the center of attention. We took rides each day to see the beautiful country side and drove the Hana Highway.....

...enjoying the culture and the beauty.  We stopped at various up-scale hotels to check out their beaches. Trust me, they are all beautiful. Some amenities were better than others but we enjoyed pretending for a few hours each day. We loved the scenery....both floura and fauna including huge turtles, lots of chickens, tropical birds and beautiful ocean views.

We decided we would do two commercial tours while there for the week....the first being the snorkeling trip to Molkini. We were supposed to snorkel in the semi-circular area (left) and we were supposed to see this (right)........but Randy found much more exciting things to see.  Notice the dot on the bottom of the picture on the left.

That's actually what he wanted to see and beckoned me to come and not hearing the instructions from the captain to stay inside the semi-circle, I went over to see what I could see which really was cool as it went from a few thousand feet deep to several thousand feet deep and that's actually where the rip-tides like to hang out and one came and got us. I had a noodle so I was fine but Randy started pulling me back to the boat but we were going no where fast. I saw this look on his face that I hadn't seen before and said "Are we in trouble"....."yes"...he said and he wasn't kidding....as we went up and down with the wave and further out to sea. He started hollering help and I started waving my noodle. I didn't feel impending doom. I've felt it before and this wasn't it but I think Randy did, I'm not sure but in our struggle to move any way we could.....
Ben Affleck showed up.......

....and rescued us. He was actually Ron but I couldn't think of him as anything but Ben, our life-saver for real.  He told us that Michael Phelps couldn't even swim this wave and he told us to hold on and he took us to another boat that was closer than ours. Chelsea, I think that was her name but she looked like Gidget to me, but she was so kind in our stupidity.  When I told her Randy always liked to push the limits.....(I wasn't really mad  just so scared thinking of what could have happened to us)....she put her arm around me and said..."but don't you two have a good time together". That we do. I had swallowed and thrown up salt water so I was done for food for the day so I pretty much figure the money we spent for this tour....well, it was worth it because we were both so very humbled and thankful to be alive.  What an adventure. I can now say for real....."I've been rescued from the unpredictability of the ocean and I appreciate it even more than before. The ocean is the boss.....we are just guests. Obey the rules people..........

It really was a fun adventure but one I will always speak of with humility.....probably the closest I've ever come to meeting my Waterloo.......but our last night was truly the icing on the cake....

...matching outfits and all. It was a beautiful evening Dinner Cruise, an experience so relaxing and a great way to end an amazing vacation. Let's do it again some time....k? Aloha.....'til then.

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Coming next.....the holidays in full swing. Good times....check back in soon.