Scuba Diving Vacations

...a noticeable limp.

I generally don't make resolutions, but this year I decided to make one. I've decided that since I'm in my 50s, I want to get to where I can walk 1300 feet without stopping or huffing and puffing. That would be 1300 feet uphill.

The day after Christmas Pat and I had the morning off and we decided to tackle the Captain Cook Monument trail. I haven't done the whole trail in probably 8 years, and had done the top 2/3rds a few times last year and had gotten pretty gassed. That day it wasn't so bad, but I still had to stop a few times and my knee was swollen for several days. I decided then I need to confront that trail and win before I get any older.

Well today was trail attempt number 1 of the year. We went down to our 2/3rds turning/viewing point and back. It's about an 800 foot elevation change in 1.2 miles. The section below is shorter and steeper, with more loose rocks underfoot - I'll add that on after I master the top section. Today's walk was better than the other week's attempt, stopped twice for a couple of minutes. At this rate I'll be walking the whole trail next month sometime. My knee swole up immediately today... it's actually the going downhill that bothers it the most. Quite the noticeable limp about an hour after the walk. I wrapped it up and iced it and it's shrinking already this evening, yay. Next time I wear a brace on the way down.

Gettin' old's fun. I figure it's time to take it on now. Anyway, it's a fun walk/hike. The trailhead is about 200 yards down from the top of Napo'opo'o road. It cuts through tall grass and scrub brush for much of the top two thirds and then opens out to a picturesque view of the ocean. The vog has been pretty much non-existent the last few days and we had a great view for miles. Once I get to where I'm handling the top portion readily I'll add the bottom portion. It's a worthwhile hike as the monument area is some of the best snorkeling (not so great for diving though, I'll have to write about that in another post) in the entire state.

Our surf of the other day went down yesterday. I had a charter in the morning and we were able to get out and find decent water. By mid-day it was pretty decent. Today the ocean was pretty nice. It should be fairly nice tomorrow, but by the looks of the swell chart at Magic Seaweed it'll bump up a bit for mid-week. Looking at the chart now it's not going to be as large of surf as it appeared when I looked at the chart around noon time. Looks like the bulk of the heavy surf will be north of us. This site is a great site to check on surf conditions for the next day or two.

Here's a shot of the sunset starting this evening. We're in that time of year where the sunsets are fantastic. My camera batteries ran out before it really got going this evening.

Later,

Steve