Chuck learns to surf on Oahu, Hawaii

When I was planning our trip to Hawaii, I started looking into surfing lessons, stand up paddleboard (SUP) lessons and other highly recommended activities.  I am a heavy user (and contributor) to tripadvisor and place a lot of value on the reviews that other people provide.  Obviously, you have to read all / most of the reviews and use your best judgement with regard to making purchasing decisions.  In general, I have been happy with my decisions based upon tripadvisor recommendations.

I was searching for surfing lessons on the island of Oahu and found Island Style Surf and Sergio in Haleiwa.  My husband loved his surf experience.  Sergio had an ease about him and provided amazing instruction.  The location was perfect for a first time surfer, yet had more advanced surfers nearby.  After a quick on-shore lesson, Sergio and Chuck paddled out.  A few reminders and Chuck was off, catching his first wave.  There were a few spills over the course of the 2 hour lesson, but many more waves where he was hanging ten!

Stream of Consciousness - The Rumbaba

My stream of consciousness this morning went something like this: book hotels for April trip to Copenhagen and southern Sweden, find excursions, how about a boat trip, remember the Rumbaba in St. Thomas.

In 2007, Chuck and I booked a house in St. Thomas for a week (I can't seem to find a link to the property). My parents and brother joined us. Poor Kasey is a guidance counselor so she had to work. When we were in St. Croix the previous year, we chartered a sailboat and went to Buck Island to snorkel. So, I thought it would be fun to charter a sailboat to snorkel around St. John. We've been on some disasterous large snorkeling trips with 75 other people (Princessa Yelapa in Puerto Vallarta, rings a bell). Chartering a sailboat for just us made more sense and for 5 people it was probably an extra $100 or so to have the entire boat to ourselves.

Enter the Rumbaba. I searched the web and found quite a few different charters, but decided that the Rumbaba and Capt'n Bobby would be perfect for us. It was fab.u.lous. Honestly, it was one of the best things we have ever done on a vacation.

A few pictures from our day of snorkeling. The water was so incredibly clear, even the pictures from the cheap underwater camera turned out!