When I was a student in Hawaii, I didn't have a car, and my new-found friends and I were so busy with school that it was extremely difficult to coordinate outings in the 7 months I was living there.  There were, regrettably, a lot of things I missed out on. So when I came back with the family, I felt this intense need to make up for it by seeing as much as I could. Two of my younger siblings lived in Hawaii last year, and since they had a car they while they were there, they had a huge bucket list already compiled for me. One of their favorite hikes on Oahu was the "pink pillbox" hike, AKA the Mail Pillbox hike. I convinced Dallin and his dad to drive over in the lime green rental convertible, and we made our way up to a series of old bunkers artfully graffitied on the interior. From our vantage point, the cars looked like ants and the reefs could be seen beneath the surface of the sea. Just as we reached the last pillbox, it began to rain, and aware of treacherous drop on either side we carefully maneuvered back down to safety before the ground became too slick with mud.

The only time I saw dolphins while living on Oahu was when some friends and I drove across the island where we slept on the sand, woke to the sunrise and swam through the tough waves off Electric Beach to see where sea-life flocked. An electric plant just off the water has a giant pipe that spews warm water, inviting fish, dolphins and even reef sharks. 

Of course we weren't too surprised when the boat we took to go whale and dolphin watching took us over by Electric Beach!  Not long after we went out to sea, we spotted whales in the distance.  Then the crew prepared us to snorkel.  It was a cold and rainy December day, so we knew we wouldn't see as much as we would during the summer. But still we tested our breath-holding skills diving down to the coral where urchins lurked and angel fish grazed. Dallin was the last of all the passengers to come back to the boat -- I've never met someone who loves snorkeling as much as him!

The crew served us lunch, and as we were drying off enjoying Hawaiian pulled pork sandwiches and POG, a pod of spinner dolphins approached the boat. I didn't see the baby, but Dallin said it attempted to spin next to its mama. 

The Polynesian Cultural Center was started several decades ago to help BYU-Hawaii students get through school. While I was a student there, many of my classmates worked there as performers, backstage in the kitchens, or as cashiers.  The PCC gives guests a view into the cultures of Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti, and Aotearoa (New Zealand).