Hawaii has been on stay at home order since March. All non-essential workers have been ordered to shelter in place. Some of us haven’t seen our loved ones for months. Even Disneyland is closed. Most would agree 2020 has been a pretty terrible year.
Yet I’m counting my blessings more than ever. Our family is safe and healthy. We’re the lucky few that can work from home and because of that we’re spending more quality time together as a family.
The State instituted a 14-day mandatory quarantine for all visitors. Tourism is practically non-existent for the first time in modern history. And for the first time in recent memory Hawaii is like it used to be.
The Magic Kingdom might be closed but we weren’t going miss the opportunity to show our little guy the true magic of the islands.
Since he could talk, our son has been obsessed with the ocean. His first word was “ssh” (fish). At three years old his obsession hasn’t changed. There was no way we could miss the beach during this uniquely strange time. So we packed our tabis and nets and got out on the reef.
At low tide, small wana fill every puka. The majority pretty pinks and purples, and harmless. But also a few to watch out for…
We found this little one out in the sand and put him back in one of the pools.
Pollution is down. The ozone hole is closed. The air is clear and the water is crystal. The ocean is alive and healthy.
For the first time, I found the cutest baby cowrie, along with lots of black sea cucumbers.
Even nice size opihi
Hermit crabs in pipipi shells and black a’ama crabs. This one of the not so live variety.
I didn’t have my camera at all times but over a couple days we saw all of the above, plus schools of manini, red and white opae, little green rock crabs, goby fish, rock skippers, and black spotted puffer fish.
It was just what we needed–a reminder that magic still exists, even when things are dark. I will never forget these days, the good or bad. I pray he’ll only know the good.
