Hawaii Trip

So, Day 5 was a bad, good, interesting day. It began like normal, I woke up early and woke Kandice up. That is when it turned sour. We were going to the University of Hawaii-Manoa to use the Internet. While we were looking for a parking spot, Kandice hit someone. We were turning right out of a parking lot, a van waved for us to turn out. I guess a truck swerved around the van as she turned out and we hit the back end of the truck putting a gash in the front fender of our rental car. Luckily, we had paid for insurance on the car and so we didn't have to cover the costs of the damage, but they almost gave us a heart attack when we called in the accident. We had to run over to the car rental and only then did they realize that we had paid for insurance on the car. Note for anyone renting cars while on vacation, make sure to include in your expected price at least a couple hundred extra for insurance (unless your insurance covers rental cars) because it is well worth it, just in case. But, they never include that price when they give quotes online, so you'll have to figure it out yourself.
Well, to say the least, we were relieved. We stopped at Walmart on our way to the north end of the island. I bought a snorkel and a few other things. Then we went to Matsumoto's Shave Ice. This place is famous for inventing Hawaiian Ice (don't call them that in Hawaii, though). They are really big, really cheap, and really good. I would definitely recommend this grocery store as a stop if you go to the island of Oahu.
Next we went to Shark's Cove. It took a long time to get my snorkel to work properly (note to self: next time, buy a more expensive snorkel), but when I improvised a fix, we went out a little way from the shore. We got to one huge rock and discovered that it was very sharp. I got a huge gash on my left hand (which did leave a scar) and several more cuts, 14 major ones all over my body. Kandice went back in because she didn't have a snorkel. I was so cut up that I was determined to get at least one good picture (with my under-water camera) for my troubles. I took a few pictures, holding on to that rock. After a while, I noticed something out of the corner of my right eye. It startled me because I wasn't expecting anything to be there. To my surprise, it was a giant sea turtle! I fumbled with my camera, afraid that I wouldn't get it ready in time, and managed to snap off a couple shots before it was gone. I wasn't sure if I got it and was happy to find the picture to the right. It was actually closer than this picture shows. I could have literally reached out and touched it.
After that incredible experience, I stood up on the rock and called out to Kandice telling her what I had seen. There were several other people snorkeling at Shark's Cove, but like Kandice, they had lost hope of seeing anything and gone in to shore. When they heard my story, they all headed out, but it was too late. The turtle was gone. It gave me a private show for my troubles, and I was more than pleased.
There was nothing that could have beat that experience, so we rinsed off and changed before going back to the PCC. We watched the other shows we had missed the day before. We even watched an Imax movie. Then we went back to the temple and walked around. The temple is very beautiful at night, and as always, very peaceful.
All in all, it was one of the best days in Hawaii up to that point and very unlikely that anything could top it.