Continuing to Plan...

...and coming up with some dilemmas.

First of all, I can't decide if I want to take a surf lesson, or if I would rather take some stand up paddle boarding lessons. I've always wanted to learn to surf, but the SUP seems to be a good compromise in that you can still ride on waves, but you also can ride on flat water. The nice thing about learning the SUP skills would be you can actually do that here in Michigan, on pretty much any body of water. So that's a definite point in this decision, is that I would be able to continue doing one of them when I come back home.

Second of all, I'm not sure what to do about swim masks for snorkeling or spearfishing or whatever. I've never had any real issues just wearing a normal mask, but the last time I really used one I didn't have any desire to actually LOOK at what was going on under the water. I think that will be a different case in Hawai'i. So right now I'm not sure if I should buy myself a normal mask, or if I should pony up the cash to get a prescription mask so that I wouldn't have to worry about not seeing. The problem with the prescription masks that I have read about but didn't even think about is that as soon as you remove them, if you have really bad eye sight (like I do) you are basically blind. So that brings ANOTHER option to the table...do I dare risk maybe trying out some contact lenses?? I've thought about contact lenses in the past, mainly for the fact that I could start buying some awesome sunglasses, but I've never really had a reason to do so. So those three options are really holding me up. The OTHER option is that I would GUESS that there is probably a place near where we'll be staying that I could probably rent a prescription mask from, which might be ideal. If I could rent one for the whole week for like $20, that would be better than buying one for over $100 and then never really using it for anything else.

The other things that I'm starting to work on are some things for what I hope are some awesome hikes and exploring while we're there. First, I would need a nice backpack that would work for hiking. I have a LOT of backpacks, but one is an actual "backpacking" pack, and it's entirely too large for just hiking. The others are all more for just general carrying of things, think backpacks you'd wear to school. So right now I've told Cathy that for Christmas I would like a Columbia Mobex hiking pack. I saw one for the first time at the airport a few weeks ago, and I was amazed at how it looked, so I asked the lady about it. I was then even more amazed by how light it was. It literally felt like I was holding nothing at all in my hand. I've found the color that I want for a good price at Amazon, so hopefully she gets it for me!!

The next thing on my list of gear is a nice set of boots. I've never had a really nice set of hiking boots, and as I have been wanting to get into some better shape, some good boots might be a nice thing to have. I would LOVE to be able to do some hiking around home next summer, but the stuff I've got to go hiking are not really very good. I know, I know, I've posted all about the things I want to do to get into better shape, and I didn't do very well with my bike riding this past summer, but I figure if I can do some hiking I may be able to get myself in good enough shape that I actually COULD do some great bike riding.

So anyways, these are the boots I'm looking at. They are Vasque Breeze boots and they seem to be really nice, for not a ridiculous price. They go for about $110 at Amazon, and have an MSRP of $120.

So these will more than likely be the two pieces of gear that I actually purchase to take with me to Hawai'i. Both of them will have use around home, as well, so it's not like I'll be spending money on something that I won't be able to use in the future.

The mask thing is the part that's got me the most tripped up right now. I'm really leaning towards just trying to rent one when I get there, because that would probably be the most cost effective way to do it. But the problem is, I haven't been able to find anywhere that lists that they rent the prescription masks. I have not looked at a bunch of options, but just quick searches are coming up empty. Maybe if I call a couple of the dive shops out there I will have better luck finding what I am looking for.