Reef and Ray Adventure

We went on another oh, so cool field trip with our homeschool group!

It was at the Ihilani JW Marriott - a beautiful hotel here on Oahu. They have an activity called the "Reef and Ray Adventure".

There are some interesting sculptures on the grounds which the girls enjoyed.

After an informational talk about all the types of fish found in the waters around the hotel, we were taken to an area where we were allowed to step down into the water. There was a low rock wall separating us from a larger area of water.

We were each given a handful of fish heads.............

..... which we then tossed to the hammerhead sharks on the other side of the wall. That was very cool.

But even cooler than that was when we got to feed the sting rays! They actually set up baby gates in the water. The rays, clearly knowing what was coming, would flatten themselves up against the gate, and we would push squid through the openings right into their mouths!

We fed several smaller rays first, then we went into deeper water and fed the really big ones.

We could even reach right over the gate and pet them. They felt like wet velvet - very soft and plush. They'd suck that squid right out of your fingers with a big wet, "Schlurp!!" I jumped sky high the first few times. Although I've never heard of anyone losing their fingers to a sting ray, I didn't want to be the world's first.

Then we went to a "petting zoo" where we got to hold a cool type of sea cucumber. I'd never seen one like this before. Usually they are more cucumbery shaped (imagine that). But this one was long and skinny and if you lifted it out of the water it flattened like wet tissue paper.

We also held some very cool starfish..........

Whenever we set them down, they would start to crawl away.

We also got to hold sea urchins and sea shells with real critters in them.

*I am not being compensated for telling you that this is a very cool activity to do if you are ever in Hawaii.