Wednesday, November 22

Daybreak was greeted with rain on Wednesday, but subsided by the time the band walked next door from the hotel for breakfast. The trip to Diamond Head was timed such that each bus drove to the park at separate times.

The first group ran into a bit of a shower as they were reaching the summit of Diamond Head, but that storm quickly subsided and soon gave way to a nice breeze and lots of sunshine. The hike to the top proved a challenge especially the last leg which included 99 steep steps. Still those who made it were rewarded with a priceless view of the Hawaiian landscape.

After making it back down and resting for a bit, the band headed over to Hanauma Bay, again in staggered trips to help keep things moving along. Hanauma Bay has some wonderfully clear water that's tailor-made for snorkeling. Many people took advantage and had a great time exploring the scenes of life under the water.

The evening's activities included a group mixer with 10 other bands at the Sea Life Water Park. After scarfing down dinner, the band moved over to the Dolphin stadium to watch a neat show with 3 different kinds of dolphins, including the world's only cross-bred dolphin whale (we later found out this breeding was a happy accident and not some science experiment gone awry!). Once that concluded Gateway Tours presented awards to the participating band and made a special presentation for Jake Peppers. Jake is really the man behind almost all the events that happen here with the honoring of Pearl Harbor by high school bands and he's been doing it for decades!

Round about 9p the band made it back to the hotel to turn in for the evening with many students crashing into sleep well before the stated "lights out" time.

For now, this is the last and complete update of Wednesday's activities as we've added in photos from the evening Mixer at Sea Life Adventure park. There may be a photo or 2 (say of some senior boys and their chaperone) that looks odd in the overall scheme things - ask Mr. Stamey or the students about it!