While in Hawaii, this past Holiday Season, with the fam, we partook of a number of kiddy-centric activities with my brother’s kids, Eli (5) and Lucy (3), that our folks had patiently suffered through, with the two of us, when we were roughly their ages (Eli’s and Lucy’s – not our parents'; as Mom and Dad were roughly a half-dozen years younger, then, than Happy and I are, now).

Deciding that the kiddies were too innocent to grasp the grave importance of Pearl Harbor, too inexperienced to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, and possessing attention-spans far too short to bask in the natural splendor of Waimea Falls or the architectural glory of the Byodo-In Temple; Happy and Christy (with input from me and Dad), decided on some more age-appropriate activities.  One such outing was taking an Atlantis Submarine Tour, a hundred feet under the waters off of Waikiki.

We took an open-air trolley to the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and from there, took a sea shuttle out to meet the Atlantis XIV.  We got to watch as the submergible craft broke through the surface of the water (which was pretty cool, in and of itself).  Then we climbed down a rather steep and narrow staircase (that was more like an angled ladder), and found our seats.

Once the Atlantis XIV descended, we got to see schools of beautiful fish, funky man-made coral reefs (and a few natural ones), an old-time sunken ship, and even a sea turtle!  But hands-down, the best part of the whole thing was seeing the looks of sheer wonder on the faces of Eli and Lucy.  They were absolutely mesmerized.  And why wouldn’t they be, living in the middle of the desert, as they do?

I was impressed by a few things…  One, it’s a much more high-tech vessel than the ones they used thirty years ago.  Second, I didn’t feel claustrophobic in the least – thanks in great part to the comfortable seating and great air-conditioning.  Finally, the visibility, through the foot-thick panes of Plexiglas, was quite exceptional.  The only things that could possibly have improved the situation would’ve been the addition of a bar-cart, and the elimination of the other 57 passengers.  But hey - what’re ya gonna do, right?

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