Life is Good. Ohm.

That's my new motto. At least for today.

It was a day of firsts - me with snorkeling, Fran with boogie boarding. And we both loved our newfound adventures, each of us showing the other how it's properly done.

Here's how today went:

Got up early and booked our helicopter flight over the island with Blue Hawaii. According to our guidebook, The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook, which I would highly recommend, not going on a heli ride in Kauai is like going to see the Sistine Chapel and not looking up. So heli we must. This guide, on a side note, has been right on - all the places the locals say are good, this book says are must-sees.

This morning for breakfast we went to Eggbert's, a local place. It was okay. Then we headed to gear up for snorkeling and boogie boarding at Boss Frog's. Met a guy who worked there and used to live in Boulder, Colo. Told him we should do a house swap some time, so he can ski and we can suntan. He was game, so we shall see!

We made a quick stop at Safeway and ABC to grab some ahi poke (essentially tuna sashimi with some excellent spices), shrimp poke, beer, water and apples. Only the necessities. Yum.

Then, we were off like a herd of turtles, heading to Kealia Beach to boogie board our brains out. And that we did. I used to boogie board every once in a while at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, when there was a sand bar and the waves were actually big enough to warrant something resembling surfing. Here, there were waves like this every two minutes. And they pummeled us, over and over. We caught a few really good ones and had a great time watching all the surfers do some incredible tricks. The first few minutes out in the surf were a little hairy, though, since there's a pretty strong undercurrent and riptides.

After spending a good portion of the day there (about three hours), Fran's sinuses were bugging him from all the saltwater, and we were both ready for a rest. So we headed to a "secret" beach near our hotel (secret, apparently, even from the guests to some degree), called Hideaways. To find it, you had to go down this very steep path, but the small beach at the bottom was incredible, with false kamani trees providing almost complete shelter from the sun. We realized by this time that I was really fried, and Fran was just sort of fried, after only applying 15 spf sunscreen once in our rooms before we left, and once before boogie boarding.

At this point, we also discovered that my snorkel mask was broken, but we tried snorkeling for a little while anyway. Wow. I've never done any of that before, but it was like being in a giant, endless aquarium full of tropical fish. The colors were so vibrant and the fish were huge. Unfortunately, most of the coral was dead, but Fran pointed out a few spots were it was still alive. I can't believe that there's an entire other world under the sea. It's so funny to watch the fish, too - they just kind of hang out, get moved by the currents and just seems sort of content. (On a side note, apparently the coral reefs around the world - like pretty much everything else - are endangered due to climate change and pollution; great recent article by Bryan Walsh in TIME: "Coral Reefs Face Extinction." Glad we got to see Hawaii's while they still exist - but Fran said he could tell that they weren't as vibrant as those he had seen on reefs in Samoa 10 years ago. It does seem, to some degree, that once bustling metropolises of the underworld are becoming ghost towns.)

After hanging at Hideaways, we headed back to our hotel room, which was within walking distance, and drank some wine while watching the sun set over Hanalei Bay. The sunsets here are really truly spectacular. Unlike any I've ever seen elsewhere, especially since there are always a few clouds, making for beautiful colors, like tonight's show, which was mostly orange and blue, then faded to orangy pink.

Fran said South Pacific, the movie, was filmed here. Every time I think of Bali Hai, I'll now think of Hanalei Bay - it looks exactly like you would picture the song - and the song in the movie was filmed right here.

I love the musical South Pacific, and so does my mother-in-law, Peggy, who bought me the sheet music, singing me her favorite song, "Some Enchanted Evening," long before either of us had any inkling that I'd fall in love with - and marry - her son!