When Is It Time to Put Down Our Phones? My "Narnia" Moment in Hawaii 🌴

In the movie Narnia, you could step into a wardrobe and step out to a magical world.

Snorkeling 🤿 has always felt the same to me. As soon as you dip your head below the water, you are transported to a magical world. Filled with colorful coral, exotic fish and a few surprises.

There are few better places to experience snorkeling, than the picturesque beaches of Hawaii. On a recent trip to Kauai (Hawaii), we snorkeled at the Lydgate beach, Poipu beach, Salt Pond Park and Tunnels beach. We swam through the underwater forest of corals and exotic fish including the official state fish of Hawaii - Humu-humu-nuku-nuku-apua'a 🐟.

I took my underwater camera 📸 with me to most places. Now, photos can’t quite do justice to what you see with your eyes (uh, especially with my novice camera skills). But see the photo as a sample.

Our best snorkeling experience was at Anini beach. However I have no photos to share from Anini beach, because I had left my camera behind ☹️. When I first realized this at the beach, I was pretty cross with myself (how was I to “capture” the moment without my camera). But as it turned out, leaving the camera behind was a good thing.

Anini Beach

As we stepped on the soft sand of Anini beach, we could see and hear the snorkelers talking and pointing quite excitedly. And as soon as we stepped into the water and started swimming out, we realized why. There were lots and lots of sea turtles 🐢 in the water. They languidly fed on the sea grass, not caring much about the excited snorkelers.

We stayed with the crowd for a bit, but then we swam further out, towards the coral wall (about a 100 yards offshore). We swam along the corals, and spotted plenty of tropical fishes and also a few stingrays.

But as we were about to make our way back, we ran into a lone turtle, swimming all by itself. That is until my daughter decided to join it! And the turtle didn’t seem to mind.

The turtle swam lazily around with not a worry to be found. It would bob at the surface, then leisurely dive down. Nibble at the sea grass, weave through the corals and then just roll around.

And my daughter matched it stroke for stroke.

As they swam in perfect synchrony, the real world seemed to disappear for me. As if I had stepped into the Narnia wardrobe and stepped onto a magical world. I couldn’t tell anymore who was the turtle, and who was my daughter. The turtle became my daughter, and my daughter became the turtle. I became the sea, and the sea became me.

When is it time to put technology away?

I believe I could only experience that moment at Anini beach, because I had left my camera behind.

Without the technology, I could truly “capture” the moment, by fully experiencing it.

Sometimes that's just what we need. Not just on vacation but even in life & work. So the next time you're sitting down with a friend or a client/colleague; put your laptop away and put your phone down. And just be with them, in that moment.