Going on vacation with my family has always been a major event no matter how far the distance. Given my grandparents on both sides of the family had expendable incomes I had a lot of chances to travel around the United States and my favorite place I had ever gone to was Hawaii. You see we have traditions on the Lombardi side of the family like every 20yrs you go to Hawaii or every 10yrs you go to Yellowstone because over the years my grandparents thought these were places that you had to see at least once in your lifetime and if not more. So when my family started talking again about going to Hawaii I was really excited and I always remembered the trip. One reason it was so special too was because we took 20 family members so when a bus had to pick us up at 4 in the morning it was something I couldn’t forget, because of all the different personalities and opinions about the morning. But my favorite memory from Hawaii was when we went to a local beach that my dad found and it was called Mackapo.



Going to that beach was my favorite memory for many reasons like because they were the biggest waves I had ever seen, I was with my family, and cause there was a reef on the other side where you could snorkel. But when I got there that afternoon I wasn’t thinking about any of that, I was just a 10year old boy trying to be nice to my sister and hanging out with my older cousins that I didn’t get to see much.


So when our car pulled into the sandy parking lot that afternoon I was really excited. I had my older cousin Denis with me and we raced down the rough hard concrete stairs which were probably 200ft high down to the cove were we could hear the waves crashing into the shore. Once we got to the black sand we could see how amazing the place was since it was an old volcano creator which I guessed it made a perfect place for the water to come in because the waves were probable 20ft high which really freaked me out. Since the whole point of coming that evening was to boogie board I got a little scared but Denis got me to jump in the warm water anyway and we tested out some of the waves. Right off the back I could feel the strength and power of the pacific waters and it was a struggle just to stand at times but I had my 6’6 cousin right next to me and that little safety net allowed me to be a little more adventurous than I normally would have and I enjoyed myself.




After about an hour of having a good time but also being exhausted by the waves Mackapo took its first victim who was my 7yrold sister who got caught under a wave and had to get grabbed by my dad. Everyone was laughing in my family at her including me because she was crying about it, but really if that would of happened to me I probably would have done the same thing. But that little bit of drama passed quickly and everyone went back to having a good time on the beach. After another hour in the water I decided to switch it up and go snorkeling. It was a very memorable moment because the sea turtles were out at the reef and all the fish were swimming. I even got to see an eel and a couple puffer fish. Altogether it was just a really nice break from the huge waves but I was ready for some more excitement, so I headed back to the other side of beach and went back out into the choppy Pacific.


I went into the water with my cousin again and we picked up right from where we had left off. The waves had gotten even bigger and some of them were carrying me all the way into the shore. One time I actually got pushed up all the way to the soft sand and hit someone sleeping which scared them but that just showed me how strong the surf was getting. As I kept on playing in the water I was taking more and more risks and getting deeper and deeper because that’s were the waves were the biggest and you would go the farthest. But I could feel the undercurrent starting to pull at your legs more and more and sand was much loser on the bottom out there. Though after a while I forgot all about it, but that was a problem cause one time when I went out there I stayed a little to long and didn’t ride a wave back in to shore. And because of this when the water came back out to sea the sand left from the bottom of my feet and I was being sucked out to sea. I tried grabbing anything I could to somehow stay in place but I didn’t, I was sucked out into deeper waters and was caught in between the opening of the ocean and a sandbar. Since I was little I wasn’t able to swim or walk back to shore so I sat on the sand bar and waited for my cousin Denis to come get me.




It took my cousin a very long time to get to me because of how powerful the waves were getting and also I was 100feet away from the black beach. Denis had to travel through water that was 6ft deep to get to me as well and it really slowed the pace down. But eventually he got to me and I climbed on his shoulders and he took me back to shallower water. Once I got back I felt really safe but was done boogey boarding for the day after such a scary moment like that. I kept on thinking to myself what if the sand bar wasn’t there because if that happened I would be out in the ocean right now. And that thought stayed in my head as we left the beach and the rest of the vacation, but now it’s just a memory of the best vacation I had ever went. Though that memory also reminded me of how strong nature can be and that’s stucked in my head ever since I went to Hawaii. So altogether I had a great time with my family and gathered a lot of memories I wouldn’t forget which is was going on vacation is all about but ill still never forget when I almost got swiped away by the waves of Mackapo.