As someone who loves nature, and loves to see animals in their natural environment, I feel really fortunate for some of the opportunities I’ve had to travel the world and see things I thought I’d only see on TV.  One of my dreams has always been to dive with Manta Rays in their natural setting.  Manta Rays can grow up to 25 feet from wingtip to wingtip, and can weigh up to 5000 lbs.  These gentle giants are plankton eaters.  They open their huge mouths to take in large amounts of water, and filter the water out of their gills, catching the plankton in the process.  They’re very gentle, and curious about humans.As I’ve traveled over the years, I’ve traveled to many places where there were opportunities to see Manta Rays, with no luck.   It was by luck that I finally had my first opportunity.  I took my first ever vacation to the Hawaii Islands.  I visited Kona, Hawaii.  I really had no knowledge of Kona…I’ve heard of Kona, but nothing specific and I had no expectations.  When I arrived, I quickly found out how beautiful Kona really is.  I wanted to book a Scuba Diving trip, and after doing some research on  diving companies, I settled on Kona Honu Divers.

When I visited their dive shop, I found out that they have a Manta Ray dive that is world-famous, and is consistently rated as one of the top 10 dives in the world.  As it turns out, Kona is the only place in the world where Manta Rays have been conditioned to come to certain areas to eat plankton and play with divers.  Quite some time ago, one of the major hotels placed spotlights on the ocean floor, shining towards the surface, and they found out that the lights attracted plankton, which the Manta Rays LOVE.  So I had booked the dive and couldn’t wait for the experience.

Once we arrived at our location, it was still light out and we went for a dive just to explore and see what the area had to offer.  The Manta Rays don’t normally show up there until after dark, so after our first dive we returned to the boat and waited until then.  The winds really started picking up, and the boat was rocking around quite a bit.  We were getting a little concerned because the weather was not that great, and they had no sighting the previous two nights.  I was starting to get a little bummed out, and we were about to give up when someone shouted they saw a fin come out of the water.  We immediately put on our scuba gear and got in the water.

I was BLOWN AWAY.  As soon as I got in the water, there were two huge Manta Rays waiting for us.  They were swimming large circles from the bottom of the ocean to the surface, looping over and over, and so close to us.  Their large mouths were sucking in huge amounts of water, and they would swim right at us with their mouths open, turning away at the last moment, brushing against us.  Finally!  I was in such awe of the amazing, giant creatures.  I couldn’t believe that I was really there.  After about 15 minutes swimming on the surface with the Manta Rays, it was time to see more.  This video shows what we saw when we got in the water:

We dove to the ocean floor, about 35 feet deep, and formed a circle around the spotlights anchored to the ocean floor, shooting towards the surface.  Because of the weather, there was a strong back and forth current, making it harder to stay in one place, so we grabbed onto rocks to enjoy the show.  The first video above shows the amazing scene we were witnessing.  There were 9 of these amazing Manta Rays circling and swimming everywhere.  They were brushing us with their wings, circling around us, coming from all sides.  It was really a surreal experience…I felt as if I was watching a sci-fi movie.  Most of them were around 15-20 wide, gliding through the water with such amazing grace.  Along with the spotlights from each of the divers, and the little fish everywhere, it was a lot to take in.

This is one of those experiences that really cannot be explained with words, or with video for that matter.  It’s something you have to experience in real life to fully understand the impact that this will have on you.  I’ll just say that it’s one of those moments that really changes you, your outlook on life, your appreciation for all of the creations on this earth, and your desire to be part of those things.  I hope everyone will be able to share in this experience at least once in their lives.

I’d also like to say that I’ve been scuba diving in a lot of places around the world, and the guys at Kona Honu Divers were as professional as they come.  If you make it to Kona, you HAVE to go on the Manta Ray Dive, and I really recommend going with Kona Honu Divers.  I’m not affiliated with them in any way, just a satisfied customer.  Also, thank you to Louis B. for shooting and editing the videos.

Remember the days when someone would tell you their story of a bad customer service experience, and you’d be shocked that they were treated like that?  You’d think, “how can a company treat you so bad…there’s no way they’re gonna stay in business treating customers like that!”

Well, think about your recent experiences dealing with a company’s customer service department.  It seems that these days, you’re shocked when you’re treated with great customer service, and you’ve come to expect bad service as the norm.

Just to be sure I’m not the only one that feels this way, I asked many of my friends and they all felt the same way.  It’s a sad statement when we, as a nation, have come to expect bad or mediocre service as the norm, and we’re pleasantly surprised when we receive great, or even good service.

Over the last couple of years I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to Japan, and I have to say the service there is amazing.  It’s just in their culture, like it used to be in our culture.  I can honeslty say that I’ve never had a bad experience at a restaurant, shopping, or any other experience where I was dealing with a company as their customer.  People will really go out of their way to help you.  You’ll really be shocked to hear I even witnessed great service at their government offices (if you’ve ever been to the DMV, you can understand why I say that).  It used to be like that here, but it’s becoming harder and harder to find.

Is it too late for us to change our culture back to one of customer service?  Why has it gotten so bad?  I think it’s a self-induced problem. Maybe the issue is one of Customer Loyalty, not Customer Service. I’ll explain more in part 2, but until then, I’d love to hear your comments.   

I recently had the chance to go Japan, one of my favorite places, and while I was there I got the opportunity to go to the Tokyo Motor Show and the electronics district of Akihabara. Tokyo’s a crazy place, and the Motor Show was no different, but what a blast.

You’re probably wondering what the title means, “Liver Sashimi.” Well, I’m wondering too…wondering what made me try it I’m pretty open when it comes to trying things, and I’ve tried some crazy things in Japan before, but this really didn’t sound appealing, or look appealing. But, it’s very popular in Japan, and people go to out of there way to find a place to eat it. I never knew such a thing existed, and after trying it, I wished it hadn’t! Well, maybe it’s one of those things that grows on you.

So, on to the motor show. I think the busiest place there was the stage for the 2009 Nissan GT-R (I think it’s not called the Skyline anymore, but not sure). It was hard to get a good look at it, but what an awesome car. This is HUGE with the racing crowd…and for great reason!

I couldn’t help showing a few pics of the Ferraris…my all time favorite cars. There’s just something about them, that quality that just separates them from the crowd. Well, besides the fact that they’re hand made Italian race cars that cost over 100k. But they are definetely my favorite!

The Tokyo Race Queens are always a crowd favorite.

This Dumptruck is one of the coolest things I saw there…very futuristic looking. I’m not sure I’d want to get it dirty though!

I’ll try to post some more pics soon…there was too much to see. Besides cars, they had a bunch of motorcyles, and motoring accessory booths. Some cool shows to introduce the cars…just a very fun, high-energy day in Tokyo.

The next day I went to Akihabara to check out the latest. I didn’t get to take too many pictures here, but I went to a gigantic electronics store, about 8 floors full of electronics. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but they had everything you could imagine. A lot of the same brands we see here, but totally different model numbers and styles. I looked at some price comparisons, but there was no real pattern. Certain items were cheaper, certain items were more expensive. They had some nice audio, high end Marantz, some of the nicer Sony ES, and a ton of speakers…but none of it was set up like we’re used to here. It was just a loud, crazy store, with people on microphones with specials that only lasted for a few minutes, music and TV was blaring all around. And I had to get a picture of this TV…it looks big, but only because it’s a small girl next to it. Well, actually it used to be consired big…but I hear they have a new one to replace it. This is the Panasonic 103″ Plasma TV. I think they had it for around $50,000 usd…and I think it was going for around $70,000 in America. Very impressive and amazing picture for such a large TV. Today Panasonic showed their new 150″ Plasma TV…the largest in the world.

I’m heading to the CES show tomorrow, and I hope to come back with some GREAT pictures, reviews, and information, so make sure to check back here soon. I’ll try to get a picture of the new 150″ Plasma, among other things.

This is one of the subcultures in Japan that’s popular with some of the younger folks there. She was trying to go into the temple, and the officer didn’t let her go. Pretty cool outfit!