Today was my new friend Carson's 21st birthday, so as my gift to her I took her surfing. We went to a local beach in Hilo called Hanoloi Bay, which I hope I spelled correctly. I have been surfing ever since I came to Hawaii with my sisters for the first time during the summer before I progressed to tenth grade. As I paddled back out into the ocean in Hawaii I found myself having very strange thoughts. At home on Folly Beach or Isle of Palms I have never desired to be bitten by a shark, as I would assume that most people do not; however, it kept going through my mind. Not because I was scared it was going to happen but because I thought it would be such a humbling experience to have.

I have only once come into contact with a shark outside of tanks in aquariums or zoos, but it is something I have always wanted to experience more often. I was snorkeling in Key West, Florida, and saw a resting nurse shark, which began my specific fascination. As I sat in the Pacific Ocean today I hoped one would just swim by me so that I could say it happened. Hawaiians view sharks as gods or protectors and I understand exactly where they are coming from. Growing up on a beach in Florida has left me with a fascination of the sea that I do not see myself being able to, or wanting to, get rid of. Anything that is fortunate enough to get to spend their entire life in the ocean, to me, is a lucky being.

But still, who wants to be bitten by a shark? Apparently I do, and I am still trying fully to understand why. I think it is a mixture of just wanting to see them in action and wanting to be able to come into such close contact with one that it affects me for the rest of my life. Do not get me wrong, I do not want to leave Semester at Sea without all of my limbs, but how cool would it be to have a giant scar around my forearm where a shark had latched onto me, if not just for a second? I am adventurous and enjoy coming into contact with nature in most any way, and know myself well enough to realize that I would probably chase a shark on my surfboard just out of curiosity, no matter what the consequences may be.

I am a photographer, and I very rarely edit my pictures because then I do not feel like the story is correct or honest. I wonder if my desire for a shark to leave a nice, obvious scar on my body springs from my love for memories and unarguable proof. I have yet to shake my fascination, and yet to try. And unfortunately, I still have yet to be bitten by a shark. But just give me time.Biology of Sharks - Class Journal

The arrival into port was both annoying and exciting. I woke up about 5AM to the ship shaking as if a terrific earthquake was happening below us, unfortunately this earthquake made it impossible to go back to sleep and lasted for quite some time. The sun still had yet to come up so I headed to breakfast by myself, it was Carson's 21st birthday so I figured I would let her sleep today. After I ate I went to the fifth deck outside to realize that Hilo was beautiful even in the dark. Waves were breaking against a sea wall towards the back of the ship and I was getting antsy. Scott Fischer and his wife came out onto the deck and asked about my plans for the day; they were the inter-port lecturers on Hawai'i and had been on the ship since Mexico. I reminded Scott that it was Carson's birthday and that we wanted to surf and that I was running out of patience being kept on the ship.

The Baltic Sea was finally called. I got my passport checked and then went back to my room to wait for the rest of the seas to be called so we could finally disembark. Someone with a distinctly Asian name was being called repeatedly and was apparently holding up the entire ship. He is lucky I cannot remember his name or I would have come to his room and given him a beat down for forcing me to watch the surf and sunrise from the ship. Around 830 we finally were able to get off the ship so Carson, Thomas, and I made our way into town. We walked about two miles along the water and found Orchidland Surf shop, a place I had read about in the Hawai'i guidebook in Barnes & Noble back home.

In Orchidland we talked to the owner, who was the only guy working as they had just opened for the day, about renting boards and where we should go to surf. We ended up with an 8 foot soft top board and a van taxi to take us two miles away down to a local beach. The beach was called Honola'i [?] and it was beautifully set inside of a small cove with trees all over the place. We walked down the pathway from the street and onto the rocky, black beach to get set up. There was a big, orange lifeguard house near the bathrooms and showers that Carson seemed to be fascinated with. Thomas had never surfed before so I threw my rash guard on and swam out with him to where the waves seemed to be breaking. They were fairly small, Folly sized waves and so he didn't accomplish anything, and I am not sure he would have had there been good waves.

Carson then went out, and she had surfed before, but didn't accomplish much either. The waves were not good anywhere except for up against some rocks by the wall of the island which did not seem like a good idea since we were locals and it was low tide. I went out and caught a small wave on the way in, but really didn't get very far either. I enjoyed floating and was surprised at how cool the water was for how warm the air was. It felt wonderful either way. Carson tried again and washed up in the rocks which she had a hard time getting out of. We rinsed of the board, used the sketchy bathroom, took some pictures and called the cab to come get us again about two hours after our arrival. We went back to Orchidland, returned the board, got some shirts, and then walked around the shopping strip that the surf shop was located in.

We stopped for lunch at Puka Puka Kitchen and I got a really good chicken pita, Carson got a gyro, and Thomas got some strange kind of burger that he really liked. Mine came with weird yellow rice that I was not a huge fan of so afterwards I promised myself I would make up for it with shaved ice. We walked around the shops and I got a turtle hair stick, turtle necklace, some postcards, stickers, and t-shirts. Carson got some jewelry and Thomas got some little things to bring home with him. From there we found the Hilo Sugar Shack and I got a strawberry shaved ice with vanilla ice cream in the middle which was amazingly delicious. Carson got the same thing but without the ice cream which was not wise on her part because the ice cream is what makes the difference. There was a small open market around the corner where we looked around and I got a good luck necklace that symbolizes safe passage over water, which seemed useful when sailing around the world.

From there we took the free city bus up the hill to Rainbow Falls, a waterfall that would have been pretty had it not been dried up due to the draught Hawai'i was experiencing. We took some photos of the trickle of water coming down from the rocks and then began exploring. The three of us found an area full of giant, highly climbable trees that had our names written all over them. We spent about an hour or so seeing how high we could go and taking pictures of each other from different points of the tree, which is much harder than you would think since none of us had pockets. Eventually we figured it was time to get out of the trees so we caught a cab to Wal-Mart and loaded up on snacks to bring back onto the ship. I got Cheez-its, a twelve pack of blue Gatorade, double stuffed Oreos, Starburst, Cliff Bars, nail polish remover, sun block, and dried marlin jerky as a gift for Trenton. We lucked out and there was a bus out front that took us directly back to the ship for free.

Once we got to the ship I was told I could not have my Gatorade, which was a huge bummer. I still do not understand why since they were all sealed and still packaged; there was no way I could have snuck anything inside of them. Professor Geddes, a teacher Carson knew from Clemson, was on the bus with us and she brought the Gatorades onto the ship for me since professors are allowed to do whatever they want. They also took my nail polish remover from me once I got on the ship, who knows what kinds of crazy things I would do with it! I threw everything down, showered to remove the salt and sun block from my skin, dried my hair and got ready for Carson's birthday dinner. I wore my black t-shirt dress from American eagle, my new hook necklace for good luck, and the turtle in my hair. I looked pretty awesome if we are being completely honest.

I met up with Carson and waited for her to finish getting herself ready since she had already spent some time on Lydia. She had on a similar dress so we looked like twins except that her hair was down. We walked to Ken's House of Pancakes with a group of eight and ended up in two back to back tables. Thomas, Carson, Lydia and I had a table together while the other four that came with us sat behind us in another booth. We took forever to order because the menu was huge, but I knew I at least wanted some loco moco. I ended up ordering strawberry pancakes, which I later learned I was not a huge fan of, and a small bowl of loco moco to split with Thomas. Loco Moco is a Hawaiian dish that is brown rice, beef, scrambled eggs, and brown gravy; Bobby made it for me at home and I liked it a lot. His was actually better than what I got at Ken's which I hope made him happy to hear.

Because it is a pancake house, when the waiter realized it was Carson's 21st birthday he brought her a plate of strawberry pancakes with sparkles stuck in them that lit up the table.We already had way more than enough food and no one came close to finishing what they originally ordered. I was excited about the milkshakes that they had and sucked mine down in about 2.5. When we finally gave up on consumption we paid our bills, I got a t-shirt [go figure], and we went out front and took some photos of the group. Some other Semester at Sea girls were outside and lead us to Shooters, a bar attached to a hotel, so Carson could begin celebrating.

There was a flyer in the window that advertised a live, local punk show which I was upset to learn would be happening a few days after we left Hilo. We went inside without cover since it was still relatively early and Carson made her way to the bar. The place was kind of sketchy and full of annoyingly drunk SAS students; my preference would have been going to a more local place but it wasn't my day. Carson got a beer and we took some photos of the two of us with Lydia before she went off into the crowd. I threw up some Mind before Mouth and Bag Man stickers and told Carson I would be heading back to the ship. Lydia came with me and brought all of Carson's things with her since Carson is a professional ID loser. We walked back to the ship and, with Carson's drivers' license in hand [they were not even pretending to ID people in the bar] went our separate ways to pass out. I called Bobby before bed and took full advantage of my phone during my final days in the states. Shooters eventually turned into a nightclub that charged a cover and checked IDs so Carson's night was not what she hoped but she said she still had a great time.

Today I was supposed to have an FDP with Professor Abel, who is apparently now Dr. Ray [from Finding Nemo], that looked at sharks and rays in Hawaiian waters with the aid of some local researchers; however, it turned into a Humpback Whale watching session with a side trip to a tide pool. For about two seconds I was disappointed in the fact that there would be no sharks in my day, I very quickly became excited at the opportunity to observe Humpback whales in their natural setting, something very few people, I would imagine, get to do.

I was in the first group to go to the tide pool. Initially I was not interested in seeing the crabs and slugs that were abundant in the pool so I climbed rocks all around the pool looking for my own excitement and watching the waves crash, hoping to see a whale before anyone else got to. Eventually I came back in, saw what had been collected in the bucket, and climbed to the opposite end of the tide pool after wading through what looked like much shallower water. Kendra Ward, a girl from my Biology of Sharks class, was also on the trip and followed me around through the rocks. After our exploring seemed to be useless we saw a giant sea turtle swim by long enough to get a glance at him and then lose sight of the amazing animal.

I am currently in a state of fascination with two animals, sea turtles and octopus, so spotting this animal was thrilling to me. I climbed through and hopped over rocks to try and find the turtle again but wound up with no success. By that point it was time to get back on the bus and head to the dock to board the boat and find some whales. Before getting on the boat I was approached by a man who was giving student rated stand up paddle board lessons, something I have wanted to try for a while now; however, I was a good student and got onto the boat after following another sea turtle down the dock.

We headed out and were immediately greeted by breeching whales and puffs of air coming out through their blowholes. It was amazing! We chased the Humpbacks all over the stretch of ocean at a much closer distance than other people would have legally been able to since the driver, Jason, had a research permit. We listened to the whales sing, which I learned only the males do, and watched them breech and slap their fins on top of the water to create splashes, play, and intimidate each other. After the two hours, which seemed like 20 minutes, we headed back to land to meet up with the rest of the group who would be returning from the tide pool.

We took a brief detour to follow one last group who slowly slipped away from us as we turned off the boat's engine; however, two more whales popped up about two or three feet behind me. Not only did this startle everyone in the boat who completely did not see them, but my camera chose that moment to die. I was completely ok with it though because I had already taken close to, if not over, 100 photos of the trip that day.

We all boarded the bus and set sail for downtown Hilo to get one more extremely delicious shaved ice, filled with ice cream of course. All I could think about for the rest of the day was the size of the Humpback whales, some of which were almost 50 feet long. I was excited to learn that when I got back to the ship and went to the top deck to read that you could still see the animals breeching, so my whale watching continued until it was time for dinner. I called my boyfriend ecstatic about the trip, successfully made him and my friends on the ship jealous, and went to bed happy.Biology of Sharks - Class Journal

The next day I had an FDP for my Biology of Sharks class with Professor Abel, who everybody decided to start calling Dr. Ray. Originally it was supposed to be a trip where we took a boat out to long line for sharks but that boat was out of commission, so it turned into a whale watching trip which was even more exciting. We took a bus to the small docks where the group split into two smaller ones; Kendra, a girl from class that I knew, was in my group which was nice. We were in the group that went to the tide pool first to collect specimens and basically wait for the other group to finish with the boat. The girl who was helping to lead the FDP who goes to college in Hawaii snorkeled around to find some things for us to look at. While she did that, Kendra and I hopped from rock to rock to take pictures and see what we could find. When we got back to the rest of the group she had a strange starfish, hermit crabs, sea slugs, sea urchins, etc. in the bucket for us to all look at or touch.

She said she had seen a turtle while she was out so I went to the other side of the pool, waded through the water which was a little above my knees, and tried to find this sea turtle. I saw a few fish and some dead crabs and then he finally reappeared. Since day one in Hawai'i I have been in a very turtle-y mood. They fascinate me and I was excited to see this one before it swam off towards the group of Asian tourists who had loudly entered the tide pool. I got a quick picture of him then made my way back to the group and onto the bus to head to the boat. When we got back to the dock the other group hadn't returned yet so I found another sea turtle and follow him around from land for a while; he was lucky to be near the dock where people discarded pieces of fish they didn't want that he could eat.

We finally got on the boat after hearing about Dr. Abel's experience with the whales, which I hoped ours would live up to. We took the boat about two miles away from shore and were instantly surrounded by humpback whales. We could hear them singing and see them breeching and slapping their fins against the water to play with each other. The man who was driving the boat dropped a microphone underwater so we could hear the males singing better, and it was amazing to hear. They kept popping up all around the boat in every direction. About two hours later when we finally had to go back in a family popped up right behind me on the boat and startled me since I could hear the water from their blowholes but not see them. It was a great experience and I am glad that the trip was switched from shark catching and tagging.

Once we got back to the docks a man was giving stand up paddle board lessons, which I really wanted to do but made myself wait to get back to the states to do with Carson or Bobby this summer. Before going back to the ship we went to the Hilo Sugar Shack, at my request to the bus driver, and got some shaved ice. I got watermelon with vanilla ice cream and Dr. Abel got coconut with coconut ice cream and we talked about College of Charleston, which is also where he went to school. His son is a senior there who works at a coffee shop and his name is Louis Abel so I have been told to try and find him when I get back to school. We headed back to the ship and I went to the top deck to read and tan while I. watched whales breech from a far. I called the meathead and sent picture mail and text messages to all of my friends back home. I wasn't attempting to make them jealous on purpose but that seemed to be the consensus I got in replies.

Kendra came up to the deck later and we looked through her pictures on the top deck for a while and I got a smoothie. Carson showed up later on and we all stayed on the top deck until dinner time when we went inside to eat as soon as possible. I never feel like I get full from ship food; probably because it is the same idea every night: pasta, salad, potatoes of some sort, vegetables, rolls, seafood [usually fish], meat, and a dessert which usually doesn't involve chocolate. We ate while the ship left Hilo to head towards Honolulu, where we woke up the next morning.

I had another early morning today with a snorkeling FDP for my Biology of Sharks class with Dr. Abel. The plan was to go out to the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology's private island and do some learning. After renting snorkel gear from Snorkel Bob and getting Starbucks, we arrived at Coconut Island by bus and then took a small boat, in groups of six, onto the island. There we were greeted by a graduate student who was doing research on sharks that he shared with us in a classroom after a tour of the island. During the island tour I saw two Blacktip Reef Sharks, Carcharhinus Melanopterus, which I was thrilled to see initially because I did not realize that they were encaged to the island to study. My excited remained, but I suppose my not listening while people speak could have prevented the extra spike in my misplaced excitement. One of the sharks was constantly followed by a Jack Fish that seemed to have an interest in being a shark as well. There was also a small spotted puffer fish that followed the students along the side of the island who I happened to think was particularly cute. We also saw sea cucumbers that I grew to dislike throughout the course of the day.

After the tour we went to a classroom and ate lunch while we were given a brief lecture on sharks. The information was somewhat repetitive from class, but is still interesting, especially when coupled with large amounts of pictures of sharks. We learned about the physical aspects that make up a shark, such as a cartilage skeleton and 5-7 gill slits [depending on the species]. We talked about how sharks give birth differently depending on the species which sparked my curiosity in whether or not shark pregnancy has been studied. Humans have to, depending on the person, greatly alter their eating and lifestyle habits in order to have a healthy child; do sharks have to do the same? Apparently not much is known about that subject because observing what a pregnant shark eats can be obtrusive and it is also thought that pregnant sharks do not eat at all, although that has been recently disproved. We also learned the general areas in which some sharks live in Hawaii and how HIMB tracks sharks with the various tags available for their use.

After the lecture we went out back and saw a holding tank with a stingray in it that was being observed for magnetic field testing or something like that. I find it very challenging to listen to people speaking when live animals are around me because I am so fascinated by their presence that I tend to tune everything else out; this is a habit that I am working on breaking, but have yet to accomplish. From there we continued outside to, as a group, dissect four baby Hammerhead sharks, possibly Sphyrna Mokarran.

I personally did not do any dissecting as I prefer to watch the process, but was fascinated just by the sharks before they were even cut open. The Hammerheads were no more than a few months old and were, for the most part, in good shape. One of the sharks had a hole near its gill slits where a crab may have gotten a quick snack before it was picked up by the HIMB. The shark's stomachs were cut open and we observed their organs and cut open two stomachs to find what looked like an ice cube and shrimp claws. We also learned that the intestines can either be spiraled or scroll style, and the sharks that we looked at had a scroll style intestine that was unrolled to view the slimy insides. The liver is the biggest organ inside of a shark, and, interestingly enough, the heart is fairly small. I wonder if people think about the relationship between sharks having small hearts and small thinking regions of the brain as to why they eat people [I am aware that sharks do not generally go out of their way to eat people, but some people have this fear, so this thought could be realistic].

Afterwards, we changed into our swim suits and headed back outside to begin our snorkel. We swam alongside the mangroves near corals and a few different types of fish. In order to get over to the mangroves we had to swim over very shallow water that was infested with sea cucumbers, which I did not like to swim over. Something about the sea cucumber just grossed me out and did not fascinate me in the least; I just wanted to be away from them.

Once we made it out to the reef there were a few species of fish, but it was challenging to see at times because the water was fairly murky. The water was also pretty chilly, but I was just excited to be in it so I ignored it as best I could. One girl claimed to have seen an eel, but all I saw were a few different species of fish, two of which I recognized from the fish tank in the dentist's office from Finding Nemo. There were not many fish, which seemed strange to me because there were also not many predators. The coral looked like it was surviving, but not necessarily thriving, and the fish did not seemed to be too bothered by us swimming through their homes. However, there were no large fish or sharks or animals that would seem threatening to the environment we were in, which left me curious as to why there were not more fish or animals in the area which seemed to be a safe, preserved stretch of ocean.

Once we made one more Starbucks run and returned to the ship I told my friends about all of the sharks I saw. They immediately assumed that I had the luxury of swimming with them - an assumption that I was bummed to have to correct. I have snorkeled and dived in Hawaii before, but it was closer to the Waikiki area of the island. I wondered if the area that I was in played a part in the less colorful underwater experience that I had, even though I enjoyed being able to see what was available to me.

During one of the Hawaii pre-port lectures I learned that, while Hawaii has nice reefs and a fair amount of biodiversity, the island has a very inferior amount of reef biodiversity when compared to Australia or some of the Caribbean Islands. While I thought about this, I wondered why I didn't see as many species in the area I was in, with its lack of predators and protection as part of a marine sanctuary. The world may never know.Biology of Sharks - Class Journal

The first day in Honolulu I had another FDP with Dr. Abel where we went snorkeling at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and got a tour of their campus. We got on a bus and made our way to their campus which was a small, private island that we had to take a small boat to. From the island we could see where the opening clip of the intro to Gilligan's Island was filmed which was interesting. Once we were all on the island we got a quick tour which involved seeing two Blacktip reef sharks and a really cute spotted puffer fish. The puffer seemed to follow me around when I walked alongside the water which was exciting since it was so cute. There was a Jack fish that followed around one of the sharks and the grad student giving us the tour said that he is always behind that same shark and they are friends.

From there we went to one of the classrooms and ate lunch while the grad student showed us a power point slide show on general information about sharks. We then saw a holding tank where they were studying stingrays and electric waves, or something like that. It was a dark room and I couldn't even see the stingray until we left the room. Stepping outside, we were then given four dead baby hammerhead sharks to dissect in groups. I did not do any cutting but I watched and it was interesting. The liver is the largest organ is all sharks because it aids with floatation and swimming since sharks do not have a swim bladder. Once the dissection finished it was finally time to go snorkeling.

We got the gear we had rented from Snorkel Bob's and headed down to the side of the island near the mangroves. The water was a little chilly and kind of murky once we got out near the mangroves. To swim out there, however, we had to swim in shallow water and dodge tons of sea cucumbers which grossed me out for some reason. I just really did not like them being below me or so close. I saw a few different types of fish but the reefs were largely discolored and seemed like they were not in great shape. The snorkel was fairly short because one of the girls was not a great swimmer and Dr. Abel was nervous with her out there; I didn't mind the briefness because I was pretty cold as it was. We dried off, collected our gear, and hopped on the bus back to the ship.

Once I got back to the ship I showered and got ready to go to Waikiki for the night. Carson, Collin, and I met up with a group of people from the ship and took the bus downtown to the open air market. We found a food court, which I remembered having been to when I was in Hawaii the summer before moving to South Carolina, and I got a really good plate of Chicken Pad Thai. We sat at picnic tables and watched a luau while we ate dinner and dessert. Afterwards everyone else wanted to go out to Club Zanzibar, which was definitely not where I needed to be, so I walked through the shops with Carson and entertained myself for a while. I found a one piece I wanted to get for Hoby in The Stupid Factory store that was green and said I'm with the MILF, but they didn't have his size [or what seemed like an appropriate future size, obviously]. Then I got myself a dress / skirt that you can tie and wrap and wear a zillion different ways. It is blue and white and red and really silky and awesome. From there the group loaded me onto the bus which let me off at the ship and we went our separate ways.

The next morning I had an Oahu Grand Circle Bus tour where we got to see the entire island's coast. I am either no longer a person who gets car sick easily or have gotten really good at not looking out windows while riding in a vehicle I am not driving, either way it is an improvement. Thomas and I loaded the bus around 9AM and set out. We saw Waikiki Beach, a blow hole, a Buddhist temple, a reserve park [where you have to pay just to go to the beach in order to protect it and again if you want to go into the water], A ranch [where some of Jurassic park was filmed], a macadamia nut plantation, Sunset Beach, Pipeline [where a Volcom Pro surf contest was happening], the Dole Pineapple plantation, and Pearl Harbor [in a drive by version]. I got out at every stop and took photos like crazy.

After the first round of beaches and scenic stops we went to the Macadamia nut plantation. It was interesting and had neat little shops everywhere. I got a small surf map of the island of Oahu which is on my room in the ship by my bed now; I want to frame it when I get home. There wasn't much to do since we weren't allowed back where they farmed the nuts or anything. Next, the Kualoa ranch is where we stopped for lunch which, for me, consisted of a BBQ sandwich, a giant cookie, and SPAM Musabi. SPAM Musabi is basically SPAM Sashimi, or sushi. I am still not sure if I liked it or not but I ate the whole thing so it apparently wasn't as bad as the BBQ sandwich was. I saved the giant cookie for later on the bus and it was a great idea. In the gift shop while I waited, I got two Hawaiian language books and a store book for Drake. It is too old for his reading now [it is recommended for 10 year-olds or above] but I figured it would be cool to have whenever he can deal with it.

From there we went to Sunset Beach and Pipeline! They were AMAZING! The waves were huge, and at Sunset only one person was surfing the 20 foot waves - a girl. I filled up a bottle of sand and water to bring back home with me to keep. The water was as blue as it gets and the sand grains look like perfect, small rocks in the bottle. During my second attempt to fill the bottle a wave got to me and one side of my shorts got a little bit wet, but being the genius I am Thomas was holding my phone and camera so I couldn't destroy them along with me. I was so excited at Sunset that it didn't even hit me that we hadn't even gotten to Pipe yet. I got back on the bus having reached Maslow's final stage on his hierarchy of needs - actualization. I felt great. Pipeline was hosting a Volcom Pro surf contest which was neat to see, but Sunset had already gotten to me at that point. I need to go back.

The Dole Plantation was also interesting. We drove by miles and miles of pineapples. Each pineapple plant only grows three pineapples throughout the course of its life is what the bus driver, who constantly called us "cousin," told us. At the plantation I saw some pineapples and explored around the area. There were rainbow eucalyptus trees like I had seen in Costa Rica; the trunk looks rainbow colored and are really pretty. I got bracelets for the kids with their name in Hawaiian engraved into them. My Hawaiian name is "Kimone" and that is how I have been signing everything since I found that fact out. After the plantation we drove by Pearl Harbor on the way back to the ship. Seeing things like that give me heavy boots and I was on too much of a high that day after seeing Sunset Beach.

We got to the dock and had to wait in the world's longest line to get back onto the ship. I had the bottle of beach hidden very well in my backpack, something I had to be very strategic about as you are not allowed to bring any liquids onto the boat at all, even if the cap is completely sealed shut in its original bottle. Before leaving in the morning, in my book bag I packed more tampons that any normal person could ever need in a day. After going to the beach I put the bottle underneath them, topped the tampons with an eyeglasses case, and zipped the pocket shut. The x-ray machine didn't pick up the water and the person who searched my bag was a male who obviously was nervous to touch the tampons. Mission complete, the beach made it onto the ship and was coming home with me. We set sail that night for Japan - 10 days at sea with nothing to do but go to class.