MAUI - Tako is not the Mexican 'taco' with a crunch. In Hawaii, tako is the more normally known sea creature octopus. In the beginning, they can really be scary - those slimy gooey tentacles that suction to your skin and that big hallow head of theirs. They surely are interesting, but there's more tango with them after you get up close and personal with these eight-legged friends.

Maui offers friendly resorts from convenient window-shopping to high-end wind surfing and body boarding. However, if you consider yourself part of the more 'extreme' traveler category, diving is probably a way you can experience hard core local Maui fishing style.

No, it's not diving like the Olympics where you execute perfect form in the air and land gracefully in the water. Diving in Maui, from a starter like me, is aggravated snorkeling. You'll be equipped with a spear gun or just a regular Hawaiian spear and you hunt for fish. Believe me, it makes hunting for deer sounds a lot easier. Or maybe not.

Hunting for fish takes more skill and practice for me to handle, so I was game and up for the Diving for Tako challenge thinking I've gone snorkeling a couple of times and it shouldn't be that bad.

We went to Ulua beach. Here I am excited with some gear I just bought - snorkel and goggles, a body suit, fins, a regular Hawaiian three-pronged spear, gloves, some anti-fogging liquid, etc. I just know how to eat tako but getting them from their natural habitat is an exciting adventure that's going to test your patience and attention to detail.

Tip #1: Have a local with you if you plan on doing this. My local guide is my boyfriend Ken who has done it plenty of times in the past. There are local rules and regulations on fishing and diving that are strictly implemented by game wardens who are usually hiding and watching you through a telescope. Violation of some rules such as illegal size or illegal weight may cause some inconvenience on your time, your personal record and your wallet.

Ken has a floater and flag with him and since I don't, I can only stay a couple of feet from the flag.

Tip #2: Get to know your gear, the weather and the tides. If the risk of getting caught doesn't sound intimidating enough, try the gear. Diving is so much more pleasurable when the tide is not super low but it's just right for you to see the reef under water. Waves don't help in any way. So when the surfers are at home chillin', the divers are out in the water.

Try on your gear near the shore. Practice spitting out water from the snorkel. Get comfortable with your fins. Practice holding your breath. And if you're planning to do this and you can't swim, just stay home and watch clips in youtube.

Tip #3: How to find the intelligent tako. Ken told me to use my spear to poke in holes under the rocks. That's where they stay. There are probably a gazillion holes down there. Well, just swim around and keep poking with your spear - they are soft and rubbery and you can feel them. If you don't want to waste time, look for awkwardly placed white or pink rocks just outside of a hole. The tako 'makes' the whole, digging out unwanted rocks. Once you feel the cushion under the rocks with your spear, that's when you get ready and keep poking. You don't poke the spear through their body, but the thing is, you have to get them irritated enough that they come out of their hole. This part I would say is the most rewarding and exciting chapter of this whole madness.

Tentacles come out like crazy. You can almost hear the tako screaming 'WHAT THE ---?!?" as it tries to wrap its legs around the spear and plan an escape route. Then comes the black defensive ink. Be alert at this point, they're going to run and once they camouflage by the rocks, good luck 'til next Christmas finding them. Once they come out, with all your might and willpower, grab it with both your hands if necessary. They won't bite, they don't sting. They're pretty much just gooey rubber (I'm saying this but pretty much until now, I'm still afraid to touch it).

Anyway, your first tako catch, congratulations! However, is it over one pound? Divers usually bring a scale with them in the water to measure before they come out. Tako has to be over a pound to be legal.

Like the rush you get when you finally stood on your surf board riding a wave, catching a tako to me is more rewarding. It's very manual labor and therefore, the fruit - with all its legs - is definitely tastier especially with some shoyu.

Good luck on your dive and safety first!