Thinking Out Loud

We were on our way at about 5:30 am to snorkel our way around the Island of Lanai.  I was looking forward to this.  I had been scuba diving a couple of times – but only in dirty old Saskatchewan water and this sounded fun.

We arrived at the docks at Lahania around 6:30 and once everyone was fitted with fins and snorkel gear – all given special names by the Captain of the boat and her crew – we headed out to sea.  My mask and snorkel was called Mahi-Mahi.  Mahi-mahi is Hawaiian for dolphin fish.

I had bought a small digital camera that was waterproof the day before just for the trip.  Yeah – I know – I really needed another camera.  But I didn’t think saltwater would be good for my SLR, considering how my cell phone reacted to dampness.

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The Iao Valley State park was the last stop on my day trip. By now it was around 4:00 pm, and the sun sets at around 6:30 pm. I had no idea what to expect. There was a little star on the map the car rental place gave me that said “Iao Needle.”

The park is in the valley formed from a collapsed volcano (a caldera) Iao means “cloud supreme” from the bank of clouds that are usually hanging over the valley. Throughout the park, there are signs saying that flash floods occur regularly because of the frequent and heavy rains.

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I decided another day of shopping or hanging around the hotel was not in the books. The truth is, it was a tough decision because I enjoyed being with the family. But I needed to see stuff, so I rented a car – well, almost a car – it was a four door Ford Fiesta. No destination in mind – just needed to pick a direction to drive.

North was the lucky spot on the compass. The Kahekili Highway goes all around the coast on the north end of the island. I had heard it was very scenic. Me and the Pentax headed out.

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After my big day at Costco (I still can’t believe I did that – I’ll likely be bungee cord jumping or skydiving next) I was looking forward to a more relaxing day. Audie called me from the lobby first thing in the morning, ready to go, but I hadn’t had my shower yet. I asked for ten minutes. He told me he had one other thing to do, and would be back in about a half hour.

Hawaii time is always twice as long as anywhere else. This morning, that was a good thing.

My shower was broken. It tried to squirt water. But it just couldn’t. Two little drops would leak out and then it would hiss at me and another bit of water would trickle out. And then it quit trying altogether. Read the rest of this entry »

This is something I never dreamt would happen. I would be at Costco on vacation. Even more than that, that I would be at Costco in Hawaii.  I was so excited I almost peed myself.  In fact I think I did a little when we got to stop at Walmart on the way back.  Woohoo!

At this point I decided I needed a car.

No offence to anyone, especially the shoppers out there.  Shopping is not intended to be part of  any of my vacations.  I did enjoy the time with the family.  But my poor old heart can’t take this kind of excitement day after day.

I was very tempted to pick up the 12 gallon bucket of peanut butter though…

Today was pretty quiet. The highlight of the day (photographically speaking, that is) was the surfing dog. I couldn’t get a good photo of the dog riding the waves in, but it really happened.
Bandit the Wonder Dog insists that it’s not real, it’s all done with PhotoShop.

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As usual, I didn’t really pay too much attention to the directions Jonnie had given me to get the beach. Did he say turn left and go around the corner or was it go right and down the hill? No matter – I’ll find something.

But, as luck would have it, as soon as I started on my way, Ashley and David found me and a few minutes later we were on our way.

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It’s another sunny, hot day in Wialea today.

As expected, my few hours in the sun erupted into a sunburn. It’ s not painful, except for the top of my feet, but I know I’m gonna lose some skin in a few days.  But I ain’t gonna let that bother me.

According to Google Earth, it’s only a couple of kilometres (or about 160000 inches) to the Palms at Wailea from my hotel.  I checked the map so I knew where I was going and off I went for a walk.  Chelsea and Jonathan were supposed to be here already, and if they were at home I was hoping for a short visit.  Audie and Lois and family were going to arrive sometime today too.

I got to the Palms a lot sooner than I expected.  I arrived at an intersection I wasn’t really expecting, and my first thought was “Now where the hell am I?”  I looked for a street sign (as if that was going to help) and there it was!  The Palms at Wailea.  Just across the street.

I called Jonathan’s cell, and demanded a beer.  More importantly, I wanted to know how to find them.  A few minutes later I was sitting on their deck.

Audie and Lois were already in town.  They had gone to the airport to pick up more people, and would be back later.  I finished my beer, and as nice as the grounds at the Palms were, I wanted to move on.  I’m not much for hanging around hotels or wasting time at a pool when there’s an ocean a few blocks away.

I got directions to the beach (I could see I needed a car soon) and headed out.

Maui is a little island, and I knew it couldn’t be too far to the ocean.  I could smell the sea from the Hotel Wailea’s lobby, and when I was on the upper deck of the lobby I could see the water over the top of the trees.

I asked the guy at the front how far to a beach, and he said he would give me ride in the shuttle.  I asked if I could walk there, and he told me it was about a fifteen minute walk.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’m back-dating some posts to the blog for my trip to Hawaii to the actual dates I was there…

I guess if I FaceBooked regularly, I could have put stuff there day by day. I could have done that here too, but really – I’m in Hawaii! I had things I wanted to do with higher priority than to sit in front of a laptop. Checked email in the morning, and that was about it.

I got into Maui at about 11:00 pm on Wednesday April 28. I had been in either an airport or a plane for 16 or 17 hours. I wanted a smoke and a cup of coffee more than anything, but knew I should try and get a cab to my hotel. I had budgeted about forty dollars.  I didn’t want to rent a car and drive the 35 kilometres or so at night in a strange location.

I found a taxi, and decided I could wait for my cigarette until I got to the hotel.

I had no idea the speed limit was so slow. And, being Canadian, when I saw the speed limit signs saying 35 and 40 max, I naturally thought km per hour not miles. It took about 45 minutes to get to the hotel. The driver didn’t know exactly where my hotel was, but he called his wife and she googled it, and sent him instructions on his iPhone.

Now, to tell the truth, I didn’t really see the fancy entrance to the hotel.  I  was mesmerized and horrified by the meter on the dashboard.  My only hope was that it hit 100 dollars, because I could see there wasn’t a space for 3 digits in the dollar counter. Therefore, it should roll over to zero, and there was the possibility that the driver wouldn’t realize how long he had been driving and the fare would be closer to my estimate. Read the rest of this entry »