Hawaii, Thanksgiving until Christmas 1996

Thanksgiving 1996
Ray and I arrive in Honolulu HI.  It is 102 degrees warmer than when we
stepped on the plane in Fairbanks Alaska.  When we left it was -20.  When
we arrived it was 82.  We checked into a hotel and went to the beach.

November 30
Went to the beach for a morning swim.  It was great!  The inkeeper gave us
a pair of bus  passes because it is so close to the end of the month she
probably couldn't sell them to anyone.  On them is the Hawiian word for
November, Novemapa.  We used them this afternoon to go out to Hanamau Bay,
where we went snorkeling.  There were lots of schools of colorful fish
near the coral reef.  We even saw a pair of turtles.  We went to the
theater and watched Star Trek 1st Contact.  The theater is the largest one
in Waikiki.

December 1
Went for another morning swim before calling around to different hostels
to move into.  We found one not too far from where we are now called
Seaside Hostel for $10/person if you have a flyer from the airport.  Most
of the others were from $15-20; still not expensive but more than our
budget could handle after staying in a $60 room for 2 days.  We spent most
of the afternoon moving into the hostel.  Went to see Ransom tonight.

December 2
Went to look for bikes to rent.  We plan to bike around the island, taking
our time to sightsee.  That should be lots of fun.  Ray found one he
liked, but I din't.  The bikeshop will get another women't bike in
tomorrow so we will come back to look at it.  We walked downtown to get
camping permits for our trip.  Ray's cousin and her husband live in
Honolulu so we went to their apartment for dinner.  They will be keeping
the things we don't want to carry around with us on the bike trip at their
place.

December 3
That other women't bike was what I ended up using.  After renting the
bikes, we went back to the hostel to pack them up.  We finally rode out of
Honolulu at about 2:30 this afternoon.  We rode from Waikiki to Waimanalo
Beach, 19 miles.  We walked up Hanauma Bay hill.  We stopped at Halona
Blow Hole to rest and take a few pictures.  Lots of sand and waves at
Sandy Beach.  I was exhausted at the end of the day.

December 4
Waimanalo Beach to He'eia State Park, 13 miles.  We spent most of the day
walking up a long hill.  I HATE hills, especially at the beginning of a
trip.  We saw Coconut Island where Giligan's Island was filmed.  We found
a park in a town, but decided not to stay there.

December 5
He'eia State Park to Kahana Beach, 14 miles.  Kahana Beach is a nice beach
to swim in 2-3 foot waves and not get rolled.  We bought a fresh pineapple
form a road-side stand for $2 to have for dinner.  Ray got a flat tire
that took 45 minutes to fix becaused it was in a bad spot.  We fixed the
flat at a bus stop under a banana tree that had bananas on it.

December 6
Kahana Beach to Hau'ula, 4.5 miles.  Today was a short day of riding.  We
swam and ate the remainder of the pineapple before leaving this morning.
The county camp ground we were supposed to stay at was very run down and
in a bad part of town.  We found a nice city park to stay in but didn't
because some guy lent us his back yard to stay in.  We spent the afternoon
doing ISECCo postcards.

December 7
Hau'ula to a Dole pineapple field, 26 miles.  It was fast riding along the
North Shore.  We were up early.  We stopped at Kahuka Sugar Mill shopping
center to finish the ISECCo postcards.  We mailed 29 of them from the post
office there.  We saw the Banzai Pipeline where furfing championsips are
held.  At Pupukea we stopped for water and pictures.  There were big waves
crashing against a ledge just offshore.  We rode out to Waimea (expensive
tourist trap) but there was no place to leave our bikes with all the gear
on them so we left.  We tried to go swimming but the waves were to high
for the lifeguards to let anyone in the water this afternoon.  We had
lunch and greased my bike chain in Haleiwa.  Here we decided to go to the
Dole center and see the pineapple fields.  On the way we saw coffee
plants.  The place was interesting, although the store was another tourist
trap.  We spent a wet, rainy night in a pineapple field because there was
no other place to camp.  

December 8
Pinapple field to Mokule'ia Beach across from Dillingham airport, 14
miles.  It was still raining this morning and the tent bottom was covered
with red mud.  We had roast chicken and rice for lunch at Waialua.  While
we were eating the sun came out.  The beach had a nice campground.  Across
the road was a squatter camp and they were noisy all night.  I dried our
stuff out while Ray went rode back into town for food (pizza!), a 14 mile
round trip.

December 9
Mokule'ia Beach to Kea'au Beach, 14 miles.  We rounded Ka'eana Point.  It
is a very pretty area closed to all vehicles because it is a nature
preserve.  We saw an Albatross in its nest and followed a ring-neck
pheasent until he left the path.  It is a very rock path except on the
very tip of the point where it is sand.  At one area there was a rocky
cliff we had to carry the bikes over.  My camera fell out of the pack it
was in and tumbled down the cliff, but was ok because it has a padded
case.  We went swimming and snorkeling at a beach near the point.  Of the
55 campsites in this campground, our campsite was one of the few that
weren't covered by a foot of grass.  The bathrooms were filthy  and all
the trashcans were overflowing.  It was the worst campground we have seen
so far.  I washed my hair at one of the outside showers.

December 10
Kea'au Beach to Kahe Beach, 12 miles.  We stopped for beakfast at a
McDonalds in Waianae where Ray's jacket was stolen out of the bag.  We
called the police and filed a report.  We were thinking of going all the
way back into Honolulu today, but it took to long with the police to ride
back before it got dark.  

December 11
Kahe Beach to Honolulu, 22 miles.  We got an early start because today was
mostly city riding.  I fell and landed on my left wrist just before we
found the bikepath.  It was good riding most of the rest of the way to
Honolulu on this path.  We checked back into Seaside Hostel, unloaded and
returned the bikes.

December 12
We bought tickets to go to the big island today and arranged to rent a car
once over there.  Went swimming and to the IMAX film, Ring of Fire this
evening.  We also signed up for diving lessons.

December 13
We began diving instruction today.  They picked us up at 7 am.  We did
bookwork until noon then went to lunch with Mike, the instructor.  More
films and bookwork after lunch.  We took the final around 4pm.  Mike then
drove us back to the hostel.  We went to see Hidden Hawaii, another IMAX
film tonight before falling into bed.

December 14
Whew, what a day!  We flew over to Hawaii in the morning.  After renting a
car, we drove from Kona to Volcanoes National Park and on up to Hilo.
Renting the car was a hassle because Ray lost his drivers liscence.  We
had to put the car in my name and pay extra because I'm under 25.  I
bought my dad a pound of coffee in Kona.  We drove through Volcano Park.
It cost $5 for a car per week for the park pass.  We drove all around
Crater Rim and went through Thurston Lava Tube.  When we drove down to
where lava is meeting the sea it got foggier.  Then when we got down the
hill the fog went away.  There is an arch that vibrates when the waves
hit.  All that can be seen in daylight of the lava meeting the sea is a
giant plume of steam.  We stayed in a private room at Arnotts Lodge in
Hilo.  

December 15 
Today we went to a Macadamia nut grove and factory, the Panewa Rain Forest
Zoo, the largest private museum in Hawaii, and drove 2 scenic routes.  The
2 botanical gardens along the scenic routes were closed because today is
Sunday, but the drive was still worth it.  At the mac factory, we bought a
cup full of fresh roasted salted nuts and a candy bar.  The fresh nuts
were still warm.  Mmmmm. 

December 16
Today we went to the Hilo library, boat harbor, swimming at a waterfall
pool we found yesterday, and back to the volcano to hike a bit.  There are
signs along the trail saying "Caution, thin crust-stay on trail" and they
aren't talking pizza!  We saw a pair of Nene birds.  After eating at
Volcano House we drove back down to where lava meets the sea.  After dark
there is a much different view than in the day.  It was a clear, moonlit
night.  We saw the bright orange lava as it exited a lava tube, then the
red glow where is has built a shelf up at the sea.  Every time a wave hit
the lava shelf it went dark for a bit.  We camped tonight and didn't put
the rain fly on the tent.  I was so cold I couldn't sleep.

December 17

There was dew on and in the tent this morning.  We drove back up to
Arnotts Lodge for a tour of Mauna Kea.  The man giving the tour was a
geologist.  He told stories and facts as we drove up and up and up to the
top (13,796 feet).  There were 12 people in the tour.  We stopped at 9000
feet to go on a short hike.  We were now above most of the clouds.  This
is where the visitors center and scientist housing is.  At the top we got
to tour 2 observatories: Keck I and NASA.  In Keck I, we watched a film
then went into a little glass room to look to the telescope.  In NASA they
were looking at Jupiter in conjunction with Galileo satelite.  Once
inside, the scientists invited them into the main contril room to see the
pictures.  This is NOT part of the regular tour.  I unfortunatly had
altitude sickness so I stayed in the van on oxygen along with another
girl.  On the way down we stopped again at the visitors center.  This time
we hiked to look at Silver Sword, a rare plant.  We also saw a pair of
Nene birds.  On the drive back into town, we hiked through the rainforest
to a lava tube.  I fell on a large rock and messed up my back.  The lava
tube was full of jumbled boulders of all sizes.  We camped again tonight
at the same campground as yesterday. 

December 18
Flew back to Honolulu.  At the Kona airport there is an astronaught
museum.  We spent about an hour there waiting on our plane.  It is a hands
on museum.  The flight was very uncrowded.  We went swimming tonight in
the ocean.

December 19
The diving shop picked us up at 7am again.  We went to the store and got
fitted.  Another woman, Jannet joined us.  She is also just starting.  We
went to the Marine base pool to do the confined water portion of the
diving certification. I had too much wieght so I sank doing fin
surface work.  Jannet ran out of air.  We finished about 2 in the
afternoon and went back to the hostel for a long nap before going to an
outside pasta cafe for dinner.  We went to dinner with another girl
staying at the hostel.

December 20
Another early start for diving-this time in the ocean!  We went the Kahe
Beach where Ray and I spent the night biking.  This beach is locally known
as electric beach because it is beside the water intake for a large power
plant across the road.  The water was rough so we went to Haiku Pier.  We
dove about 20 feet.  It was lots of fun.  We saw coral and fish.  Back to
the hostel in the afternoon for a nap.

December 21
Our last early start for diving.  We went to a beach in town.  There was
another group diving their first dives today.  Because there were soo many
divers, the water got very murky fast.  At one point i put my hand a foot
from my mask and couldn't see it!  Somehow we goined a diver in our group.
I saw her swimming straight for a sharp coral and grabbed her and handed
her to the instructor who surfaced and tood her back to where whe
belonged.  Our last dive was a little better because it was just the 5 of
us.  There was lots of sharp coral.  We got our certification this
afternoon.  While on the second dive, Jannet ran low on air.  I had my
weight belt come off, my snorkel was knocked off, and my regulator came
out while I was taking off my mask for one of our lessons.  Then if that
wasn't enough, I got stung by a jellyfish or something in the knee!

December 22
We slept in today.  Took the bus to the Arizona Memorial and Bowfin
submarine museum.  They show you a film about what happened in the attack
before taking you out  on a boat to the memorial.  The Bowfin is an
interesting tour.  The museum has different types of torpedoes and
missiles as well as submarine collections.  After taking the bus back and
taking a nap we went to dinner at Top of Waikiki.  This is a fancy
revolving restaraunt 21 floors up.  We both had Mahi Mahi (fish) in a
cream sauce, salad, potato, bread stick, and some kind of crown sprouts in
sauce.  Very good food.  I had ice tea.  They put fewch mint and pineapple
in it.  Ray's 7-up had a cherry in it.  We had cheesecake for dessert.

December 23
Today we spent the morning packing and mailed a couple of boxes back, and
sent postcards.  We went to look at a boat harbor in the afternoon.  The
flight to Seatle was an hour late leaving Honolulu, yet we got in five
minutes early.  We then flew to Spokane.  I'm glad we flew rather than
drove like we planned because the passes were all closed.


--
A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.