Day at the Beach(es)

It's a beach day! We headed over to Hanauma Bay this afternoon because this is the beach you constantly hear people brag about as their favorite for snorkeling and simply, the view. We hopped on H1 and I finally got to drive by Diamond Head and the Punchbowl Crater. I can't wait to see those close-up and do the hikes and touristy-stuff involved. About 30 minutes from our house, I start to see the surroundings to Hanauma Bay. On the right is Koko Head and on the left is an enormous volcanic crater called Koko Crater. Right in between those is the gorgeous bay, called [Hana-uma], which is almost a perfect circle formed by a crater that filled with water and reef. Immediately, I knew I was in for a treat when I could see the crowds of people forming a line to get into the Nature Preserve. First time visitors must watch a quick film on how to protect the reef and all of its animals and then you can sign up to be put in the computer so you don't have to watch it again next time you visit. 10 minutes later, we were walking down the really steep hill (which you can pay $1.00 to ride if you can't manage the hills) that brings you down to the beach. The walk down is incredible. I almost got run over a few times for stopping and taking pictures. This circular bay is astonishing, you can see every piece of reef from above and even see some of the larger fish from 300 feet away. How cool is that? Even in the pictures I took, you can see exactly what I saw. The reef has a bunch of different spots with certain names. Joe wanted to snorkel the Keyhole and the Back Channel. He did both last month with Dominic and they saw a turtle. Nervous, but really excited at this point. We laid on the beach for a little bit, then we were ready for our adventure. We snorkeled for over an hour! I saw the most beautiful, colorful fish I had ever seen. Now the coral reef is pretty bland and rocky (well it is a volcano and all...), but it's crazy how close you get to the thousands of fish. We saw a 1-2ft long parrotfish, awesome tangs, some fish that had every possible color on them, a few puffers, angelfish, and a bunch on other random fish that ranged in size from 1" to 2'. I still hadn't seen my turtle, so Joe brought me out past the buoy to the exact place they had seen one. We stayed there for a few minutes until we realized we weren't going to see one and started swimming back. I started to get really scared because every kick or stroke I was making, wasn't moving me anywhere! The current was WAY to strong for me and Joe had to come help. I yelled at him for bringing me out past the buoys, but he quickly recovered and hold me to hold onto his foot while he swam me in 20 feet. WOW, that boy is one hell of a swimmer, no wonder he's such a good dive candidate. He would be the guy you want dolphin rides in a pool from as a kid. I felt like I was holding onto a small boat bringing me to safety. Oh well, I got away from the current and we started snorkeling back. We stayed on the beach for a little longer and he wanted to go somewhere different to do some body-surfing. I looked in my book and read that Sandy Beach is one of the best places in the area for it. We left Hanauma, jumped in the car, and headed northeast for the next beach. On our way, I discovered than the Halona Blowhole is closed for a few months for renovations to the parking lot. We shortly found Sandy Beach, but went ahead a drove past it to find a quick bite to eat. Luckily, to our surprise, we found Makapa'U Beach and Waimanalo Beach, which we've both heard so much about. This area is mainly concentrated with locals, and has some of the best body-surfing and Hawaiian food on the island. We stopped in Waimanalo to eat lunch at a little BBQ shack, it was cheap and delicious. Plus, I had a snow cone afterwards. Joe said that the aquatic center in town was where they filmed 50 First Dates. We headed back towards Sandy Beach, but pulled off and took a bunch of pictures. There was a guy para-gliding with Rabbit Island and a lighthouse behind him. It was mesmerizing. Rabbit Island is kinda creepy to have read about. It's an island, which is ONLY inhabited by wild rabbits and seabirds, absolutely no humans are allowed on it. Gross huh? After watching the guy get a little too close to the power lines, Joe was getting anxious to go body surfing. We got to Sandy Beach and we both got a nice hint of "this is where the locals hang out." They were all partying in and around their pick-up trucks, blasting reggae music, flirting with all the cute girls, chillin with their surfboards standing in the sand, etc. The waves were big! Surprisingly, because the big surf doesn't get here until Oct. Joe hopped right into the water and all I could imagine was his head getting chopped off by a boogie or surf board. These people are crazy on those boards. I bet there are a lot of injuries here when the tourists all start to arrive. He came back in after a half hour and gave up. He said the waves were too strong compared to California, where he learned how to body surf. I tanned a little longer and we headed back home.

Our big pack-out is arriving tomorrow, so we need to clear out the garage and make some room.

P.S. - If you click on the pictures, it will make them bigger!

Hike: Aiea Loop

It's the weekend, and it's time to go outside and explore... Joe took Dominic and I to the Aiea Loop Trail, which is a 4.5 mile trail that they ran one morning for work. The base of the mountain is about 2 miles from our house and then it's another 3 miles of winding road to get to the park. I didn't know what to expect, but it sounded like a great Saturday workout/adventure. We got up to the park and started the trail immediately. Just 1/4 mile in, we were on the back side of the mountain facing the gorgeous mountain range I had mentioned last entry (the one that looks like Jurassic Park on the East) and Highway 3, which is true, lush forest. The trees are so cool because they look so different than the deciduous trees you find in the Midwest. They really make you feel like you're in a canopy or jungle with Tarzan flying up above. Everything is so green and there are wildflowers around every corner. The hike was really turning out to be great. We were under the trees for 90% of the hike, which was a content 75-80 degrees. The few moments we weren't under the canopy were hot and sweaty. I went through my entire 2L water pouch by the time we were finished. Throughout the hike, we would pull off on side trails and see what scenery was out there. About half way through the trail, we could look out to the South and see Honolulu and the Airport. I didn't expect to see that kind of distance from up here, but it was such a clear day that nothing was being held back and we were much higher than I thought originally. Joe collected a variety of berries, leaves, and fruits during the hike to bring them home and see what kinds of trees and bushes are in the area. We all agreed that it would be fun to spend a few days camping up here and trying out our collaboration of survival skills. I'm sure there are so many more deserted areas in Hawaii that would really put us to the test. On that last stretch of the hike, I saw the entire view of Pearl Harbor. The USS Mercy was in port for the weekend (the hospital ship that goes and staffed with corpsman), along with the regular 10-15 ships that helps other countries in need; are stationed here, and some other random chunks of steel. It amazes me how clear blue the water is. I figured since it was a fuel and gunk filled harbor, that it would look brown and mucky like most other bays and harbors. Oh well, definitely not complaining on its beauty. 2 hours and 12 minutes later, we finished the trail. Everyone was exhausted and starving, so we stopped at a restaurant called Dirty Lickins and had hot wings, then went home. We both sat on the couch to watch a movie and both ended up dozing off for almost 3 hours. I didn't think we were that tired, but I guess it was the heat and humidity that drained us. After we woke up we made plans for Sunday and decided on a day at the beach.

First Week at Home

ALOHA !!!
Sorry it took me so long to make my first post, but it's been a hectic and busy week and I finally got the Internet to work on my computer today with the help of my brother. Let me start off by saying that a 9 1/2 hour direct flight from Chicago to Hawaii is booorrriinnnggg. I actually would have been happy with a short layover in California or something just so I could have gotten up, stretched, and eaten something. NO MEAL, do you believe that? Anyways... flying into Hawaii in the early afternoon is the way to go. The view of the Pacific and the islands while you're landing is awesome. I saw 2 of the other islands and all of Pearl Harbor. I arrived on Wednesday, April 30th at the Honolulu Airport to Joe and his disgusting mustache. That thing was so gross and I could barely look at him, but I haven't seen him in awhile so I blew it off and he promised he would get rid of it once we got home. I later found out it was a competition at work to see who could last the longest without shaving it off and since he knew I wasn't going to be there for 4 weeks, he knew this was his only chance. Sorry, off track. He greeting me with a beautiful lei and wow, it smelled sooooo good! I don't think I have ever smelt something so sweet and fragrant. We grabbed my bags and he drove me home to see our new home. The entire drive home smelled so good, there are colorful flowers everywhere and they are so different from anything stateside. We only live about 6 miles from the airport and we drive along Pearl Harbor all the way to the house. The water in the harbor is crystal clear and blue. Our house is great, we live on the Pearl City Peninsula and we live about 200 ft from where he works and we can see the Arizona Memorial from the shore. Our house is adorable and a lot larger then anything we would have received out in town. No furniture yet, so we've got a lot of shopping to do. For the rest of my first day, I got checked into base and put in my travel claim. I visited the SEAL compound where he works and met everyone in the dive clinic. I'm so anxious to see what this state is all about and get all of the important things finished so we can start traveling and visiting all of the cool beaches. They gave Joe off work for the next couple of days, so we will be very productive.

One of the first things I have to do is get my car registered to Hawaii. You only get 30 days from the day it arrives on the island, which was the 14th of April. I have to do it since everything is in my name, I figured no problem, get my state inspection, my new license, and register the car. Easy. Nope. My car fails because my headlights point to high and my driver side window doesn't go down anymore and they say thats unsafe in case of a fire or if I get pulled over by a cop, they have permission to open fire if I didn't roll down my window. Wow, retarded huh? Hawaii has the strictest rules of all the states, great for me. They wanted of $800 bucks to fix these two "problems." Joe is going to work on the window himself and just take it out if we can't find a new motor at the junkyard and maybe try lowering the headlights himself. I was pretty aggrevated to say the least and now we'll be pushing to get this all figured out by the 14th, which is right around the corner.

We've got a perfect day open, sunny and about 85 degrees, so we headed for the North Shore. We first stopped at Waimea Bay to do some snorkeling, which my book said is the 2nd best place to Hanauma Bay. On the way there, we drove right by the Dole Plantation, which we'll save for a later date. Waimea Bay was so pretty, although Joe told me that the "sand" on this beach was actually parrotfish poop from coral. Interesting, but it was very sticky to your skin, wet or dry. After a few hours of snorkeling and seeing a wonderful array of tropical fish, we wanted to drive another mile north and stop at Shark's Cove to do more snorkeling. Instead of stopping, we went ahead and drove a few more miles to the North tip of the island, which is where the Turtle Bay Resort is. We walked around the resort for awhile and stopped at their beach to have a cheap drink at their Cinco de Mayo party because it was cheaper to validate our parking ticket for free with a drink each at the bar instead of pay $5 for every half hour we were at the resort. I had my first taste of fish tacos at the beach party too, they were made with two giant swordfish steaks. Yummy. The view was beautiful, but we're talking about the North Shore where they have the famous surf competitions, so needless to day, the water was much more rough up here than where we snorkeled just a few miles down the road. We left Turtle Bay after an hour and drove south, but we stopped at a few fruit stands to experiment with some strange fruits. We bought a papaya, a lychee (kinda yuck), a chico (really yuck) and some big round thing that we saved until we got home, which we later found out was the nastiest thing I've ever tasted in my life. I need to find the name of it. On our drive back down the North Shore, we spotted the famous Bonzai Pipeline, which we we definitely be visiting mainly during Nov & Dec for the Pro Surf events and then we stopped in the quaint surf town of Hale'iwa. I had my first Hawaiian shaved ice from Aoki (thanks Jill!) and it was perfect, cheap, and topped with my all-time favorite snow cone flavors. I will be eating many of these over the next 3 years. On our way home, I saw my first Hawaiian rainbow. It was so bright and huge!! We headed back home and stopped at Home Depot for some cleaning supplies and tools for Joe's backyard project.

Joe had to work for the Marine's 4th Force Reconnassaince Team over the next few days on their base, which is in Kane'ohe, on the East side of the island. He was asked to be their dive medical coverage for their drills, so that was really cool. I went ahead and drove with him to the east side of the island and did some traveling while he worked. Let me just say, the East side of O'ahu is breathtaking. You drive right thru the Pali Mountains in a long tunnel and get the picturesque scene of what you imagine Hawaii looks like when you get to the other side. Kinda like the Jurassic Park opening scene (but thats really filmed on the other island, called Kauai). We both decided that we are going to spend the majority of our time on this side of the island. I spent the first day at the Kailua County Park Beach, which is the #1 swimming beach in my guide book. It was gorgeous! The beach was probably 1 mile long, light blue and green waters, small islands a few hundred feet out, wind surfers, and rolling waves, and of course, the awesome mountains behind you. I tanned for a few hours and took some walks around the park until my IPod died. It was very relaxing. He called after 4 hours and was already finished with work. I went and picked him up on the Marine Base and we headed to a furniture store to find a dining room table and maybe a bed frame. A strange thing about the place he worked on this base, was that you had to literally drive thru the middle of the runway to get there. There's a flashing stop sign that has railroad arms if a plane is taking off or landing, otherwise you just drive fast and pay attention to the skies is the arms are up. Cool, but kinda creepy. Of course I had to take a picture when one was taking off 50 feet in front of my car on the way out of base after picking him up. On the way home, we stopped by Brookstone and found our TemperPedic bed that we want and drove to another place where we found a dining room table and drove home with it tied on the top of my ghetto car.

The next day after dropping him off at work, I went to the city of Kane'ohe and checked out a few spots mentioned in my book around the area. First, I went to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden. Not anything like our botanical garden, but it had a really cute pond and I walked a few miles of trails with different trees to look at. No flowers, not even a good visitor center. I was one of two cars in the parking lot. Oh well, the next one on my list has flowers. Next, I went to the Haiku Garden. It was a really small garden, but it was all around a big pond with some awesome flowers. As I walked through the garden, you could hear all of the lizards scatter every time I took a step near the flowers. I need a book to figure out what I was looking at, but they just amaze me how colorful they are. I felt like I was in the Climatron. It only filled about a half hour of time, so I went ahead and drove north to the Byodo-In Temple, which is an exact replica of the Uji Temple in Japan. You first drive in through the Valley of Temples, which is a huge non-denomitational cemetery until you get to the beautiful, tall and black Japanese headstones at the entrance to the Buddhist Temple's parking lot. The gravestones were so different than anything I've ever seen. You pay $2 to enter and you start by walking over a great bridge that leads to the bell and temple grounds. I rang the bell for good spirits and fortune. The bell made a beautiful, long, low tone for almost 30 seconds. It was an awesome sound. I took off my sandals and entered the temple. The Buddha is a 30 ft tall, 24-ct gold plated replica of the original at Uji. It was very relaxing and peaceful in the temple until a tour bus of rude people entered. I lit my candle and sat there for a few minutes to take in my surroundings. After exiting his temple, I walked around the entire temple grounds and the large pond filled with huge koi and a black swan. It was a really cool experience and the temple is right in the lush forest with the Pali mountains right behind it. I got some really good pictures of the area. After visiting the Byodo-In Temple for an hour and a half, I drove back into the town to see the island where a few Gilligan's Island episodes were filmed and check out a local grocery store. I bought a pineapple and headed back to base to pick up Joe. On our way home, we stopped in Honolulu for a few hours to walk around.

We relaxed and worked around the house for the next few days, because the Marines called Joe and told him that one of their subs caught on fire, so work was canceled. He didn't have to report t regular work either, since he was technically assigned to the Marines for the week. Awesome for us, we actually got stuff done. Over those few days, I painted our living room wall royal blue, cleaned the sectional we bought online and put it together in our living room, built another bookshelf, cleaned the kitchen, and put up some shelving in our bedroom. Joe stayed busy working on the backyard and fixing my car window for the state inspection. He spent an entire night taking the window completely out of the door. It will pass now! We shopped for groceries and bathroom decorations and have started major recycling efforts at the house too, so we took a giant load to the recycling center. The house is starting to look like people live in it, even though we still don't have a bed. It should get here next week sometime and our big packout should get here Monday.

Yesterday, we spent a few hours doing the tour of Pearl Harbor. We arrived at the USS Arizona Memorial and started our tour a half hour later. The tour starts with a 25 minute movie about why and how the attack occurred. I definitely learned a lot about the history of Pearl Harbor and the movie was very moving when they started talking about the sheer-numbers of deaths that happened that day of Dec. 7, 1941. After the movie, you take a small Navy ship out to the memorial that is placed over the center of the bow of the USS Arizona battleship. It was really quiet and serene and amazing to see that there is still gas and oil leaking from the ship. They have the other ships from Battleship Row labeled so you can see how close our ships were lined up during the attack. We got back on the boat and looked around the gift shop afterwards. The tours were over, so we figured we'll drive onto Ford Island sometime next week and do the tour of the USS Missouri. It was a nice tour, but definitely short. We headed home to relax because Joe starts normal work again in the morning and has to be ready to workout and 6am.

I hope you enjoy the first set of pictures. It's been an awesome first week and we've done a lot more than I thought we would, but its been priceless to have him off work for a few days. I have applied for 2 jobs on base with MWR, but am still looking for other options. Jobs are really hard to come by on an island this small. The State Parks or Honolulu Parks and Rec are not hiring for anything I am qualified for. I've got time and I've still got so many other errands to run for now. Goodbye for now.