Surf’s Up

Before I forget, Lahaina Shores Beach Resort was the hotel where we stayed while we were in Lahaina. GREAT location! Very nice room, too. Huuuge closet (if you’re planning to stay a long time this is great), a dignified kitchenette (though we only ever used the coffeemaker, fridge, and microwave) and a great bathroom. I don’t know what those are called when the sink is in a separate “room” from the toilet and the shower/tub…but those always come in handy, especially in the morning.

Another thing I forgot to mention: If you do decide to take surf lessons and they give you the option between short and long-sleeved rashguards go with the long sleeves. Trust me. No, it is not hot wearing the rashguards. Yes, you will still tan under the rashguards (so make sure you get your shoulders and your back and backs of your legs since you’ll be face down in the water for most of your lesson. Don’t forget your face!) But those long-sleeves will save you a lot of grief in the long run, as you will read later on.

July 31st, 2006

Crack of dawn our transfer was to pick us up to take us to Kahului airport for our 8am flight. We weren’t really tired, though, as we had not had the time to adjust to the time shift. Again, for some reason it stung like you would not believe when I tried to put my contact lens in my eye. The day before when it stung hardcore like that I decided to put in the fresh new contact that I brought with me "just in case." I looked over my container of solution and its ingredients. And then it dawned on me: this SOB contact solution required a special case that neutralizes the solution overnight while your contact soaks! So in effect I was burning my eye. Joy of joys. I'm glad I figured that out sooner rather than later, though I was cursing my stupidity. (That solution was given to me by optometrist as a sample to try and I must have put the special case elsewhere than with the solution as it should be. When it came time to pack my toiletry bag I packed this solution rather than my regular stuff as it was a smaller bottle and thus more convenient to carry.) Thankfully, Daisy had some normal contact solution that I could use. But my eye was an angry red for a few days afterward, and I was a bit nervous as to whether I should be seeking some medical attention or not. Luckily, all seems back to normal.

As we didn’t have time to have breakfast earlier we made do with the airport restaurant. Or rather, first we went to the little magazine shop where I came upon SPAM MUSUBI! Another local Hawaiian thing I had read about which I had to try. Spam musubi: a slice of fried Spam laid on a block of rice (in this instance it was garlic rice, yum) then bound together with a piece of seaweed. Very ono (yummy). But with so much time to kill and Daisy still breakfast-less we ended up at the restaurant and had a sit down breakfast. 10 BUCKS! But what can you do? Coffee, eggs, a biscuit, some bacon, some sausage, some potatoes. 10 bucks versus my 1.75 Spam Musubi. Bah.

Inter-island flights (we flew with Aloha) are good fun. Noone has assigned seats, just assigned zones. You board by zones in all of 15 minutes. Estimated flight time between Kahului and Honolulu is 20 minutes or so. They do their safety song and dance, hand out guava punch (sooooo refreshing!), collect your cups, and oh, you’re preparing for landing already! All this while they give you an orated tour of what you are seeing while flying over the islands. It’s really neat. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the plane to get a good look of Haleakala Crater, but I’ll know for next time.

Our greeter met us right outside our gate with a lei and a hug. Our leis smelled lovely. They consisted of some kind of orchid and tuberose. We couldn’t get enough of the scent! Then it was off to baggage claim where she explained, when it comes to inter-island flights, sometimes your luggage precedes you to your destination since they can just pop it on an earlier flight after you’ve checked in. Sure enough, our luggage was waiting there by the luggage carousel before they even had the carousel started up. Whoever heard of your luggage beating you to your destination?! If anything it’s lost or late!

A quick call on her cell phone and our transfer was ready to whisk us away to Waikiki. After such a lovely morning, I must admit I was disappointed and saddened by our drive into Waikiki. Honestly, I don’t know what I should have expected. I mean, I always knew Honolulu was a city, but seeing all the industrial buildings and all the traffic….it just didn’t jive with my mental image of Hawaiian paradise. Now I knew why people said (mostly under their breath) that I would wish I spent more time in Maui than in Oahu and not the other way around. Don’t get me wrong, Honolulu and Waikiki are great, with a lot of things to see and do, but it’s still got that city pace to it. It’s not the most relaxing vacation you could have, that’s for sure. Someone told me once I compared notes with them upon my return that Honolulu is very much like Miami Beach. I believe it. If you want Hawaii you’ll have to travel a ways out of Waikiki before you get the “real” thing, or you can settle for the touristic shows and the like that have been set up for you at the hotels and the malls.

We arrived at the Ohana Waikiki West and even though we arrived very early in the morning our room was ready for us. It was nothing compared to Lahaina Shores. First of all, our room category in Waikiki was “cityview.” We didn’t think it would be such a big deal but after waking up by the ocean a couple of mornings it was kind of sad to be without it. Not that oceanview would make a big difference in Waikiki unless your hotel is right along the beach. With so many high-rise hotels sometimes you’re lucky if you get a view at all. We didn’t have a couch, so that was so much less space that we did not have in this new room. The bathroom was all behind one door and not split into two sections. It was a shower only….not that I’m one to take baths but good luck if you have to bend down and pick up your soap. And I can’t even imagine trying to shave one’s legs in such cramped space. Again our room had a kitchenette, but instead of a stove and oven we had two burners on the counter. Not that that mattered ‘cuz again we only used the fridge and the microwave. We didn’t even use the coffee-maker this time. Our TV seemed to be fixed on brainwashing us about all things Honolulu. One channel was what to see in Honolulu. Another featured what to eat. Yet another explained how to treat the reef with respect. And if you didn’t happen to speak English they had similar channels in Japanese, too. These channels were useful once in a while, I admit, but some nights you just wanted to wind down with a movie or a sitcom. Good luck finding that! I think there were only one or two channels that actually had regular tv programming. But who comes to Honolulu to watch TV, right?

The Ohana West also has a great location, right on Kuhio Avenue and across from the International Marketplace. If you don’t rent a car (and it’s really wise not to since almost all the hotels charge you a daily parking fee) Kuhio Ave is a great place to be located as all the buses and trolleys make stops along Kuhio. Uber convenient!

Waikiki DOES have a beach, albeit man-made, that you can actually swim and play in. Lahaina does not have that. Or at least, it’s not officially a beach as there are no lifeguards on duty there. Still plenty of surfers, kayakers, and boogie boarders on the beach in Lahaina, though. I never thought myself to be much of a beach bunny, but I admit I had a blast in Waikiki. You are looking at a converted beach bunny. Mind you, I’m more for soaking in the ocean, baking on a beach towel is not really my thing. I even donned my OTHER bikini for the day since we had party plans for later.

One thing I had not counted on was being in some pain over my surfing rashes. Forgetting all about them I splashed around in the Pacific Ocean when all of a sudden my arms felt like they were being pricked by a million pins right where my rashes were. When I looked them over they were bright red and angry...as if they were about to bleed at any moment. So I quickly headed back to the towels and compared notes with Daisy who had experienced the same sensation. Once we got back into the water for our second soak, though, the pain was all gone. I guess there is some truth to the healing properties of salt water...it just comes at a price sometimes. Now I really wished we had gone with the long sleeved rashguards instead of the cutesy short sleeved ones. But nobody warned us it would be like this!

The Internatioal Marketplace reminded me a lot of the market close to my grandparents’ home in the Philippines. You can barter, though I felt a bit odd bartering on American ground. Lots of pseudo-brand name style handbags and the like. Lots of local-style jewelry in coral, whalebone, kukui nut. I found a ring like the one my brother bought at this same marketplace when he was in high school. I knew I had to find him another one as he was choked when he lost the original one. Daisy finally tried a shave ice, something she had been fixated on since we landed on the islands. While I did not have it (yet) I did notice that there was a Filipino lunch counter in the International Marketplace’s food court where I could treat myself to a Halo-Halo. Mental note for some other time in the week.

For lunch we bought McDonalds, irregardless of the lack of taro pie. One thing we had not noted when we were in Maui was that McDonalds is expensive compared to back home. And later we discovered it was even expensive compared to other fast food restaurants we are accustomed to! Fine, they give you a container of pineapple chunks in addition to your combo, but it still doesn’t explain the huge discrepancy in price. But one thing McDonalds is useful for when traveling in Oahu: they carry the routes and schedules for TheBus. I LOVE TheBus. Big difference from our transit system here in Calgary, though TheBus is a smaller system. TheBus is air conditioned. Man, it’s so good. Not only is it air conditioned but there is a scrolling sign at the front of the bus that tells you which stop is next. And if you can’t see that sign there’s even an automated voice that will TELL you what stop is next. They break it down by street names when appropriate, by tourist attraction (ie. USS Arizona Memorial AKA Pearl Harbor), shopping mall, hotel…whatever is relevant at that stop. You really can’t go wrong with TheBus. It only costs 2 dollars to get on and they give you a transfer (which I noticed usually reads 3 hours past the time you boarded) and you have until 2 hours past your transfer’s time to take another trip for free with the transfer. So you have FIVE hours to do your thing or even to move onto your next destination. And it’s not even like you’re on the bus for hours, either. To get to the famous North Shore on the opposite end of the island takes 2 hours one way. And that would be the longest ride you would have to expect. Some days I’m stuck in transit here in Calgary for longer than that!

After putzing around in the Marketplace and checking out our surroundings we headed back to the beach. I had promised Daisy a “booze cruise” as part of her birthday present. Unfortunately, the reservations I made with the Na Hoku II fell through. The waves were so rough that they stopped operating halfway through the day. In light of that we went to Duke’s which was right next door. Kool Keith, and even our guide books, recommended Duke’s for good drinks and pupus (appetizers.) I had a Lava Flow, which was yummy, while Daisy had another Mai Tai. The pupus were not very Hawaiian as I had a chicken quesadilla and Daisy had some kind of deep fried crab wontons or something like that. But it was really fun and the place was packed. They put an orchid in your drink, and like nerds we propped it in our hair. As we had read, a flower over your right ear denotes that you’re single, if it’s over your left ear it means you are married or spoken for. Very good to know since I would have put it over my left ear if I had not been educated about the form.

Afterwards we headed back to our hotel to change (I don’t know how people can stand being in a damp swimsuit for long periods of time….it’s not for me.) and plan out our attack for the rest of the week. I got a little anxious about the cost. As Daisy put it later, I simply must have gotten overwhelmed with the prices of things, I had not realized my holiday would get so expensive so quickly. Luckily, the company which handled our airport transfers runs a welcome breakfast the morning after you arrive so we could sit tight and do a little comparison shopping between the tours offered by our hotel’s activities desk (Outrigger Activities) and our transfer company (Aloha V.I.P. tours) the next day.

After my little meltdown (to my credit I don’t usually get worked up like that…I think it was something else talking on my behalf, but that’d be more than you need to know) Daisy decided to walk around Kuhio. I didn’t really want to stay behind in our room, not to mention it was already evening and I’d feel better if she had company, so I tagged along. Not sure if she had wanted the downtime to be alone with her own thoughts but she didn’t say I couldn’t come along. There really was not much down the way we walked, a few shops and even bubble tea joints along the way. When we were looking at a statue of one of the queen’s handmaids there was a creepy sort of drunk fellow wandering about so we were good about keeping clear of him. Across the street from our hotel was a small grocery store. That was good to know. On the corner of our hotel was a Starbucks. That was very good to know. Daisy had counted them earlier in the day, but now we made notes of the ABC stores around our hotel. (ABC is a sort of convenience store chain overabundant in Waikiki. There were even 2 on Front Street in Lahaina, and Front Street isn’t even that long. ABC, we learned, stands for Always By a Corner. They have everything from souvenirs to liquor to beach toys, toiletry items, and small grocery items. They’re always open until late. I don’t think we went a day without making a purchase at some ABC store or another.) We were on our way to setting up the rest of our Hawaiian adventure.

But you always have to set aside some time for sleep.