Kailua and Lanikai

The weekend of December 7th we had decided to rent a scooter and take a trip around the windward side of the island. Unfortunately, the place we went didn’t have any available on Saturday morning and the guy told us that we would have to rent two scooters anyway as you aren’t allowed two people on one in Hawaii. Not sure what the reasoning is for that…turns out it’s cheaper to rent a car.


Sunday morning outrigger canoe race off of Lanikai beach

So after accomplishing very little on Saturday, we decided to take the bus and head out to Kailua and Lanikai on Sunday. The weather hasn’t been great recently and Sunday morning wasn’t an exception. We ended up walking through a very light drizzle over to Lanikai beach as we had heard it was the loveliest beach on Oahu.

The end of Lanikai Beach

After seeing them both, I still think I prefer Kailua, but they are right next to each other, and are both lovely so it’s easy to go backwards and forwards – and the islands off of Lanikai do add another dimension.

Imagine how it would have looked if the sun was shining…

This is Kailua beach (were the Obama family spent Christmas!)

This is the hill that splits Lanikai and Kailua beaches - I just saw the same photo in a tourist advertising magazine...except the sun was shining - it was lovely! You can see the islands in the background

Coming back to Honolulu, we decided to take the longer route around Makapu’u Point. You can catch a bus from Kailua down to Sea Life Park, and then wait for the connecting bus 22 which takes you back to Waikiki via Hanauma Bay. It was a lovely drive and we were able to see more of the island that we hadn’t seen before.

We want to go back and visit the Bellows Beach Park. During the week it’s an army base, but they open up the beach at the weekend, so we are hoping to get back there soon. When the weather improves!

Nick catching crabs on the beach...

These photos are of Makapu'u Beach Park - it is a popular surf spot and the waves just kept on rolling in...

A Sacred Circle at the above the beach

Diamond Head

The day after Thanksgiving, we tried to walk off all the excess of the evening meal with a hike to the top of Diamond Head.

Diamond Head is what remains of one of the original volcanoes which made Oahu. Climbing it doesn’t take too long but it is up: around 1,000 feet above sea level.

We declined the offer of a cheap T shirt and certificate for “bragging rights” for having made it all the way to the top (hmmm, seems like Sunshine and Redcloud are a little higher than 1,000 feet and entail a little more climbing…), but we had fun and the views from the top were great. And it may not be a huge climb, but it sure as hell makes you sweat!!!

Here are some of the photos.

From the top we were able to see a road that led all the way around Diamond Head on the ocean side. We had looked for it before but never been able to find it, but from the top it was easy to spot our way back so we detoured back that way and passed some lovely gardens and beaches on the way back.

This photo is of one of the local bus stops - bit different to the one on Howdale Rd in Sutton!!!

Some views from the top

Cliff top gardens

And bougainvillea. Here it is a riot of color and is absolutely everywhere..I don't think I have seen an orange/apricot coloured one before...























Diamond Head from Kapiolani Park and views towards the Pali and the central mountains on a clear day

Thanksgiving in Hawaii

Thanksgiving in our new “home” was interesting!

We got up early in the morning and went for a run around Kapiolani Park (we figured we wouldn’t make the official 10 mile loop that was going on but we did around 4-5 miles). From there we went to the beach and hung out for a few hours relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. Nick did a little snorkeling – it’s surprising that even at Waikiki you can still find some fish hanging out in and around the coral…from there we had a little lunch at Lulus. I think it’s a Waikiki version of the Avy: popular with locals and tourists; staff can keep their surfboards in the building; football on the TV; decent food, decent prices, and of course Stella on tap! What more can you ask for? We had the grilled mahi mahi sandwich with fries – delicious!

After a couple of Stella’s I decided I needed a walk before I could go back and cook Thanksgiving dinner, so we strolled down the beach walk for a little while people watching and laughing at the huge numbers of people crammed into a tiny space on the beach in central Waikiki.

Back at the condo, we were preparing baked potatoes (no masher), green beans and brussels sprouts with lime, stuffing, gravy and of course turkey. I had been able to find some turkey tenderloins the day before that would perfectly in our little toaster over! We were going to wash it down with a bottle of wine and finish up with the pumpkin cheesecake I had bought (and which cost more than a bottle of vodka for our morning Bloody Mary’s) at the Cheesecake factory.

We prepared the turkey with oil, garlic and onion, started cooking the baked potatoes and got the veggies ready. Then we blew a fuse! Apparently, the condo is all on one circuit and having the toaster oven, microwave, TV (for football!) and air conditioner on at one time was a little overtaxing to the system! No problem said Nick, I’ll find the panel and flip the switch….not so easy. Eventually he had to contact the building managers’ - only to find out that our panel is actually located in the condo next door – and they wouldn’t allow us access! They did give us the number of the guy that lives their though and told us to tell him to come back and let us in…slight problem: He was gone til Sunday…no way were we waiting until Sunday to eat the Thanksgiving meal that was already starting to smell so good!!! Fortunately Gary (our neighbour) gave us permission to go in and flip the breaker. Nick went back to the managers who had said they had no way of getting in and they agreed to open up the unit.

Yeah – back to cooking! Dinner turned out to be excellent and we were glad we had decided to make the effort despite the fact that we didn’t think we could manage the whole thing – just shows what you can do with a microwave, hot plate and toaster oven! And yes, the cheesecake was good, but not as good as the ginger pumpkin cheesecake that I usually make at Thanksgiving!

The end result!

Middle Age...Yikes!

I have to say, the arrival of my first pair of bifocals this week has left me feeling a little vulnerable. It didn’t help that a news item on the TV the other day was talking about middle aged woman over 40! It does help a little that I can actually read properly again now (!), but it has also made us both jump back into running again. Maybe we think that as we run we are running away from middle age…Who knows. The aches the next morning don’t always convince us of that…it does make both of us feel better though. It helps us keep in shape a little, gets us out in the (relative) cool of the morning and gives us a jump start to the day.

Our new routine is actually pretty nice. Up early (ish) to run a few laps around the park before it gets too hot and humid, and then a dip in the ocean to wash off the sweat and cool down before drying off laying in the sun on the beach. A second swim to wash the sand off and then a quick dry off on the lawns of the park before we head back to the apartment for a cold shower. It’s amazing how much you end up sweating on even a short run, and in the end, all the swimming and showering doesn’t do much good - as soon you step outside again you might as well not have bothered. But I guess that’s the price you pay for living in the middle of the ocean…in a warm, tropical, sunny place. Ah, the pain of it. It’s even almost nice enough for me to forget that I am now officially considered to be middle aged!

The Waikiki Commute

OK. Commutes are now interesting…or at least, the new commutes I am discovering since I no longer drive to work are interesting!

My Crested Butte commutes were absolutely gorgeous. I had the whole vista of the west Elk Mountains before me as I bicycled to work every day…and the thrill of sailing down the bike path and into town before I headed home. In the winter I had the fortune to be skiing down from the top of the Silver Queen lift to get to the Ice Bar half way down the mountain. The commute got shorter as the season got older and my skiing improved! Now I walk. But it’s still a commute: I am still trying to get to work.

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Here is the corner of the street - next to the Starbucks and across from the park and the beach and also looking across Kapiolani Park

Waikiki Beach and Walk in the early morning

My new commute takes around 40 minutes a day each way. The good thing about it is that it is on foot. I could take the bus if I wanted, but usually in the morning it is nice and cool (at least at first) and there are very few people around…and I don’t sweat until I get at least 15 minutes into the walk! And who wants to sit on an air-conditioned bus on city streets for 30 minutes when they can walk along the boardwalk instead!

Coming back in the evenings is also a treat: usually the sun is starting to set over the ocean and it’s generally pretty incredible. I wouldn’t want to miss that for the world… In the morning I share my commute with joggers and early rising tourists who are still trying to get used to the time difference out here (we are 3 hours behind Colorado and 2 hours behind the West coast). I walk past the park towards the beach and then along the beach walk for a while.

Here is a Banyan Tree. This one is halfway down Waikiki. They are pretty cool: when their branches get too long they put out extra "roots" from their branches to support themselves - they are also densely shaded underneath and a favourite haunt of the local birds...

Usually the sun is out and the water sparkles in all different shades of blue as it rolls into shore. Then there are the shops: Cartier, Coach; Dior, Ferrari and a bunch of others that I can’t remember off hand -it’s really not my thing, but that’s obviously not the case for the tons of Japanese tourists out here. Safe to say, there are a lot of designer stores here!

After the stores I walk past several parks that are filled with incredible trees that sprout beautiful and fragrant flowers in astonishing hues, and plants of every colour. I love the birds of paradise and the smell of the hibiscus flowers as it floats in the air as I am walking by. Dama de la noche is also every where. I remember the smell from Spain, but I’m not sure if it’s a kind of Jasmine in English or not.

Past the parks is the canal with its army of canoeists and kayakers where I

love watching the outrigger canoes as they paddle their way quickly to or from the ocean, and the view of the masts rolling slightly in the breeze in the Ala Wai harbour. After that, it’s pretty much a city walk, but even the busy avenue I walk down towards the school, Kapiolani, is usually a little cooler since it is shaded with huge trees which spread their branches over the pavement.

Unfortunately these photos really don’t do justice to the colours that I really see every day…but at least it hopefully gives you a taste of my daily walk...

Byodo In Temple and the mundane job of grocery shoppng....NOT!

Last weekend (Nov 8th & 9th) we had the exciting task of going to the grocery store. Now this is no longer an easy “pop to the shops” kind of thing. Noooo. It takes planning and is good for at least a half days worth of entertainment. We wrote our list and decided where the best place was to get the items: the Japanese market for sushi, noodles, meat and veggies (much cheaper here) and Safeway for the more mundane stuff like lunch meat, Italian sausage and milk.

First we walked the 2 miles or so to the Japanese, or Asian, supermarket. This is not as boring as it sounds since we can walk straight along the beach for at least a third of the way, and then have the people watching factor for another third or so as we walk past all the big hotels and designer stores such as Coach, Cartier and Dior. Once we got to the supermarket and found our way through all the electronics (including massage chairs, rice cookers galore, handy electric frying pans etc) clothes, perfumes, “seasonal” items etc, we kicked back and spent a while trying to figure out what some of the stuff was that we were looking at. My perennial favourites are the veggie, fish, sushi and “freshly pickled stuff” aisles. The veggie aisle always has at least 10 types of Asian “greens for cooking” and about 20 different types of cabbage. We are currently trying to work our way through most of them and have found all the “greens for cooking” have been perfect for stir fry!

The “freshly pickled stuff” aisle is in a class of its own though. It is always fascinating and has all kinds of stuff, including about 1,700 different types of Kim Chee…minimum! And I always thought kim chee was just pickled cabbage…! I love trying to figure out what on earth that “squishy green thing” is or what that big container with lots of different coloured “squishy and not squishy things” has in it. Or what on earth is in that kim chee? One day we will pluck up the courage to try some maybe!

We always like to try some of the different kinds of poke. Poke is a Hawaiian dish. It is usually raw fish like tuni or salmon, but can also be tofu or veggie. The fish is then marinated with different spices and flavours and marinated. It is delicious and completely addictive…if you like raw fish I guess…Out current favourite is the wasabi ahi tuna poke. Yum!!!! The tuna is marinated in (I think) a base of soy, green onion and wasabi, a Japanese spicy mustard of some type that is green and which totally blows your head off if you have to much. It’s great! Very spicy. And like I said totally addictive - maybe I could even tempt you if you don’t like raw fish…Good thing is that it’s pretty inexpensive here, we buy a lot of it!

Once we had loaded up we walk to the bus stop which is fortunately very near by and catch the bus back down to Waikiki to unload and start in on that poke! Obviously Safeway isn’t any where near as exciting. - it’s now Wednesday night and we still haven’t managed to make it there…though they do have a very impressive Italian gelato bar which I can attest is very tasty! Especially the double dark chocolate gelato!

Sunday we decided to try and get to the Byodo In Temple. It is a copy of an original and very famous Buddhist temple in Japan dating from over 900 years ago and is part of the Garden of Remembrance here in Oahu. The gardens were beautiful and very peaceful. I thought it was a lovely idea: each different culture and religion had it’s own area. So there were Buddhist gardens, Chinese gardens, Catholic gardens and churches, protestant gardens etc. All in one place nestled up against the side of the pali. (Quiz time – what does pali mean again?!). Very civilized.

The beach at Puuni with another storm moving in and Nick in the beach

It took us pretty much the whole day to get there. We had a vague idea that it was on the other side of Kane’ohe so we took the Island circle bus up there. When we arrived in Kane’ohe though, it was torrential rain, so we decided to stay on the bus and head a little further north. The original plan had been to see the temple and then hit a beach, so we just did it the other way around. Except it really wasn’t very nice when we got off the bus either and we hadn’t chosen a great beach. The waves were too high and there wasn’t really any chance of swimming, though we did see a couple of “diver down” signs – way too close to the shore for me to get in and go out there! We walked down the beach a little ways and then as the weather cleared up a little decided to try our luck again.

Back on the bus we asked the very friendly bus driver how we could. She told us where to get off and what bus to catch next. Unfortunately it was Sunday, and the next bus wasn’t for an hour…we walked down a stop and then waited as we really didn’t know where we where going. We took bets on the fact that it was probably right around the next corner…When the bus finally showed up it went all over so we though maybe we had done the right thing…and then we realized that we had just been criss-crossing the main road that we had been on and it would have taken us maybe 10 minutes to walk there…max!!! Oh well. At least we made it before it closed (just!). The temple was lovely though and nice and peaceful since we were lucky to be leaving just as the tour buses arrived!

I couldn’t get over how big the koi were – they are evidently well fed!

The Buddha at the temple - covered in gold lacquer and gold leaf...

On the way back I managed to get a photo of a bird of paradise. I have been passing this plant for days and never had my camera with me...

Hale'iwa and Hanauma Bay

Last weekend we finally had chance to play and spend the weekend just hanging out. I love these three day weekends! On Saturday we took the round the island bus. It’s a four hour trip and costs $2 if you stay on. We took the bus clockwise and headed for the North Shore (where all the big surfing competitions happen in the winter). I took around 2 hours and we passed over the plateau on the middle of the island and by the Dole Plantation – the largest pineapple plantation in the world.

We got off the bus in Hale’iwa. Most of the North Shore is unswimable in the winter because of high waves, underwater currents and sharks (really), but we had heard you could swim at the Hale’iwa Beach Park all the time. When we got their there were strong current signs out. Nick went out a little ways but I stayed close (very!!) to shore! It was very rocky or coral-y, but a lovely place. There were huge green lawns fronting the beach park with lots of shade trees. There were a bunch of parties happening and a band playing. It seems to be pretty normal here for whole families to come down to the beach for the day at the weekend. They bring awnings, chairs, tents for the kids to sleep in, food, grills, coolers: everything you can think of for a day at the beach, and then they just hang out on the grass lawns that pretty much front every beach park here. It’s a great way to spend the day. In Honolulu the beach parks even have grills so you can bring coals and don’t have to tote a BBQ grill out. What a great idea!!!!
















Hale’iwa was pretty special for another reason though - we were amazed to see Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles as we were just walking along the shore! Eagle eye Nick spotted then first and I don’t think either of us could believe it! It was worth spending the afternoon there for that alone! I got some great photos of one turtle in the water and another basking on the sand. Nick took his snorkel gear and was able to swim up within a foot of them in the water. Pretty amazing, we will def go back and see if we can see them again.

After Hale’iwa we took the bus clockwise again ad came down the east coast. Unfortunately our timing wasn’t too good and it was dark before we were half way down the coast – it seems to get dark so early after the beautiful summer days – it gets light around 6 am and dark around 6pm. Dark falls fast, but I guess that’s a consequence of being nearer the equator – it doesn’t change all year round.

And by the way, if your ever in Hale’iwa, the burgers are great at Bob’s!!

Sunday we hung out around Waikiki and hit the beach here. We live a half a block away – it literally takes two minutes to go from the apartment to sitting on the beach, so I take advantage whenever I can!!! Monday we decided to go to Hamauma Bay. We had heard it was very touristy and that the snorkeling wasn’t great, but decided to try it anyway. The guide book says that the water stays fairly shallow so I thought I would be able to get out a little ways and see something. And we had a blast! The bay itself is lovely – almost a perfect circle – produced form an old volcano cone. Before we hit the bay we headed up to Koko Point to get some photos and see the view from the top. Glad we went first – it was quite the climb! Here is the view for the top back towards Diamond Head and Waikiki.

The bay is very shallow – so much so that at some points the coral is barely 10 inches down. But there are also sandy spots were the coral disappears. I was even brave enough to swim a little out of my depth there! The snorkeling was great. We saw a ton of fish and sea cucumbers and urchins. We actually couldn’t believe the variety of fish that we saw – the coral wasn’t in great shape and there were a ton of people around but they were just hanging out and going about their business. Definitely worth the $5 entrance fee…and if we have Hawaiian ID next time we go it will be free! I would highly recommend it - Mom you would have loved it!