Hawaii - Day 4
So I had this post almost entirely typed out last night, then Julie woke up and I left it without saving. This morning I hit the "save" button in blogger and it magically disappeared. Argh! Here goes version #2...
Saturday, March 5
This was probably the most exciting day of our trip. Doug had offered to take us all sailing on Kaneohe Bay on his friend Pete's boat. To us, this seemed like a once-in-a -lifetime opportunity and we jumped at it. Since Doug's normal mode of transportation is a scooter, he volunteered to rent a car for the day, including a car seat for Julie. He even borrowed a toddler-sized life jacket for her. His generous hospitality was over the top.
Doug picked us up at 9:30 or so and drove us to the other side of the island. On the way, we stopped at the Halona Blowhole lookout and watched whales playing about a mile away in the ocean. The lookout is also the spot where a blowhole sometimes spouts, but that day it was inactive. On our own, I don't think Joe and I would have gone out of our way to look for whales, but we were both glad Doug showed them to us. We were too far away to get good pictures, but there were at least two families of whales out there jumping, splashing and blowing water in the air. It was really fun to watch them, and I could have spent much longer there if we'd had the time. Watching the whales was almost like watching a meteor shower since often you'd see one surface out of the corner of your eye and by the time you focused on the spot where they'd been, they were gone. The difference was that if you saw one splash, you could be fairly sure there would be more activity in the general area in the next few minutes.
Julie slept in the car just a few feet away from where we were standing while we watched the whales, and Doug got a good laugh at how guilty I felt about leaving her in the car even for a few minutes. I kept alternating between staring hard out to sea and running over to the car to stare at Julie. Most of the time as I'd turn around to check her, Joe would say "I just checked", which made me feel less self-conscious about my paranoia of her waking up disoriented in a strange car and wondering where we were.
We stopped at a grocery store and picked up sandwiches and chips for lunch, then another quick stop at Doug's apartment to pick up his sailing gear and Julie's life jacket, and so that he could let his little dog Holly out. She is a cute little old Chihuahua, and Julie loved her, but was afraid to pet her. Next stop was the yacht club where Pete keeps his boat, the Mugquomp. Pete wasn't there yet, so Doug suggested that Julie might like to play in the kiddie swimming pool until Pete arrived. Luckily, I had brought her suit and a swim diaper with us and she could have stayed in that pool all day. It was one foot deep, which was perfect for her to wade around and splash in, and super clean.
Pete arrived after about half an hour and we all trooped out to the boat. Apparently the wind was blowing in the opposite direction from normal, which made getting out of the slip a little tricky, but Doug and Pete made it look easy and we were out on the bay in no time. The day was gorgeous and it felt great to be out on the water.
Doug and Pete pointed out some of the sights, including Coconut Island where the opening scenes of Gilligan's Island were filmed. The plan was to stay out for most of the afternoon, have lunch on the water, and sail around the whole bay. About 20 minutes into the trip, Julie flipped out. I'm not sure what the problem was, maybe it was too sunny or hot, maybe she was tired of sitting on the boat or wearing the life jacket. Maybe she was hungry or tired or getting a little seasick. Whatever it was, she was throwing a full-on back-arching screaming crying tantrum. I did my best to calm her down, and ended up taking her down into the hold in search of some shade and trying to give her a snack. Nothing helped, and after about 15 minutes I got her in the sling and brought her back up to the deck. By then, the guys had decided to turn around and head back to the dock. On the way back, Julie tired herself out and fell asleep, but we decided to go on back anyway in case she woke up screaming. Doug and Pete were extremely good sports about the whole thing, and I was really grateful.
They dropped us off at the dock and she woke up a few minutes later as I laid all our stuff down in the picnic shelter. She was her happy little self again, and she and I ate some lunch while we waited for the guys to dock the boat. I ended up following her around the lawn while the guys ate their lunch and chatted.
After lunch, Pete excused himself and the rest of us trooped back to the rental car to head back to Honolulu. Doug took us to one more tourist spot, the Pali Lookout, which is apparently one of the windiest parts of the island. He said that on really windy days, it is impossible even to walk to the top of the hill where the overlook is. It was a beautiful view of the island.
And maybe not so bad even with the three of us in the way:
After that, we had all had about enough excitement for the day, and Doug dropped us off at the hotel. I made sure to get his shoe size so I can knit him a pair of socks. Not many people own Shelly Kang original socks, but he definitely deserves a pair.
That night, we ate dinner at a ramen restaurant. Joe had noticed one on the bus ride from the airport to the hotel, and we soon realized that they are all over the place. So much of Waikiki caters at the Japanese tourists, it's not surprising that it was easy to find Japanese fast food. Anyway, we both agreed that ramen would be a fun dinner one night of our trip, and Monika had recommended a restaurant within walking distance of our hotel. It was good food, and the service was excellent. The servers just doted on Julie and even accomodated my request for a plate of chicken pieces and a bowl of rice for Julie's dinner even though they weren't on the menu. I took a picture of Joe and Julie because they just looked so perfectly cute and happy together in the moment.
Saturday, March 5
This was probably the most exciting day of our trip. Doug had offered to take us all sailing on Kaneohe Bay on his friend Pete's boat. To us, this seemed like a once-in-a -lifetime opportunity and we jumped at it. Since Doug's normal mode of transportation is a scooter, he volunteered to rent a car for the day, including a car seat for Julie. He even borrowed a toddler-sized life jacket for her. His generous hospitality was over the top.
Doug picked us up at 9:30 or so and drove us to the other side of the island. On the way, we stopped at the Halona Blowhole lookout and watched whales playing about a mile away in the ocean. The lookout is also the spot where a blowhole sometimes spouts, but that day it was inactive. On our own, I don't think Joe and I would have gone out of our way to look for whales, but we were both glad Doug showed them to us. We were too far away to get good pictures, but there were at least two families of whales out there jumping, splashing and blowing water in the air. It was really fun to watch them, and I could have spent much longer there if we'd had the time. Watching the whales was almost like watching a meteor shower since often you'd see one surface out of the corner of your eye and by the time you focused on the spot where they'd been, they were gone. The difference was that if you saw one splash, you could be fairly sure there would be more activity in the general area in the next few minutes.
Julie slept in the car just a few feet away from where we were standing while we watched the whales, and Doug got a good laugh at how guilty I felt about leaving her in the car even for a few minutes. I kept alternating between staring hard out to sea and running over to the car to stare at Julie. Most of the time as I'd turn around to check her, Joe would say "I just checked", which made me feel less self-conscious about my paranoia of her waking up disoriented in a strange car and wondering where we were.
We stopped at a grocery store and picked up sandwiches and chips for lunch, then another quick stop at Doug's apartment to pick up his sailing gear and Julie's life jacket, and so that he could let his little dog Holly out. She is a cute little old Chihuahua, and Julie loved her, but was afraid to pet her. Next stop was the yacht club where Pete keeps his boat, the Mugquomp. Pete wasn't there yet, so Doug suggested that Julie might like to play in the kiddie swimming pool until Pete arrived. Luckily, I had brought her suit and a swim diaper with us and she could have stayed in that pool all day. It was one foot deep, which was perfect for her to wade around and splash in, and super clean.
Pete arrived after about half an hour and we all trooped out to the boat. Apparently the wind was blowing in the opposite direction from normal, which made getting out of the slip a little tricky, but Doug and Pete made it look easy and we were out on the bay in no time. The day was gorgeous and it felt great to be out on the water.
Doug and Pete pointed out some of the sights, including Coconut Island where the opening scenes of Gilligan's Island were filmed. The plan was to stay out for most of the afternoon, have lunch on the water, and sail around the whole bay. About 20 minutes into the trip, Julie flipped out. I'm not sure what the problem was, maybe it was too sunny or hot, maybe she was tired of sitting on the boat or wearing the life jacket. Maybe she was hungry or tired or getting a little seasick. Whatever it was, she was throwing a full-on back-arching screaming crying tantrum. I did my best to calm her down, and ended up taking her down into the hold in search of some shade and trying to give her a snack. Nothing helped, and after about 15 minutes I got her in the sling and brought her back up to the deck. By then, the guys had decided to turn around and head back to the dock. On the way back, Julie tired herself out and fell asleep, but we decided to go on back anyway in case she woke up screaming. Doug and Pete were extremely good sports about the whole thing, and I was really grateful.
They dropped us off at the dock and she woke up a few minutes later as I laid all our stuff down in the picnic shelter. She was her happy little self again, and she and I ate some lunch while we waited for the guys to dock the boat. I ended up following her around the lawn while the guys ate their lunch and chatted.
After lunch, Pete excused himself and the rest of us trooped back to the rental car to head back to Honolulu. Doug took us to one more tourist spot, the Pali Lookout, which is apparently one of the windiest parts of the island. He said that on really windy days, it is impossible even to walk to the top of the hill where the overlook is. It was a beautiful view of the island.
And maybe not so bad even with the three of us in the way:
After that, we had all had about enough excitement for the day, and Doug dropped us off at the hotel. I made sure to get his shoe size so I can knit him a pair of socks. Not many people own Shelly Kang original socks, but he definitely deserves a pair.
That night, we ate dinner at a ramen restaurant. Joe had noticed one on the bus ride from the airport to the hotel, and we soon realized that they are all over the place. So much of Waikiki caters at the Japanese tourists, it's not surprising that it was easy to find Japanese fast food. Anyway, we both agreed that ramen would be a fun dinner one night of our trip, and Monika had recommended a restaurant within walking distance of our hotel. It was good food, and the service was excellent. The servers just doted on Julie and even accomodated my request for a plate of chicken pieces and a bowl of rice for Julie's dinner even though they weren't on the menu. I took a picture of Joe and Julie because they just looked so perfectly cute and happy together in the moment.
posted by Shelly Kang at 8:39 PM
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