Aloha Hawai’i!
Welcome back everyone! It’s been a while but I’m now back with more adventures to share with you. I’ve just left Auckland for another amazing holiday and I’m looking forward to posting stories and photographs so you can see what I have been up to and join me on my travels.
Tuesday 7 May
Geoff and I arrived in Honolulu early this morning to a very stress-free passage through Immigration and straight out to pick up our Ford Mustang rental car. Well, you’ve got to have a convertible to cruise around Waikiki haven’t you!
The hotel wasn’t full so we were able to get into our room straight away which was a bonus because by the time we got in there we were knackered and couldn’t wait to have a lie down, having not got much sleep on the flight. A couple of hours in the sack and we were ready to start our holiday, firstly with a refreshing swim in the pool, and then out to explore.
In keeping with the royourboat theme, it seemed only right that our first stop should be the Hawaiian Yacht Club. The HYC is an historic club which was established in 1901 and is amongst the oldest and most prestigious clubs in Hawaii. It’s located within the Ala Wai Harbour at the edge of Waikiki with sensational views of all the various yachts and boats in the harbour; we also spotted a few outrigger canoes and rowers going through their paces. Geoff was here in 1980 when he raced from Waikiki to Maui, up around Moloka’i Island and back to Waikiki. A refreshing G&T overlooking the harbour set the tone for the holiday!
We followed this with a visit to another Waikiki icon – Dukes! Located on Waikiki Beach it is named after Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, born in 1890 in Honolulu, Duke grew up with the ocean as his playground, swimming, surfing, canoeing and bodysurfing. At the age of 21 he won his first Olympic gold medal and went on to represent the USA in the Olympics for 20 years. After a long illustrious career, he was re-elected Sheriff for the city and county of Honolulu 13 times between 1939 and 1959, and in 1960 was appointed the new State of Hawaii’s Official Ambassador of Aloha. The place was humming but we were lucky enough to snag a table right on the edge of the balcony overlooking the beach with the iconic Diamond Head behind us, and enjoyed our first pina colada cocktail of the trip! A perfect start to our Hawaiian adventure.
Wednesday 8 May
With Geoff’s zest for life, fun and adventure, he spent last night planning an exciting day for us. Off we went in the car, roof down, and headed for the North Shore of Oahu. Our first stop was Kane’ohe and a look at the beautiful view of the bay from He’eia State Park. Next up we drove along the coastline to Kahalu’u where Geoff decided that the food truck was a good place to stop for lunch, I thankfully abstained and opted for some fresh pineapple, don’t need to tell you any more about the stodgy mess of shrimps and rice he got served up! So, hunger pangs called for me and we headed to Pearl City where we found a great Food Market with aisles of salad and hot food help-yourself bars, so much choice – it was amazing, and a much healthier option was had.
OK – in keeping with the boat name of this blog, the next stop was to Navsea, on Middle Loch in Pearl Harbour, but accessed from near Pearl City. It is the US Navy Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility which is a holding facility for decommissioned naval vessels awaiting determination of their final fate. All the ships are inactive, but some are still on the Naval Vessel Register. They are disposed of by one of several means - foreign military sales transfer, donated as a museum or memorial, domestic dismantling and recycling, artificial reefing or use as a target vessel. Others are retention assets for possible future reactivation which have been laid up for long-term preservation and are maintained with minimal maintenance – humidity control, corrosion control, flood/fire watch, should they be recalled to active duty. Apparently, the Navy has been reducing the number of active ships which numbered as many as 195 in 1997 but was down to 49 by the end of 2014. There are currently two Amphibious Transport Dock ships, two Amphibious Assault Ships, 2 Fleet Ocean Tugs, a Salvage Ship and a Cruiser, 5 of which are “Stricken, final disposition pending”, one out of commission in reserve, one out of service in reserve and one inactive, out of commission, in reserve. That’s a heck of a lot of steel floating there unused.
Rum tasting was next on the agenda, and we headed off to Kō Hana, one of Hawai’i’s finest rum companies. The word Kō means sugarcane and the word Hana means to work. Together it means to work the sugar cane. The farm sits within the Hawai’i Agricultural Foundation’s Ag Park at Kunia. Handpicked, processed and made in small batches, Kō Hana rum is unlike any other. Inspired by the first Polynesians who brought select varieties of sugarcane to Hawai’i for various purposes, the company has revitalised these heirloom types to create their product. While rums are usually made using molasses, Kō Hana Rum uses varieties of sugarcane juice in their Agricole rum. We opted for two different samplings, I of course went for the pretty coloured ones…aka Cocktail Ready to Drink Daiquiris - and had a very nice tasting of ….the Classic: rum and lime with a kiss of sugar, Lilikoi: luscious and aromatic with a hint of tropical tartness, Pineapple: a traditional Hawaiian expression that is both sweet and tropical and Mai Tai: the quintessential tropical classic, with the perfect marriage of almond, orange, lime and rum. All really delicious. Geoff chose the Aged Rum Tasting – far too boring and brown and strong for me. Enough said!
We were very keen to see the famous Waimea Banzai Pipeline, more commonly known to worldwide surfers as the “Pipeline”, a surf reef break producing massive waves that curl high and wide, breaking just above the reef and creating a perfectly hollow, cylinder-shaped funnel that stretches out for a long run called tube riding. This is the dream wave pro surfers seek and Ehukai Beach in Pupukea, an amazing, wide seven-mile stretch of beach on the North Shore is where we headed. Sadly, for us we are here at the wrong time, November to February is the time when the waves can reach 20 to 30 feet high - this is when the Van Triple Crown of Surfing competitions are held, these championships are the Super Bowl of surfing, attracting people worldwide to come and see the best of the best ride the biggest waves in the Pacific. We found the entrance to the beach with a bench before the steps to the sand – and a memorial to Derek Ho, King of the Pipe, who was a Hawaiian Chinese Surfer who won the world surfing championship in 1993 making him the first Native Hawaiian world champion. There was also a carved wooden plaque with a list of pipeline deaths with the dedication “with eternal Aloha to those gone from here, but never forgotten. May they always feel the breath of life”. Luckily for us when we were on the beach there were two very friendly surfers with whom we chatted and they told us about the town of Hale’iwa and gave us directions and a recommendation that we try and get an outside table at Hale’iwa Joe’s for dinner. We were off – keen to snag that table before the sun set – and we did! We walked in and got the second to last one, ordered ourselves a fancy cocktail and ate dinner watching that glorious sunset.
What a great day of experiences we have had – and a wonderful drive around a good part of the island of Oahu. So good to be able to see all the scenery and wonderful vegetation and more of the island than just Waikiki Beach.
Thursday 9 May
Yep, Geoff had another plan sorted out for today – beginning with the Diamond Head State Monument and a walk on the trail to the summit of Le’ahi which was built in 1908 as part of the US Army Coastal Artillery defense system. We entered the crater from Fort Ruger through the Kapahulu Tunnel and scaled the steep interior western slopes to the summit. The trail is narrow with plenty of switchbacks and a rocky surface, so we had to be careful, last thing we wanted was a fall and a broken bone! (been there done that!). Diamond Head is at the summit. When it was built it was designed for mule and foot traffic and the mules hauled the materials for the construction of a Fire Control Station at the summit. A tunnel was excavated to connect the trail and the Fire Control Station and when it was completed it was described as being “built of dust and ash without a sprig of anything to catch hold of….it was a nightmare”. Railings were added soon after, thank goodness! It was a good walk – and climb - and great to do some hard exercise, even if it was rather warm on the way up. The elevation of the crater summit is 232 metres and the lookout is spectacular with 360 degree views of Waikiki, and the offshore islands of Moloka’i, Lana’i and Maui, and Diamond Head Lighthouse. My fitbit was working overtime but it was so worth it.
We came down with quite the appetite so drove into Waikiki and found a nice beach café for lunch, followed by a walk down the main drag and a bit of window shopping and a couple of purchases at one of our favourite stores – Tommy Bahama. We’re leaving Honolulu tomorrow so Geoff was very keen to ensure he enjoyed a swim in the beautiful turquoise water on Waikiki beach so he nipped back to the hotel for his togs and made the most of the glorious waves.
It seemed only right that we should pop into the other yacht club here – so we hopped back in the car and drove to the Waiheke Yacht Club and were made very welcome by the patrons and some of the guests and had a lovely couple of hours enjoying some different cocktails whilst Geoff relived his sailing days in Hawaii in the early 1980’s. We finished the night with drinks and dinner at the Moana Surfrider Hotel – a step back in time, it is known as “The First Lady of Waikiki” an historic hotel that first opened its doors in 1901 and exudes Victorian elegance. It was the perfect finale to our Honolulu experience.
