8/30: A Day in Paradise aka Hawaii

We finally left the US mainland on Saturday, August 29^th after attending our close friends’ daughter’s beautiful wedding the night before. Steven was so excited to leave Dodge, he had had his bag packed and zipped for a solid week beforehand – I, not so much!

We had long ago decided to break up the trip to Australia with 3 nights in Honolulu, our first trip to the Hawaiian Islands. Speaking of Dodge, our hotel, the Prince Waikiki, was a bit dodgy: small room with no cleaning service, phone, etc but the price was great and the location out of this world, only 2 blocks from the fabulous waters of Waikiki Beach. And it did have great wifi, a 2 burner stove and a pot so we could make tea to our hearts’ content; for us, almost all else is secondary after all!

Imagine all this just 2 blocks fom the hotel.

This was on the pavement; language guide anyone?

In our rented car, we stopped at nearby Diamond Head hoping to take in the beautiful views of the ocean and so many swimmers and surfboarders having fun way down below. I guess other people had thought of that well before we did as there was no parking spot at the top of the mountain. Oh well, lots more to see on the island, so off we went continuing our drive around the eastern and northern part of the island. 

Stopped instead at Hanamua Nature Preserve, a gorgeous beach nestled in a bay of the same name. Everyone watched a mandatory video before being able to walk or take the trolley down to the beach and coral preserve. I think we were the only people not wearing swimsuits and not lugging fins and snorkels. 

 It was blistering hot and very humid so I attempted to find whatever piece of shade I could while Steven stood in the shallows and gazed at the stunningly colored fish.

View of Hanauma Bay from the top before walking down to the beach.

Much of the road on the east side of the island clung to the edge with steep cliffs down to the water’s edge on the right and verdant, lush mountain ridges on the left. We saw lots of surfers in the beautiful clear blue waters as we rounded so many curves in the road – this is what paradise must look like, we thought.

Stopped at Waimea Valley Park on the north side of the island to take a break and stretch our tired legs for an hour or so. The park must be a favorite for locals as many were again ‘dressed’ in just swimsuits ready to cool themselves off in the falls at the end of a mile long hike through fabulous botanical gardens and native cultural sites. The colors and shapes of the flowers were just incredible and were mostly new to us mainlanders. 

The cannonball tree, part of the Brazil nut family.

A number of times throughout the day, the weather changed from lovely sunshine
to a fine rainy mist just like in this picture in a matter of minutes. We didn't mind it it at
all as the 'mist' wasa awelcome relief from the searing heat and humidity.

We were fortunate that a show promoting native Polynesian dances was taking place near the falls – imagine having hips that sway like that. I could but dream!

(BTW – I am writing this on a word document on the Sydney-bound flight on 9/2 and we just passed the Equator and International Date Line. Our watches should be on Sydney time now, which is 20 hours ahead of Honolulu time, which is 4 hours behind MST – at least I think that’s right!)

Hope you enjoyed reading this lighthearted look of our 1st day in Hawaii!

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