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So I just got back from 6 nights in Honolulu and what a great trip it was, my write up is a little late but what ever.  This is actually the second time I have been to Honolulu. The first time was in October of 2007, so in less than a two years I was back again. For anyone that has been to Hawaii, you know what I am talking about. For everyone else, get your ass over there!

Just getting out there turned into an adventure. Our flight left Dulles at 8:20am and me being the dumb ass that I am sometimes I set the alarm for the wrong time. So when I opened my eyes and saw the sun was up, I about shit my pants. We were suppose to be up at 4:30am to drive to my Dad’s house so he could drop us off at the airport. Unfortunately that plan got blown out of the water when I got up at 6:30am. In less than two hour we needed to board a plan for Honolulu. Fortunately we were all packed and and traffic was not heavy headed toward the airport. We arrived just in time, we got to the gate and immediately got on the plan.

With that tragedy averted we settled in for an 11:30 flight to Honolulu. Being the start of the trip we both were very excited to arrive and could hardly sleep. So when we landed at 4pm local time we were ready to rock and roll! A quick trip to check into Hotel Renew to shower and drop off our luggage, we headed out for a night on the town. One of Nancy’s friends, Matt, is stationed at Barbers Point with the Coast Guard. So we meet up with him for a couple of drinks to get the night started off right. By about 10:30pm it was time to head home, for us it was 3:30am on the east coast and we had been up for almost 20 hours at this point. Excited or not it was time to sleep.

Saturday was an adventure day before we headed to the Waikiki Shell to catch the Jimmy Buffett show, our “reason” for being in Honolulu. We drove completely around the island taking in the beautiful sites of the island. We first stopped by Hanauma Bay to check out the picture perfect bay and headed east after that. We drove from town to town with great stretches of beautiful scenery along the way.

When we got to the north shore we were excited to see some surfing. It was still winter, so the best time to watch. It is not unusual for there to be 15-20′ waves. To bad the poor weather was keeping everyone away for the day. Instead we decided to get some food at (insert name and link) in the city of (insert name). Of all things it’s a Mexican join. After that it was some shopping and hitting the local galleries.

Eventually we made it back to the hotel to clean up and meet Nancy’s friend Matt and his girlfriend Shannon just before the show. Fortunately the venue was in the park right across the street from the hotel. With a city setting there was not an opportunity to tailgate. So that meant getting into the venue and drinking $7.00 beers.

The venue was fantastic, you couldn’t get a better setting. Behind the venue was the mountain range and to the right was Diamond Head. The only thing that could have been better was the temperature and wind. There was a constant breeze with temps in the low 60′s. But as long as I kept drinking the temperature didn’t matter to me. It was a kick ass show in the best possible place to see a Buffett concert. After the show we headed into Honolulu for some after show drinks.

Sunday was a day to do the absolute classic Oahu day trip, Pearl Harbor. I am pretty young and everyone I know was to young to remember the attacks. But that doesn’t mean we can’t all remember that tragic day in American history. This was at the top of Nancy’s to-do list on our trip and I was happy to ablidge.

The crowds that day were pretty light so there was not much wait to take the boat over to the actual memorial. We had a few minutes to kill so we walked around the museum with pictures and artifacts from the attack. When the called our number it was time to file into the theater for a fifteen minute video describing the attack and exactly what went down.

When the house lights came on we exited out of the theater and boarded a boat run by the Navy to take us to the memorial for a quick visit. Once at the memorial it is a very sobering experience. You stand on a plate form directly above the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona. Little pieces of the twisted wreckage poking above the water with drops of oil dotting the surface. All you can hear is the flag whipping in the high winds, fully extended in the high winds. On the back wall there is the name of every soldier that perished on the ship. It’s heart breaking when you see that many names listed on the wall. All those young men that gave their lives that fateful Sunday morning. By the time you come around and finally realize what it all means it is time to head back to the museum. When we got back we walked around the grounds for a while. Even here it is somber and quite.

After this it was time for some food and a walk in the historic district.  With it being Sunday the place was empty and closed.  I found out later there is a dispute over some of the buildings with the current owner and the city.  The owner does not want to have it as a public museum any more.  There are many fights like between the native people and the state.  Just from the outside the place is impressive, Nancy and I got some great shots of the grounds and the surrounding buildings. We pretty much had the place to ourselves so we took the opportunity to relax on the lawn and enjoy the warm sun.

Monday was spent lounging on the beach and snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.  I mostly snorkeled and Nancy lounged on the beach while we were there.  Unfortunately the tide was out and the surf was rough so I lost my fight with the coral and took a couple battle wounds home with me on this trip.  This place is a great place to spend an afternoon, its peaceful and very relaxing.  I still need to develop my underwater shots, not sure if any of them came out or not.  The coolest thing I saw the a squid, and only after someone else pointed it out to me.  I pissed it off too because it inked the water and took off under the rocks to hide from me.

Dinner was at the Yard House in Waikiki.  I love this place and go here every time I am in Honolulu.  When you walk in and find out they have a hundred beers it’s like a personal challenge to drink them all.  Then you find out those hundred beers are all on TAP!  Nancy and I drank a few beers we never heard of.  A good chance to sample some new stuff, but also to be disappointed when we got some skunky beers.  One that was fantastic was Wyder’s Raspberry Cider. I know it sounds crazy, but I didn’t know when I would have another chance to try it, and it was good.  The food here is great, but it’s all about the beer at this place.

Tuesday continued out adventures in the great outdoors.  We hooked up with Matt early that morning and headed to the windward side of the island for some hiking.  Nancy and I both wanted to hike to a fall so Matt suggested the Maunawili Falls.  It was a short hike, about 3 miles round trip, and wasn’t something to strenuous like hiking Old Rag. Unfortunately the hike was on the windward side of the island and it rained pretty much the whole time.  When we got about 100 yards down the trail the clouds opened up and it started to rain, slowly getting heavier and heavier.  It was a little worried about all the rain fall since we have to cross a creek 4 times before reaching our final destination. Once we did reach the fall it was spectacular.  I have never hiked through a rain forest or seen a water fall like this in my life, so it was a great opportunity while here on Oahu.

When we did reach the falls the rain finally stopped allowing me to snap a few shots of the falls.  Surprisingly there was only one other couple from California at the fall.  Matt said it was a rather popular spot and was sometimes packed, after arriving I could understand why. After taking a few shots it was time to do a little swimming around, I didn’t come all this way NOT to get in the water.  Let me tell you, that water was cold!  Once I got in I adjusted rather quickly, but that first plunge took my breath away. Matt mentioned that people would dive from the surrounding cliffs into the pool below.  I will admit that I couldn’t touch the bottom, but I also couldn’t see how deep it was either.  Jumping off a 20′ or a second spot at 35′ was not going to happen.  I was very content just to swim around the pool and under the water fall itself.  By the time we left a large group of college kids arrive, these guys did jump off into the pool.  Just like the surfers on the north shore, these guys are crazy!

On the hike back it rained almost none stop, only stopping long enough for us to take a couple cool shots.  When we did reach the car we dried off and headed to Kalapawai Market for some lunch.  Matt recommended the place for its great deli.  And let me tell you it was a great little market.  It had all the food you could want, home made coffee, salads, everything.  We got some food and took a break on the bench outside to relax.  After filling up we headed to a couple other scenic sites Matt knows.

Ulupo Heiau Historical Site was the first stop.  When we arrived it doesn’t look like much, it is actually just a giant pill of rocks.  To quote the site: “It is likely that the function of this heiau changed over time. It probably began as a mapele or agricultural heiau with ceremonies and rites conducted to insure the fertility of the crops grown in Kawai Nui. In later times, it may have become a heiau luakini dedicated to success in war with structures erected atop this massive stone platform, including an altar, an oracle tower or anu’u, thatched hale, and notches in the terraces to hold the ki’i or wooden images. The spring off the corner of the heiau was another important feature related to the ceremonial traditions of the site.”

Next it was onto to the Pali Highway and the Nuuanu Pali State Park overlook.  This scenic spots over looks Kaneohe and the surrounding  mountains.  The trade winds are funneled along the mountains and blow right past you at the overlook and let me tell you it is really windy.  At one point I could lean into the wind and be held up, really fun and another spectacular view of Hawaii.  Afterwords we dropped Matt off at his house and thanked him for a great day, it was so cool having a local guide us around the island.  I don’t think we would have seen anything of these things on our own.

When we got back to the hotel it was already pretty late and we were tired, wet, and needed a shower bad.  After getting refreshed we decided to dress up and head out for a nice dinner at the Hula Grill.  Located in the Outrigger Waikiki hotel it has an awesome ocean front view.  We got a seat outside to enjoy that view and hear the sounds of the ocean.  Maybe it was the ocean waves crashing, but I just had to get some fish.  The appetizer was ceviche and it was so good, even Nancy enjoyed it.  Of course it was not as good as that from Panama, but it was close.  For dinner I got more fish and Nancy got the chicken.  A few glasses of vintage wine made the evening that much better.

Our final full day on the island, my how times flies.  For our last day we decided to make it another beach day and headed towards the western part of the island and the Nanakuli Beach Park.  Matt recommended it for its seclusion and snorkeling.  He was definitely right about the seclusion besides Nancy and I there were only two other people on the entire beach.  I spent at least an hour swimming around in the ocean exploring around.  Unlike Hanauma Bay this place was much deeper but just as sparse when it came to fish and coral.  Actually there was a lot of trash stuck on the ocean floor which was rather disappointing.  After some fun splashing in the water I took a quick nap on the beach with Nancy.  Again just soaking up the rays and relaxing.

Since it was our last night on the island we decided to meet Matt at his work for a few drinks.  He is in the Coast Guard and we meet him at the Barber Point station and its on base bar.  This place was a classic dive.  They had all sorts of crap on the walls relating to the Coast Guard, the mens room had a trough, and large selection of cheap beer.  We meet some of his co-works, one was actually being relocated to the Guard station at For McNair here in Washington DC.  At the end of the night we found out this guy picked up our tab, kick ass.  Another guy we meet was Matt’s friend Eric.  He was really cool and spent the rest of the night with us drinking beer and playing darts.  He is a Cowboy’s fan yet we still got along rather well.  It was a late night of drinking but a great way to end our vacation.

The next morning I was up early to hike Diamond Head.  I tried to get Nancy to come with me but after our hike to the falls she was not interested in another.  In no time I was at the top of the blown out volcano looking out towards Waikiki beach.  The hike up is strenuous and very steep, but once you get to the top the view more than makes up for it.  You get to see the whole downtown area of Honolulu with the mountains in the background.  On this morning the mountains were covered in clouds and mist, quite beautiful.  Even with the cloud cover it was shaping up to be a great day.

When I got back to the hotel Nancy and I took a walk down the main street for one last time.  We also used the time to do some shopping.  All week we checked out the shops and now it was time to return for our gifts.  And of course on the last day we are there it turns out to be the best day.  There was a perfect blue sky with a strong breeze coming off the ocean.  Not a rain cloud in the sky and the temperature was finally got to about 80.  All week the locals kept talking about how cold it was, 65-70 was the average high.  The locals would bundle up in their hoodies and sometimes wear long pants.  For me it was perfect weather, nice and comfortable.  Not to mention Nancy and I left a snow storm back in Virginia that dumped 5″ of the powdery good stuff.  So I was happy with the “cold” in Hawaii.

Unfortunately our time in paradise couldn’t last and it was time to get going.  After our shoppingn we grabed some food at a local burrito joint.