Oahu and Big Island, Hawai'i 31 October to 21 November 2014
Aloha and Hello Again
There is a running joke in our familiy that to find out how drunk you really are, just try and say Massachusites (a city in the USA) after a few drinks. In most cases it quickly starts to sound more like an unpronounced slurr masshhhhuzishh. In Hawai'i they must have quite a bit of fun with their fish names. The Humuhumunukunukuapuaa is the Hawaiian national state fish, a very colourful and lively little fellow that lives among the reefs. His friend is the Lauwiliwilinukunukuoioi, a bright yellow Butterflyfish with a pointy mouth. He is often seen picking little bits of food from inbetween the corals. Now, it's your turn...quickly say Humuhumunukunukuapuaa....and... Lauwiliwilinukunukuoioi. Ok, we try that again later:-)
After two months on the US West Coast, we took off for Hawai'i on the 31st October. Our travel team of two had grown to three people with the very happy arrival of Britta, Nicole's sister who spent a few days in Huntington Beach, California and then two weeks on Hawai'i with us. It was really great to see her and we hope she had as much fun in her two week as we did. There were some minor hiccups when we went snorkelling and she encountered her first sea urchin (seeigel). She definitely wasn't happy to see that he was not alone and had brought his familiy and friends of 200 other sea urchins with him, all surrounding and staring at poor Britta. But we hope, Britta, you have no more nightmares and instead remember the good times like stealing Avocadoes from the neighbours, eating giant juicy pineapples freshly cut form our garden, visiting the Coffee Festival in Holuoloa, drinking Kona Golden Ale to the purple pink and orange sunset over the Hawaiian ocean, and listening to the little treefrogs singing their ko-kee ko-kee at night.
Just writing about it brings back a lot of nice memories of our adventure packed time on Hawai'i but having said that, I think it would be best if Nicole actually finishes this chapter because it will give you perhaps a happier, nicer, better picture. The thing with Hawai'i is...just say the name, close your eyes and tell me what you see. You probably imagine palm trees, long white sandy beaches, beautiful birds, fishes, rain forest, surfers paradise. And it is all true! But! I know that Martin, Tina, Felix, Andre and others who absolutely love those magic islands will probably be very upset with me for saying this. But for me it is little bit like with New York. The whole world talks about how unique and cool and super and fantastic it is and there is such a big hype about Hawai'i being the paradise on earth, that I was almost a bit offended when we actually touched down in the city of Honoloulu on the island of Oahu. Honolulu and Waikiki are a typical US metropole with a million people all more or less on one spot, big shopping malls, McDonalds everywhere, and designer fashion boutiques from Gucci to Prada. We were greeted by an 8 lane superhighway that was absoultely packed every evening from 4 to 6pm rush hour. So, having finally made it to the paradise on earth, we proceeded to spend our first two hours stuck in traffic trying to cover a distance of about 20kms. What I also did not know, and this clearly shows my ignorance and bad knowledge of world history, Hawai'i is a group of islands whose primary purpose is to uphold the first military line of defence to the USA. We saw military aircraft like helicopters, fighter jets, bombers, and big transport planes circeling the islands day and night, performing flight training and manouvers. Especially Oahu is sprinkled with numerous restricted areas for airforce, navy, and army bases. Funnily, we stayed with a real American GI Joe, a tall big blonde Senior Army Officer with a shoe size 14 (47) who was renting out his spare bedroom to travellers. Speaking to him was a surprising revelation to me, a very nice and well educated person who had travelled the world with an open mind, and spent several years in Africa as a volunteer helping poor villages by installing water purification technology to supply people with desperately needed clean drinking water. Big thumbs up!
Now, I don't want you to think that I was atcually not enjoying myself, and I certainly do not want to discourage anybody from travelling to Hawai'i. OK, so we did not land on a tiny sandy airfield, there were no coconut trees gently swaying in the wind, no welcoming pineapple drink, no pacific beauty in a palm leaf minidress playing the ukulele, no dolphines jumping out of the water tweeting my name 'Markus come swim with us'. Still, in true military style we quickly got map and compass out, went on a late night reconnaissance trip to get a feel for the land, and in the following days attacked the much nicer, greener and less populated East and North Shores of Oahu in full force. Equipped with our hi-tech combat gear i.e. swim suit, snorkelling tools, hiking boots and sunscreen, we went on to discover hidden hiking trails with lush dense rain forest and watched Hawaiians finest surfer dudes twist and turn their boards on massive 20 feet (6 meter) waves. And for our first time, we encountered wild seaturtles, totally freerange so to say, no guided tour, no sealife center show. As we snorkeled on the North Shore of Oahu, I suddenly noticed a large dark shadow coming towards me out of the deep blue sea. Hoping it would finally be my first true shark encounter (without cage), I was very surprised but not dissapointed to sea an old sea turtle grazing on the coral. We all enjoyed that moment very much, and luck was on our side as we continued to see them at various other places under water or having a sleep on the beach on Oahu and Big Island too.
After a week on Oahu, we took off for Kona which lies on the West Coast of Big Island, as the name suggests the biggest of the Hawaiian Islands. And what a difference it was to our first impression of Honolulu and Oahu. It came much closer to the dreamy vision of coconut trees and sandy beaches and as we left the aircraft after touchdown, we were indeed greeted by a group of island girls with flowers in their hair and ukulele at their side. The airport was completely open to all sides, no walls no glass, just little wooden huts with roofs made out of palm leaves. The departure lounge was an open space with benches and just a few meters away from the twin prop airplanes. That was the island vibe we were all hoping for and the next two weeks continued in exactly the same style. We stayed with a lovely couple from Spokane, USA who had renovated an old colonial house into a wonderful living space. Surrounded by 6 acres of coffee plantation, we had amazing views across coffee, banana and avocado trees and the ocean in the background. Many nights were spent outside on the terrace deck chatting with our hosts, bbq sizzling and always a cold Kona Pale Ale ready at hand.
All in all, we can honestly say that we did not leave one stone unturned on Big Island and went out everyday to explore walkways and beaches even the locals had not heard of. Truly impressive for us was a day of hiking through the active volcanoe area. At the time, the molten lava was coming down the hill towards a nearby town, although at a low speed of a couple of metres per day it had already burned down a few houses. And like on Oahu, again we spent literally hours under water oogling at the most marvellous underwater world, living coral reefs and tropical fish that I have ever seen. And this is where Hawai'i really deserves absolute top marks! We have done quite a bit of snorkelling around the world and the reefs along Big Island are right up there with the Red Sea in Egypt or at Tofino in Mozambique.
And on that subject, let's try again. Humu-Humu-Nuku-Nuku-Apua-a .... See, not so difficult after all:-)
Even though we only had three weeks on Hawai'i we feel that we have really seen and done a lot, not quite all but almost all. And I am pleased to say that despite my fear of not living up to its expectations, I am very happy that we did make the journey.
A big warm Aloha to all of you !
Photos from Oahu https://picasaweb.google.com/110475049385279629687/OahuHawaii2014?authkey=Gv1sRgCOz81NP3p_-T8QE
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