I’ll start this final blog with a few more pics of San Francisco taken before we flew out for a week in Hawaii. It wasn’t a direct flight to O’ahu as Hawaiian airlines had us stopping over for a few hours at Kahului, Maui. We would have liked to be able to split the trip and have a few days here but alas, no. But we did get a couple of nice aerial photos as we flew in and out.
A Week in O’ahu
We were scheduled for an 8 day break in Waikiki and it started nicely in an AirBnB on the Marina. Not quite on the main drag of Waikiki but nice enough. We took several walks around the marina and found it to be a great way to exercise and take in some Hawaiian scenery. There were gorgeous fish cruising around the docks and the sunsets from the beach and breakwall have to be seen to be believed. A few days into our stay we were even treated to a fireworks display from our fire escape landing. As a bonus we ran into a longtime friend I joined the navy with 50 years ago. We had a terrific dinner one night with Peter & Jen Metcalf at Red Lobster which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Circling the Island
As Shane had not having been to Hawaii before we organised a ‘round island’ tour in a bus. It was a full day trip but that wasn’t enough time to see it all but some notable sights were the volcanic mountains with their incredibly vertical cliffs and we even got to see a rare Hawaiian Monk Seal resting on the beach. On the tour we visited a macadamia plantation and a pineapple plantation but my favourite was the roadside stops for food including a very nice shrimp (prawn) salad lunch washed down with a Pina Colada.
Pearl Harbour Day
As luck would have it we finally timed it right and we were in Honolulu on the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, December 7th. We tried very hard to get a tour of ‘Pearly’ on the 7th but naturally being such a huge day in USA history visitations on that day was restricted to VIP’s and Officials involved in memorial celebrations. We did however manage to visit the historic USS Arizona Memorial the following day. This was my 2nd visit (the first was way back in 1972 during my navy days) but a first for Shane. The solemnity of the wreck was not lost on us nor any of the guests on the tour.
Wandering Waikiki
The 5 photos immediately after the Arizona tour will be familiar to anyone who has watched either of the “Hawaii 5-0” TV series. Moving on from these pictures is a few more sights. There are 4 photos after these that every sailor who has done a “RIMPAC” tour in the navy should recognise. Hotel Street is where every good sailor spends his time in Honolulu. Some upright others flaked out drunk and horizontal. Pity these few blocks are now just a shadow of their lively self from 20 plus years ago.
Covering the Rest of the Island
Because our prior bus tour didn’t cover the west coast and was a bit quick we hired a car for a day and set off to investigate the remainder of O’ahu for ourselves. I wanted to see Makaha Beach, a location where Tug, Danny, Rob and I slept on the beach one night in 1972. As you can see by the photos Hawaii is overloaded with photo ops. After checking out the west coast we crossed back to the east side where we’d seen a huge lagoon we wanted to swim in before returning the car. Again the problem was the same, too little time. Paradise requires so much more time than we had.
Marooned in Paradise
We managed to get our swim in and it was great. We set off back to Waikiki to return the car and start packing for our departure but then the hoodoo struck. Our Jetstar flight home broke down and we were forced to spend an extra day and a half in the 5 star Marriott Hotel (with expenses) all at their cost. It was difficult stepping out onto our 23rd floor balcony to look straight down on to Waikiki Beach. On that final night we watched and were entertained by a school group (all in national costumes from all over the world) singing Christmas Carols. After this we strolled the beach front, watched the hula girls and had tea at the restaurant across the road from our hotel room. Thanks Jetstar.
Back Home Again
Well this is the last ‘travel’ blog for a while. If I have time I might blog our Xmas holiday and I may even do a summary blog of our 18 months in the USA covering the 20 states we have visited. In that time we have driven 38,000 miles (52,000 kms) and have collected a plethora of memories that I intend to make into a book. As I type this we are back home in Townsville were we plan to stay at least for the month of January but who knows.
Thanks for reading about our travels but that’s it for now. Cheers everyone.
Garry & Shane