Back in the good old Us of A !!!
Such a strange way to enter the US. Coming in the back-door. Flying from Apia, Samoa into Honolulu is not exactly a common path to enter the States. Arriving at Midnight; Immigration was a breeze and I managed to get to Waikiki by 1:30am. The final stage of my adventure.
I visit just three of the islands here. Oahu, Maui, and Hawai’i. Guess I’ll leave a few for another visit.
Oahu, Honolulu is first up and the main international gateway to this state. I have mixed opinions of Oahu, and I’ll likely avoid staying here on any future visits. Waikiki beach is packed with high-priced hotels, with almost no hotels anywhere else on the island. I can only believe this is intentional zoning..Keep the tourist isolated ??
Waikiki is like Miami beach. Packed, with tons of high end shopping. The beaches are cool, but mostly for surfing. The beaches themselves are not half as beautiful as our Florida ones, but the mountain backdrop with the surf brings the vibe all together. Unfortunately; the homeless problem is common on the streets and beaches. Seeing someone pushing a grocery cart with all their belongings, talking to themselves is all-to-common here. Sleeping bags on the bench pavilions on Waikiki, Warning signs for High Theft areas and crime abound. And your bound to see police trying to get a drunk to move along in the parks, all the while they all wear gloves…. For their protection (what about mine? … I left my dive gloves in the room). I did get to enjoy fireworks on the beach, with surfers floating off-shore enjoying the show … that was cool.
The best experience here was spending a day at Pearl Harbor. The Arizona memorial is closed just-now for repairs, so they give a free boat ride around the memorial and past the USS Missouri. That was a marvelous, with a wonderful movie preceding. But that is just the start of Pearl – though the other tours cost $72/pp; they where worth it. The tour thru the USS Bowfin submarine was a time-travel to analog technology at its zenith. And the USS Missouri is the most amazing ship I’ve ever seen. Huge, powerful. Makes you proud to be an American. And to see the surrender deck where WWII was final over was a privilege.
The final tour is of the South-Pacific aviation museum. A lot like the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Museum; Part of the Smithsonian in DC. This Aviation museum is in 2 huge hangers. The highlight for me is seeing the WildCat fighter plane from WWII. One of only two remaining. I am emotional touched by seeing this plane…as I was able to dive a WildCat wreck in the Solomon’s a few months ago. Comparing the picture of my undersea WildCat to the museum is amazing. Could I have been as-brave as these men?
The suck-part of my Pearl trip was riding the public bus there from Waikiki. I end up standing a great deal of the bumpy, long 1+ hour rides (x2). Uncomfortable, long, a just a plain waste. Arrange a taxi would be my suggestion next-time.
After 3 nights in Waikiki, I’ve had enough of the price gouging and not-so-good vibe. I rent a car and drive Oahu. Heading to the famous North Shore first-up. A tiny island, it doesn’t take long to get there.. but I arrive to traffic creeping along the coast, passing thru a touristy ‘peddlers’ village to the narrow beaches. Some waves, but nothing as I’ve been shown in pictures. Turns-out, the big surf only comes in December and January. The waves are not much bigger then at Cocoa beach on a rough day. I track down one of the only hotels on this side of the island. Definitely overpriced and over hyped.
The follow day I loop the east coast of the island – heading back to Honolulu for a final night in Oahu. Finally, I find the real Hawai’i. Some magnificent views of the beautiful blue seas with rugged coastline, and small beaches squeezed between mountains. Definitely cool. But again, lots of tourists about. I could like this if no-one was around but fighting traffic and parking and people detracts from the ambiance. Oh Well!!! Like many short-stay tourists that might visit Key West, I leave Oahu with only an average opinion.
Maui…Is a vast improvement over Oahu. It was a-little hectic at the airport, but once settled into a rental car…the Hawaii vibe started immediately. A great meal and sunset greeted me in Maui – Wow. I dive Molokini the first full day here; A submerged crater about 1 mile off of Maui. A great fun boat ride, and cool diving. Visibility was 100+ feet, beautiful blue water. Hard coral, a cool yellow spotted Moray, normal reef fish, a frog fish. The most interesting where the pencil sea urchins and cushion starfish. No big stuff, and just basic color. The diving was better than average, but not worth a trip to Maui is that all you have planned for here. When I return (one-day), I’d love to dive Lanui, a boat trip from Maui… that would be cool.
I drive West Maui the next day. Over scary one lane cliff roads; Mountain on one side, ocean just 200 feet below on the other. I got forced into backing-up and pulling 1 foot from the edge to allow other cars to pass … scary stuff. But the epic scenery was worth that scare!! I loved seeing this side of Maui. A great adventure for-sure.
Visited Haleakala Volcano. A long dormant volcano of 10k feet. A fun, beautiful drive to the summit with great photos. The bikers fighting their way to the top are amazing and determined. And I finished the day with a gourmet meal at 5 Palms next to my hotel…overlooking the ocean and a wedding – wow, expensive, but wonderful!!
Next up is the last island of my adventure. Hawai’i, the big island. Hopping over to Hawaii on another tiny commuter flight – passing over lava fields – that was awesome. Hawai’i is the youngest of the Hawaiian islands, and the presents of lava fields everywhere is amazing. Plants and animals are slowing taking over, but there is still miles and miles of rock fields. Great for hiking, and amazing to view.
Kona is home-base here. A great choice. I enjoy this town better than any I visit here in Hawaii, Oahu or Maui. My two night dives are epic. I could blog for an hour just about those dives. The first was a Manta Ray event. Bright lights attract plankton, and the Manta come to feed on the plankton. 25-30 Manta surround us and put on a show. Crazy amazing. The next night, I do a Blackwater dive there. Tethered to a rope, late at night, in deep water.
Insane… the creatures of the deep rise to feed. You see strange jellyfish, zooplankton, squid… all weird and strange sea life. Another amazing experience to add to my dive life.
I walked Kona one morning, and then drove to the far north of the island. 25 miles of lava fields give way to small trees and plans. I give up on the journey to the valleys they have here of hiking…not for this trip.
With diving finished for my SEA and SP adventure, I now push onto Hilo and Kilauea. Stopping for a coffee in Hilo – a sleeping calm place. I stay near the Kilauea Crater. The volcano is not actively erupting at this time, so no epic lava flows to see. Just hikes and lava fields. And tons of beautiful scenery.
I drive the Chain of Craters Road and hike to the east-rim of Kilauea. All of Hawai’I island has lava fields everywhere. Seems like 50%+ of the island is lava fields. Lucky for me, I found a great little hotel up on the Volcano Village just outside the Volcano park. The best part of the visit here is getting all the way to the Pacific and seeing the Sea Arch they have there. Beautiful, powerful pictures of the arch and rugged coastline. Steep mountain cliffs wit lava fields in the background and mountains above. Very scenic.
Pushing on, I loop the islands south; making just one short stop at a black sand beach. Just a tiny, rocky beach…but I guess some people dig-it.
I spent the night in Captain Cook. At Mango’s – an ancient historic Hawaiian hotel. Very rough around the edges here, but cheap… the only cheap hotel I find in all of Hawaii. But, the next morning… I find a flat tire. OK, another project. I change it, and head into Kona to get the repair-job. My second flat in a rental car. A PIA for-sure. Oh well, part of being a traveler.
Last day. Last island. I book-end this adventure with Cebu and Hawaii. In Cebu, Magellan was killed. In Hawai’i, Captain Cook was killed. Kinda cool, kinda strange. I love the history of these islands.
I see numerous mongoose surrey across the road. Several of the NeNe. And a bunch of Donkey signs…but never a Donkey. Guess they have them loose here…but I never see them.
Other interesting observations:
- It’s cooler than home in Florida, sometimes even coldish!! , rarely 90+ degrees due to ocean winds. The Pacific waters are always colder than the Gulf, and more like the Atlantic in the summer…. But with the sun, at noon…it feels great!!
- The roads mostly ring the islands, and are often 1000feet elevated over the short line - this provides scenic vista’s of the Pacific and the mountains.
- Kona – the best vibe of the towns/islands I visited
- Island flights where easy.
- Hardly any classic beaches like Florida. But rocky, scenic spots are very-cool.
- Driving was easy, not as crowded as I expected. Maybe it was off-season … think it was!!
- I enjoy Reggae music from the Caribbean over Polynesian Ukulele Hawaiian music.
- The airport charges for carts - NO where else does
- There are pay telephones still everywhere. All over the airport. At hotels. Some take credit-cars, others just coins. I never saw one in use.
- Much of the building, infrastructure, stylings .. like 20-30 years old compared to most US Mainland cites like Orlando.
One last island hop – back to Oahu. And onward travel to the Mainland. Home soon. That will be a shock!!! Almost a full 6-months on the road. 40 flights. 170 dives, countless hotels, 12 countries and one new state. 12 new patches. I still need one from the Solomon’s, and one from Samoa.
I’ve learned the difference between Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Such a huge portion of the planet …Water World … most people never learn or visit these places. I am a fortunate explorer.
Live Pono,
Mahalo,
Basic Bruce
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