’01 Jan: Honolulu and Molokai

What’s Hawaii without hibiscus. Unfortunately I didn’t take any shots of another of my favorite foliage, the mutant house plants that grow hugh along every roadway.

Nature can be pretty prickley even in the glories of Hawaii.

More than halfway up our climb to the top of Diamond Head.

I’m taking a photo-op break and doing some heavy breathing exercises while the kids are goofing around and Beth has carried one year old Charis From The Bottom.

The Waikiki Beach view from Diamond Head.

That guy is trying to convince the gathered crowds to sign up for a tour that will make them better human beings for having done it.

Now that Beth has reached the top without apparent effort she can look forward to carrying Charis DOWN Diamond Head.

Let’s hear it for Power 90!

Caleb Swims With Dolphins

The whole amazing story to follow in an attached document.

Christa’s Ladies Day Out

The whole amazing story to follow in an attached document.

Hey, let’s all get up around 4am. It’ll be fun!

Lona, Hartley

What a crowd, what a crowd. (standing: Trevor, Beth, Hartley, Lona, Janis, Penny seated: Caleb, Mom, Charis, Christa)

This was one of the numerious occasions when we hurrayed and ‘Happy birthday-ed’ my mother (84) and Charis (1) both born on January 22 all those years apart.

By the way, Treveor and Beth put up every one of these people in their fabulous house overlooking Waikiki Beach.

Really.

On Molokai, a scene riding down the hill for the half hour trek from the lodge to what they call ‘camp’ – the $300 per night (rack rate, not agent rate!) tent camp on the beach.

“Camp”.

These shots are from out my tent’s ‘door’. This one reminds me of a poster from old Hawaii.

Molokai is best known as the site of a leper colony. The laws governing the isolation of the area and the inhabitance sent there were not repealed until 1969. From here you can see the colony’s peninsula surrounded by the highest sea cliffs in the world.

Those who were sent here as virtual prisoners have the lawful right to remain the rest of their lives and tourism into the area is strictly regulated – I need to find out why that is.

A view of the countryside. I was in Molokai for about 48 hours and there was a torrential storm for half that time. Nevertheless I became a big fan of this place. My activities timing was ok in that before the storm hit I had driven on about every paved road available to tourists.

Molokai has very diverse landscape with high volcanic mountains, high and low forests, wide sandy beaches and narrow rocky beaches, a lot of both ranching and agriculture. I was most impressed by the self sufficiency and sense of calm well being I felt from everyone.

“Camp”

Due to the biggest storm in five years the hotel people were concerned about the road washing out so we were evacuated from camp and put up at the lodge.

Bummer. My plans for the day included sea kayaking to the inaccessable-by-land side of the island, and I was going to ride a mountain bike down the very long road back to camp, but no way.

The best meal I ate I bought at this grocery store in Molokai. All items were locally grown and recently picked. I got a tomato, a papaya, an avocado and some tangerines, all fresh and delicious and I ate them sitting under a palm tree back at camp.

A few words on the subject of food in Hawaii. A typical and much loved meal is called ‘plate lunch’ consisting of a big scoop of rice, a big scoop of mac and a pile of various meats.

Mac is the universal term used to describe a macaroni and mayo ‘salad’, heavy on the richest mayo I ever tasted. Spam is wildly popular as the meat portion of plate lunch. It isn’t a myth. You can in fact get Spam versions of about anything – spam sushi, spam burito, spam foo-young.

Often the spam is smothered in teriyaki sauce as is much of the meat on offer in Hawaii. In general, most food ends up sweet.

I know, really, there are fine restaurants in Hawaii and I did eat in a few but basically…

A little slice o’ paradise.