Hawaii

i'll transcribe my written notes on Sunday through Wednesday soon, but here is Thursday through Saturday...

Thursday - We got up to have our North Shore day. I drove us up the center of the island to Shark’s cover, a good hour or so. We rented masks, snorkels, and fins from a little shack and headed across the street to Shark’s Cove to snorkel. We had trouble getting in since it’s a very rocky and treacherous beach entry, but once in, we swam for an hour or two around the huge cove and took lots of underwater pics. Not sure how well they’ll turn out, but it was lots of fun.

When we got out, we scoped out a nearby cove, where Ashley went wading and picture taking and I went rock hopping out on a long rock outcropping, where I found a cool isolated pool and took a swim. Ashley got pics. We also saw this beautiful golden swimming with his owner as she snorkeled. We were pretty hungry by then, so we drove into town to hit the places we’d been recommended. Captain John had told us about Kua Aina for lunch and we went and had the best fish burgers ever. I have never had such a good burger ever in my life, or fish for that matter. I had a Mahi Mahi burger on Kaiser with some special sauce and jalapeno Tabasco and tomatoes and lettuce. Ashley had the tuna, which was also really good. We split a basket of these fantastic homemade fries, the skinny, super greasy kind that are all stringy and crispy on the outside.

The travel channel (and every single person who we told we were headed to the North Shore, both in stores and restaurants) recommended Matsumoto’s as the MUST VISIT for the North Shore, or even all of Hawaii. It’s shaved ice, and a local legend and landmark. They do shaved ice with various flavors. You can get it with vanilla ice cream in the bottom or without. And you can get it with or without the sweet red beans. Yes, beans, cooked beans. I got it with both the beans and ice cream since I knew I’d only be here this once. It was alright, but admittedly, I am no shaved ice king. Ashley loved it (although she didn’t get beans). We hit up one of the local shops and I talked at length with this local mom, Cindy, who owned the shop about faith and work and astrological signs while Ashley tried on dresses.

We went back down the road towards Shark’s Cove and stopped at what might have been Table Top, a long narrow sandy beach that becomes slippery, algae covered rocks immediately. For a quarter mile, sea turtles were trying to come in for the algae. There were no signs where we were and so I got in and fed algae to several turtles and touched a few before a local came over and told us that we were supposed to give them their space, but we got lots of cool pics before that. They are beautiful creatures.

We found some space to get in and swim for a bit. The water was colder and had quite an undertow. Then we headed to town again for dinner. We had already done Irish, so we had ruled out Jameson’s as recommended by Cpt John and we tried for the Sushi place where you can sit on the floor at low tables, but they were running a fundraiser, so we drove back down the road. I spotted Cindy in her parking lot, shutting down the store, so we stopped and asked her advice. She directed to us to Rosie’s Cantina, which she mentioned had good “seafood.” This consisted of the night’s special of fish tacos and a shrimp appetizer. The rest was Mexican, and a bar, but it was very good. They had homemade chips and salsa and I did get the fish tacos, which were fresh, local mahi mahi and some amazing ranchy sauce and beans and rice. It was pretty fantastic and hit the spot. It was pretty late when we got home and crashed.

Friday- We got up and made our way to the Ala Moana Park for beach time. We swam a little and then got hot dogs for a mid morning brunch in the park. They were huge yummy jumbo dogs, about a foot long and hanging off both ends of the buns. Then we sat in the shade of a coconut tree and read. Then I went back in and swam out to the reef and back a few times. It was only about 150 yards out, but nowhere to touch down till you get there and the reef itself is very sharp, so you have to swim back after a quick break. We lounged a little more before heading back to the hotel. We tried to get into the Hilton Hawaiian Village to see penguins, but the parking itself was a zoo and very expensive, so we nixed it. We also wanted to hit Helo Hattie’s before our Luau.

We got to Helo Hattie’s and they gave us shell lei’s. I wasn’t super impressed. It was just a large gift shop. A little overhyped, I think. However, they have a jewelry counter where you can pay 15 bucks to open an oyster and see if it has a pearl. If it does, it’s yours and they will sell you a mounting for a necklace or ring or earrings if you so desire and mount it on the spot. We weren’t especially interested, but they had these keys you could try for opening a treasure chest. Mine didn’t work, but Ashley’s did and she fished out a coupon for half off the pearl thing, so she tried it. You have to tap it three times and shout “Aloha!” And she not only got a pearl, but the pretty, much sought-after pink pearl, and a good size. So Ashley decided to make this her big honeymoon purchase and we got it set in a ring. Because we bought it, the lady gave us another oyster to try. It not only had a big pink pearl, but it had two! That’s apparently quite rare and we had them bagged up for later. They might go to a little girl in several years with a fun story of how they’re connected to mom’s ring. I got a burnt orange t-shirt with a turtle on it.

We headed to the luau and it was very nice. We got to see hula lessons and take a shot at throwing spears and stuff. We made palm-frond head bands with flowers with one of the islanders and Ashley made a bracelet. I got an island-tattoo of a turtle in some sort of drawing pencil that has yet to wash off after a swim and bath, although it is much faded. We also saw a guy climb straight up the trunk of a 40 foot coconut tree and throw flowers all over all of us below.

The meal was wonderful, especially the pit cooked pig. They do the whole buried pig with hot stones inside for 8 hours and then pull the pork. On rice, it was fabulous. I was less impressed with the egg fried fish. The luau hula show was beautiful and the fire twirler guy was incredibly impressive. We sat between a group from Australia and another of mixed Hawaiian and Tennesseans who were celebrating the night before a wedding between their two families. It was a lot of fun. We headed back to the hotel and finished off the night with a nice sit on the balcony and the bottle of sparkling cider the front desk gave us when we checked in.

Saturday- We got a later start this morning and headed over to the swap meet again. It was the first time we had no fixed end time and could meander. We finished off our souvenir shopping for folks back home and Ashley finally got an Indian silk wrap skirt from recycled sari material. She’s been searching since high school and the one she found is gorgeous. We headed back to the hotel and finished off our leftovers from Planet Hollywood and began packing. Then we went out to the beach in front of our hotel group, which was by far the worst beach we’ve been to. It was tiny, crowded, and very rocky once you were in. We didn’t spend long there and then came back to the room to read on the balcony.

We did an early dinner, too early as it turned out. Roy’s, another recommendation from Captain John, was not quite open for dinner, so we put our names in and wandered down to this art gallery. The paintings of a local Romanticist artist were on display, all ocean scapes and cliffs from Hawaii. It’s the first time landscapes have ever caught me so dramatically. The woman in the store had moved here only a year ago from the west coast and told me all about the artist. Turns out she is originally from Austin. The artist moved here 20 years ago to study art and first displayed his paintings on the fence down the road at the Zoo, where many artists still do on Saturday evenings. He used to sell his paintings for 20 dollars, with a frame and box. Now, he has $175,000 painting on the wall in the gallery and people buy them like crazy. I’ve never seen such beautiful frames either, all made from local Kua wood.

Dinner at Roy’s was amazing. It was probably our nicest meal here, a good one to end on. Roy’s is Hawaiian fusion. There’s all kinds of seafood and sushi and sashimi. Originally, Ashley was skeptical that there wasn’t anything really amazing to be had. Neither of us was in a big fish food mood. However, she got the ABCLT sushi, which was avocado, bacon, two kinds of crab, rice, lettuce and tomato. I sampled some and I can honestly say I’ve never ever had sushi that good, that quality, or that well put together. I had stuffed blue crab with some sort of sweet glaze that just sort of melted in my mouth like warm butter, and wasabi. It was incredible. We also split a flourless hot chocolate soufflé. It was molten deliciousness with vanilla bean ice cream on the side. Probably one of the 10 best desserts of my life.

Being us though, this wasn’t enough. We went to Cold Stone with our two for one coupon and got ice cream. I got a variation on one of their specials, vanilla ice cream mixed with apple pie filling, crushed graham crackers and cinnamon. Ashley had a chocolate chip cookie dough mixture thing and gave me her whip cream. We packed a little more and then headed out to try and find the salux back washer things her mom has been asking for.