I'm back home - doing laundry and cleaning gear. It's amazing it is over already, as always. I slept 10 hours last night and will be heading off to bed early tonight, if possible.The Saturday night block party was crazy - lots and lots of people. That day, Justin rented a convertable Jeep and we all headed over to the North Shore to see what big waves look like. We missed the biggest waves by a day, but they were still impressive. I took some pictures and video (below).
We had lunch before heading back. Although there was a lot of traffic, it is still a very different feel than Honlulu. There is more space and small funky towns. The mountains tower over everything - it is really pretty. When we got back, the Pro Bowl block party was gearing up. Two of our divers, Jeff and Ben, decided to spend the evening back at the hotel and rest up and Justin and me and Amy decided to hit the block party. Justin had to return the Jeep so Amy and I went ahead to the block party and planned to meet up with him when he got back. There were all kinds of street vendors and several stages set up all along the main drag along Waikiki. A drumline was wandering through the crowd. Every so often, they would stop and perform. Amy and I lucked out when they stopped right in front of us and performed. There is a video below.
Next, we decided to head over to Jimmy Buffet's bar and wait for Justin. There is a picture of that too - the darkish neon one. 3 hours and too many Buffet songs later, we were still waiting. The streets were so much of a mess due to the block party, that Justin was stuck in traffic endlessly. So, after a few drinks and being dead tired, Amy and I headed back to the hotel. We finally met up with Justin on the way. He said that he finally made it to the agency to return the Jeep only to find out they were closed! What a nightmare! Anyway, he continued off to have a few well-deserved drinks while I called it a night.
Amy and I had agreed to meet early in the morning to hike to the top of Diamond Head Crater (Le’ahi, in Hawaiian). We had to be back for the shuttle to the airport, which was picking us up at 1:00. That morning, I did my habitual run to Starbucks and then, since Justin still had the Jeep, he ran us over to the Diamond Head trailhead. The trail is .8 miles one way. It has several switchbacks and a section of steep stairs - rumor has it, about 99 individual stairs - to get to the summit. The climb goes up 560 feet. It was a glorious day and we left early enough to avoid most of the crowds and heat. The views were spectacular! Amy set the pace and what a pace it was. I think we must have set a hiking speed record doing the full circuit. It was fun, though, and I kept up pretty well. Vibram Fivefingers rock - I felt like Spiderman clinging to the rocky path! When we got back down to the start of the trail, we caught a cab back to the hotel. Once he got wind that we were divers, the cab driver enthusiastically talked to us about his past diving experience - or, at least, some old gear he owns, I'm not quite clear on whether he actually dove or just had old gear. He seemed obsessed with knives and sharks and cages and sharks and bang-sticks and sharks. Then, when we left the cab, he tried to sell me a GTO he had...somewhere (that wasn't clear either).
I packed up and walked over to my last Hawaii meal for the trip: Cheeseburger in Paradise. The last pictures you see are from there. I love how everything is open-air.
Then, another shuttle ride. The relaxing end to the trip, but wait! This is freaky cab/shuttle driver day, evidently.
Our shuttle driver had on a neon magenta wig that matched the petals on her Hawaiian shirt.
This is not all that odd in Hawaii, actually. People feel good and get into a celebratory spirit. No problem. She loaded us in and picked up a few other passengers, making really sure that we all buckled up. We then got our shuttle driver's life history and, after 10 minutes or so, we realized we were nowhere near the airport. She had taken the 'scenic' route through Honolulu and the proceeded to give us a guided tour! The civic buidings, the palace, etc., etc. She was a bit directionally challenged, as well (not good for a driver). She'd say, 'and off to your right, you'll see the tennis courts of <fill in some resort>, but the tennis courts were on the left. This happened several times. My favorite was when she was telling us about some big mall that had a food court with cuisine from all over the world: "so, you can go to Paris and get pizza, and to Greek to get greek food." ;-?
Did I mention this was supposed to be a shuttle to the airport? To catch a plane?! The drive that normally takes about 15 minutes took about 40 minutes. It was crazy! Maybe she was using her shuttle job to practice for a tour job she was applying for, I'm not sure. Makes for good blogging fun, I guess.
We then got to the airport and the security line was huge. I'm wondering if we are going to get the plane at this point. The TSA person on the belt scolded everyone and insisted that shoes DO NOT GO IN THE BINS! They go directly on the belt and he seemed a bit obsessed about this. It was sort of scary and this attempt at training weary travellers for security line efficiency slowed down the line even more.
So finally we made it through security. Should be home free. But, um no. I've been through this airport enough to sleepwalk to the gate. It is always gate fifty something, really close to the security point; however, it had been changed to gate 30. Sounds like no big deal, but gate 30 is in the international terminal, which is quite a hike. And, yes there was a line again when we got close, similar to security. Will it never end?! This is the Agriculture line. We crept through that and walked and walked and walked to, finally, gate 30. I felt like I'd climbed Diamond Head again! The plane was boarding, so, by some miracle, we made it somehow.
2.5 movies later and I was back in Phoenix.
Would have probably just been easier to stay in Hawaii ;-}
