Familiarity breeds . . .

Certainly not contempt. Maybe ennui. Maybe something on the order of “been there, done that” but the t-shirts have long since worn out. Hawaii remains one of our favorite spots for a trip. But you may have noticed a dearth of scenic pictures in our earlier postings (snorkel pictures don’t count). We were driving to the North Shore yesterday along the Kamehameha Highway with the Wai’anae Mountains off to our left when it struck me how we take the vistas for granted this trip. I remember when we first did this drive with Bonnie in 1971 and we were constantly stopping to take pictures. Now we zip along from point A to point B and wonder why the tourist cars have pulled over at certain spots.
Of course, the views have changed over the years as have the road systems. I miss the sprawling sugar cane and pineapple fields. I found the same thing on Maui. There’s a beautiful walkway in the Wailea area between the hotels and the shoreline which meanders past five or six beaches. I took my camera with me one day and walked the entire path (and back). The end result–not a single picture. I found myself thinking “I already have a terrific picture of that beach”. I also have pictures of most of the tourist attractions around Oahu–Iolani Palace, Punchbowl, Diamond Head, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Waimea Bay, etc.
We’ve done some snorkeling on Oahu. Of course, that was after the obligatory, initial lie-down on Waikiki Beach. Our first visit was to Hanauma Bay and it’s still a beautiful spot that deserves a picture every time. It’s slowly recovering after being almost loved to death from the late ‘70's on but, with still 1.5 million visitors yearly, it will be a long process, particularly for the corals. Our second stop was at Ko Olina. There’s been a lot of development since our last visit and the number of lounges around the lagoons offers silent testimony. The second lagoon is still relatively untouched but that will change when the Marriott is completed. Both were fun but nothing spectacular and not a patch on Maui. The surf’s been up on the North Shore so Shark’s Cove, Three Tables and Waimea have not been doable. We did have a sun-filled day at Waimea and Sunset Beaches, topped by a shave ice at Aoki’s in Hale’iwa.
Without snorkeling to fill our days, we’ve fallen back to walking or our senior version of hiking. On the weekend, we went out to the Windward side and walked the beaches from Bellows to Waimanalo. Bellows is still open to the public only from Friday noon to Sunday as military training takes precedence during the week. It’s a great beach to walk with wide stretches of firm, soft, golden sand, softly lapping waves with enough break for the boogie boarders and a background of ironwood trees and the Ko’olau Mountains. When we’d had our fill of sand and sun, we backtracked to Makapu’u Head and hiked to the top to enjoy the sweeping views. Doreen discovered some large patches of cactus with ripening cactus pears. Instead of paying for them at the supermarket, they were free for the taking. All she had to do was avoid the thorns (unsuccessfully for the most part).
Yesterday, we hiked some deserted beaches at the northern tip of the island. Unlike Bellows, this was a slog. The only things that saved a mostly uninteresting walk were the discovery of a small, dead shark along the shoreline (the only shark we’ve seen on this trip) and a sleeping eel in one of the tide pools. After lunch, we drove to the end of the Farrington Highway and hiked in to Ka’ena Point. Another long, hot, dusty walk with little reward–no albatrosses, no Hawaiian monk seals. (In the ‘wouldn’t you know it’ category, a pair of monk seals have been showing up on Waikiki Beach over the past few days.) To save the day, we drove into Hale’iwa and had another shave ice (Matsumoto’s this time).
The other problem I’ve been noticing is a lack of time. Evenings on Maui were much quieter and I had time to play with our pictures and work on this blog. Here on Oahu, we’re staying in a condo in Waikiki and our nights are much more crowded. It’s fun to just wander along Kalakaua or Kuhio and watch the crowds, both tourists and performers. And let’s not forget basketball. The whistle may have been retired but the fan still lives. Last week, I spent two nights at the University gym. On Thursday, we had tickets for an NBA pre-season game between the Lakers and the Warriors. This was one of two events we had arranged before we left home. (The other being the Maui 5K.) On Friday, I went back for the university’s “Twilight ‘Ohana”, an evening where the university introduces its basketball teams to the community. It was an interesting experience with lots of local kids and families on hand and came complete with three-point and dunk contests and intra-squad scrimmages. There is still a Canadian connection as both the men’s and women’s teams have a player from Ontario (Paul Campbell of Toronto and Katie Wilson of St. Catherines).