Aloha Hawai'i, 2019

This year, thanks to the stars aligning in the heavens (aka good timing, Southwest miles, and Clayton's sister Rina), Clayton and I were able to go to Hawaii.

Windward Side in Kaaawa, Oahu

Our first destination was a VRBO right on the beach in Kaaawa. Before arriving, however, we had to reckon with the cold I’d caught the night before. By the time we found our rental car, my head and face were aflame with fever. I left Clayton to ooh and aah at Oahu alone while I lay half-dead in the reclined passenger seat hopped up on 4 different drugs. We stopped at a public park on the way to our VRBO while we waited to hear if the owners would let us check-in early. Clayton took some pics.

Heʻeia State Park

And thank heavens, they said yes. This place we stayed at was absolutely amazing. It was a spacious studio on top of the owners’ garage, and the studio looked, felt, and smelled new. The location was as close to Hawaiian paradise as you can get.

Luckily, we didn’t have any plans for the first day except to relax, so I took that up a couple notches and rested my yuck-filled sinuses out in every way that I could. As much as I missed my children, I was super grateful (and kinda weirded out) to have a thoroughly uninterrupted resting period.

The next morning, we took it slow. Slow breakfast, slow moving around accompanied by lots of blowing of the nose. We tested my strength with a soothing walk along the beach just beyond the yard of our rental. I loved that.

Then, counting on the warm humid air of Hawaii to soothe my angry sinuses, we set out to our first planned activity just 15 minutes away—the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Polynesian Cultural Center

The PCC is one of Oahu’s greatest tourist attractions. It’s run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and many of the staff and cast are students from BYU-Hawaii. They come from some of the Polynesian Islands: Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, Fiji, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Tahiti, and Hawaii. Each of these islands has their own “village” with a few cultural things to see, activities to try (starting fire with a stick, a stick-toss game, some coconut stuff, a canoe ride, etc), and several performances throughout the day.

I’ll be honest, there wasn’t as much to the villages as I was expecting, but we still loved seeing what culture we could, learning things about the different islands, and hearing the performances. We also attended their daily canoe show, with a lot of dancing on big, flat canoes, and rode on a tour canoe from one side of the center to the other. At 5:00 we attended a luau with dinner, which was pretty decent. The highlight for me was the female fire-dancer—so nice to see a girl doing it!! Like Hawaii seems defined by female hula dancers and male fire-dancers, so seeing a girl twirling fire was a-mazing.

And then there was the final event, the Ha — Breath of Life ceremony, filled with storytelling told through dancing and acting and more shirtless men than I’ve ever seen outside a swimming pool, and it was a-freaking-mazing. They of course had a fire-dancing show where I counted 9 guys twirling fire on stage at the same time, and one who did two sticks at once, and it was just aaaaggh so cool.

I don’t think I’d visit the villages again for some time, though I appreciate all the effort those students and staff put into them every single day. But I’d definitely visit the Breath of Life ceremony again soon!

Snorkeling, Rain, and Swimming

When we stayed in Honolulu seven years ago, I hardly went into the ocean at all, so this trip was all about the water. The biggest thing we had planned was a Dolphin Excursions tour where you can snorkel in the ocean and see dolphins. Having never really snorkeled before, we wanted to practice before the big day. Our rental place in Kaaawa was right next to calmer waters thanks to a reef that caused the bigger waves to break farther out. So, perfect for noobs.

Our rental had some snorkel stuff, so out we went. What followed was a great deal of time spent on equipment: leaking masks, cold water and me needing to put on a wetsuit that I hadn’t worn in ten years, me needing a swim cap to cover my ears, clearing sand from our water shoes...took a while, but we got it down. I was worried I’d struggle to breathe through my mouth, but as soon as I stuck my head underwater, it was awesome not having to come back up for air! My mask still leaked a tad so I would just stand up in the shallow water every couple of minutes, and the snorkel mouthpiece was way too big for my small mouth, but it was a great experience. I loved seeing the ocean floor.

Clayton took some pics with our underwater camera on the second day of snorkeling, when it was a little warmer:

In fact, I was quickly hooked on snorkeling—just not the equipment. We had no flippers that fit me, and I really wanted a mouthpiece that wouldn’t make my mouth hurt so much. I also yearned for hotter weather; we snorkeled on two different days in Kaaawa, and it rained on us both times. I wasn’t wearing my wetsuit the second time and got chilly pretty fast. It’s fascinating though when it rains, to see and feel the drops on the surface, only to escape them completely underwater.

Before we left Kaaawa, we did chill on the beach, watching the little sand crabs creep towards the tide for food and then zip away super fast. In fact, the first day we went out, I kept stepping on buried crabs in the wet sand and they’d shoot out from under my feet, making me jump every time. They were like sand spiders ;) but without the phobia. We swam in the waves until we lost our sun, then bid the beach aloha.

Hiking Diamond Head Crater

Not much to say about this hike. We got to the top in 40 minutes, and the view of Honolulu and the ocean was incredible. I kind of wish that we’d hiked more inland instead, but at the time I was really tired, and there’d been rain and I didn’t feel like hiking through mud or wet nature. I’d read that this hike was dry and not too difficult. Next time, we’ll give the nature hikes a go.

Spot the parking lot in the middle of the volcano

Western Hotter Side in Waianae, Oahu

I totally recommend staying on both sides of the island to get a taste of Oahu as a whole. In rainy Kaaawa, I very much missed the sun, but the mountains were lush and green. And we weren’t in Waianae very long before I realized how the nice overcast weather of Kaaawa was like the most perfect weather ever. Waianae is very hot in comparison, and far more brown. But I’d been aching for my sun.

We stayed in a ground-floor condo of a place called the Hawaiian Princess. It’s a bit removed from most of Hawaii. We think it may have once been a gem, but seems a little on the older side now. There were no amenities, really, or nearby places to eat, so we don’t think we’ll stay there again. But the view from the place was jaw-dropping.

Clayton and the sunset

We had one more day to practice snorkeling, so we used this place’s snorkel stuff and set out for Makaha Beach, which was nearby and known for spotting turtles. Once again, we spent a ton of time trying to make the masks and snorkels work right. (Next time we snorkel, we are renting our own!!) So much so that I almost gave up entirely. But after swimming in the waves with only my goggles, I just had to try again.

By the end, we were snorkeling for long periods of time over deep waters. It’s a freaky feeling. You’re there floating on the waves, up and down, up and down, with the ocean floor some ways beneath you. You try not to think about the depth. But it’s also so, so cool to see places in the ocean as they are, with your own eyes. Unfortunately, Clayton’s mask was too foggy for him to see much. So we finally headed back to shore, which I found exhausting. (Note: we did not have flippers. After snorkeling at the dolphin excursion with flippers, I can tell you, they make a HUGE difference in snorkeling. Wear flippers!)

We snorkeled out a couple more times until at last, my body went ‘kay girl, get outta the sun, now now now. I felt so sun sick. We’d left our phones so we had no idea how long we’d been in the exposed sun. Turns out, for 3 hours. And we didn’t re-apply sunscreen.

Thankfully Clayton could function, so he drove us into town to get food and cold water. Then we drove back to our condo, where we saw that every part of me not covered by the swimsuit was red. My upper back and shoulders had been hurting for a long time, and kept hurting and hurting. Clayton was burned too but not as bad. Ugh, a typical rookie mistake that we will not make again! We spent the rest of the evening rubbing Aloe Vera on each other.

!!!Snorkeling with Spinner Dolphins!!!

Okay, “with” is a bit of a strong word, but still. Dolphin Excursions in Waianae had come with a guarantee to see dolphins and I was stoked, though a tad concerned about all our bad burns. My upper back was bordering on severe for a sunburn. We did a morning aloe session before driving 5 minutes to the place, where they provided masks, snorkels, flippers, and life jackets. Clayton and I also rented wetsuits. I did because I like the ability to jump into the ocean without going into shock from the cold, and Clayton did to protect his sunburns. Then we were on the boat and off!

A crew of four women led our Dolphin Excursions tour. One was a photographer. They drove us all the way up the western side of Oahu, and past the cliffside point that joins the north and west sides. They had to drive a long ways—we learned later that it’s really rare for them to have to go so far out into the ocean in order to find the dolphins.

So many dolphins!

Ooh humans

But find them, they did. With my own eyes, I saw dozens of dolphins surfacing for air, and several babies. They are breathtaking. I have loved dolphins all my life, and that experience alone was incredible. But we didn’t stop there! A short ways from them, we lined up on the side of the boat and jumped into the water one by one. That gave us a minute or so of just being able to make the dolphins out in the deep ocean water before they swam away. That was a bit of an introduction, said the tour ladies. I’m grateful for that test because my snorkel was leaking, and that gave them a chance to replace it before we tried the real sightseeing. We climbed into the boat, moved closer, and came in again.

(Note: we were so worried about sunburns and not knowing what to expect that we forgot our underwater camera. I tried to find pics from the photographer that matched what I experienced.)

And oh my gosh, we swam with dolphins. All swimming deeper than us surface floaters, mostly keeping their distance around us but staying just close enough to be visible in the thick blue ocean.

EPIC MOMENT: I had just lifted my face out of the water after watching some dolphins swim away when one of the tour ladies came up to me, pointing to make sure I saw them. Suddenly she pointed more frantically down, and when I didn’t quite respond, she reached out and tipped my head completely down and THERE WERE LIKE 20+ DOLPHINS SWIMMING RIGHT BENEATH US. I literally shrieked in absolute surprise and delight. Guys, guys. Go swim with dolphins. I love dolphins.

After they swam away, we showed them our thanks by getting out of their territory, heading to the boat, and saying good-bye. I spent the next part of the boating trip seeking the shade, drinking water, and trying to fight off more heat sickness. The shade really helped.

The crew took us most of the way back before we jumped in for one more excursion, this time to see a reef with lots of fish and hopefully a turtle. I must say, the underwater world as we saw it was blue and a little bit blurry, but fish are colorful all the same. A school of yellow fish swam so close to me that I could have dived down and swam eye-level with them if I didn’t have my life vest on.

Right near the end, I still hadn’t seen a turtle—Clayton had barely seen one, down far in the blue blurry ravine—when the photographer, a ways out, raised her hands high to indicate she could see a turtle. Clayton and I started towards her. I won’t lie, swimming across the waves is not so easy at first. Sometimes a wave would knock into me so hard that it felt like another snorkeler had just hit me or something. I tried using my arms, but that failed, and finally I realized the best way for me to swim was to put my arms together and just kick my flippers. It’s incredible how fast you can go with those things.

Flippers or no, I didn’t think I was going to make it to her. The waves were big and I was worn out and it seemed like she was moving farther, faster, away from me. But I got there in the end, for suddenly to my shock, the huge turtle came into view. She was a beauty. Apparently, her kind is very rare, though I don’t know more details than that. I followed her for a while, kicking my flippers enough to stay with her until I was almost swimming over her. But I didn’t want to scare her, and finally bid her good-bye on my way back to the boat.

When we reached land again, we ate lunch and headed back to our rental, where Clayton and I spent most of our time relaxing and trying not to touch our sunburns.

We Love Hawaii

The whole thing was so great. To take a break from life, from work and parenting, and to spend time with each other on an island and beaches. We’d like to go back someday where we’ll try to do a lot more hiking and snorkeling, maybe even on some other islands. And Rina—we love you forever!

'Til our next Aloha