Hawaii
I went to Hawai'i in July 2005:
I got weird disorienting jet lag, and won a triple can pack of macadamia nuts on a children's quiz on the flight from SF. I hid them in a youth hostel somewhere. I hate macadamia nuts.
I landed in Oahu, and stayed at a youth hostel in a quiet, drunk-riddled university area of Honolulu, and after a birthday of hiking up to Manoa waterfall, I spent my days exploring the island on the round-island bus. The people who catch the bus are the weirdo vagrants, the local tourism workers, kids and oddballs, as everyone else on Oahu has a car. So I made some offbeat friends on that bus, who've been amongst the most inspiring I've met all trip.
I flew on a teeny tiny 8 man Island Air plane (on two hours saki-raddled sleep) to Maui, where I stayed in a youth hostel in Wailuku. It's a one horse town, where food is strangely alien (a 'mac salad' = coleslaw = the only vegetables you're going to get), and has two youth hostels. I stayed in the one where you don't pay in dope. I hiked around a lot, then realised this was a one-horse town. I started hitching to Kahului airport, and hired a car. I did my first tentative snorkel in the Ma'alea Bay shallows. I saw some wormy things. Hey, I'd never seen a wild fish before, don't knock it.
I raced up and down the Hana highway, with its 375 or so James Bond twists and blind cliff edge turns to go see the Haleakala volcano crater, where I watched the sun set above the clouds in a truly Martian setting, then sped through the clouds and watched it set again. I wandered a black volcanic beach at Waianapanapa (say it fast and the budgie chokes in sympathy) and was smacked so hard by surf I kecked myself.
The best thing, though, was trying the Hana highway, backwards, after dark, at 80mph. Boy, that was hair raising. I picked up a hitcher I found under a bridge, who had a sign saying 'Australia'. He screamed a lot on the corners when the trucks kept trying to hit us, but he was useful whenever I forgot about looking before you turn left. I bought him two burgers and left him in Pai'ia. Then I hitched up to Lahaina port again (with a 17 year old who was working his summer on the islands, had never met anyone who wasn't Christian before, and was thinking of going home early to DC because he missed his ferrets).
After a storm tossed ferry to the ex-leper island, Molokai, on which the ferry hands tried to talk me out of my fear of deep water, I was met by Steve, an SF emigre and all round good sixties kind of guy, who told me I'd have to learn to hitch properly if I wanted to get anywhere on this island. We toured all the four bars of Molokai main street before we could find any old soak with a truck and an urge to drive us somewhere. Steve runs some summer-let cabins at A'ahi Place, but let me stay for peanuts in the spare cabin off his (scorpion and kitten infested) kitchen, and showed me his new solar outdoor shower. It worked 30 minutes out of every day. Then he cracked open beers, lau-lau, and invited his gnarly fishermen mates round for whisky and stories. Steve was one of the best landlords I got, anywhere.
After an evening of improbably coloured cocktails at the Molokai hotel, which I was reliably informed is run by entirely transexual waitresses (hey, I couldn't tell), one of the regs showed me round the deserted hale beaches of the west side of Molokai. These beaches had the best names (the ones that had names): Dixie Moreau, Papohaku, Hane o Loa. We're talking 76km beaches, with no one else on. Stunning. I got over my fear of deep water a little, and jumped off a low rock. Such a daredevil. I then recovered by drinking beers with paniolos (cowboys) at the Molokai Ranch.
After all that, I got bored, so I rang the guys from the North Shore of Oahu, and asked them over. Steve said that was cool, the more the merrier. (Why aren't people in the UK this blissed out on life?)
Then I hired a car. I only got it stuck up a mountainside once.
Next exploit was to hike through the Halawa rainforest to the waterfalls I'd seen on the ferry in to Molokai. We walked in totally unsuitable gear - flip flops, jeans - and got so lost that we just figured walking up through the river was the most reliable way. Hey, there were big rocks, we could leap from one to the other, right? At the waterfall, which was ma-hoo-sive, I got over my fear of deep water. There was no way I was going to watch the others standing under that thing and sit cowering by the edge while crayfish pinched my toes.
Of course, then the sun fell, it started raining, and we remembered we were lost. That was a wee bit hairy. Leaping from rock to rock is different when the rocks are wet and dark. And I kept falling in the river. And I lost my trousers. But it turned out getting lost had taken us to a different waterfall - one that no one had been to in three years or so. So nyaah.
The guys persuaded me to try surfing. We toured all of Molokai looking for a break, and there was only one, by the Halawa forest on the leeward coast. My surfing lessons consisted of jumping up and down on the board four times on the beach. I got in, got washed out (I believe that's the term), got rescued by some locals from a pile of sharp rocks (they also went off and found my board for me), then the gnarly fishermen called my mates 'morons' for taking me out there.
So I went a mile round the corner to Waialua and tried it again.
This was how I cut my foot open so badly I couldn't walk for a month.
(I had to cancel my membership of a Honolulu hiking group. They were very disappointed in me. True.) That was okay, I whiled away my time trying US beer (ughhhh), beating everyone at strip poker, and listening to gnarly fishermen's stories of old gambling dens in Reno.
I flew back to Oahu, changed my ticket (to NZ) so I could linger longer, and stayed up on the North Shore with the bus guys, who had a wooden cabin right on Sunset Beach, a skateboard ride from Hale'iwa. I mean, wow. I drank kava all day, swore blind it had no effect whatsoever, then lost 9:10 on the pool tables at Turtle Bay. Honestly, kava doesn't affect me at all...
I swam with a turtle for the first time at Shark's Cove. Really, wow. To someone from Lewisham, that's pretty polar-sounding.
Travel tips:
If you're ever going to Hawaii, then Molokai, and of course, Steve's place on Molokai, cannot be too highly stressed as the best you'll find anywhere. A'ahi Place B&B, Molokai. (tel 00-1-808-553-8033)
While you're at it, the Maunaloa Kite Shop is a fascinating cottage industry in the middle of an old cowboy town.
There's a great jazz bar with open mic in Wailuku, Maui, at the Maui Bake.
The Honolulu hiking group is run by Phil Booth (tel 00-1-808-382-4709), a really nice guy. Hikes start from Iolani place every saturday.
Don't forget the best way to meet the locals is by getting the round island bus on Oahu. On a daily basis.
And watch the sun going down at Ka'ena Point on Oahu. (It's the bit where the guy get's murdered at the start of Snakes on a Plane :)
You won't forget it.
The advice I got from readers before I went was -
e said:
For the States, which is only one of your countries I do know about- beware the specific no-go areas in most cities. If you do get mugged, just hand over everything they want straight away. The alternative is not worth risking.
Jen said:
1. First off, if you *must* go to Waikiki, see Diamond Head and run, don't walk for the balance of the island, leaving this tourist haven, Anybeach, USA, far behind. Yuck. See the north shore. And the black beaches, the white beaches, what's left of the unspoiled natural beauty.
2. Second, Maui. Oh, go. Do all of it. An absolute must is riding to the top of Haleakala. You must go very early - 3 am ish, and see the sun rise from below your feet. It will be freezing cold when you get there. Remember that. It will take your breath away when the orange ball of life begins to lighten up the sky and the crowds hush in awe.
3. Also, if time is not an issue, spend a day and do the drive to Hana. Takes hours and hours; a two lane winding, twisting road through primitive parts of the island. You can rent tapes to listen to that will point out things you should be noticiing along the drive. Sounds quite contrived, but it is worth it. Otherwise you'll never figure out where to pull over to see some of the most astounding things you may ever see. It also affords you interesting stops and information on the road there AND back, as you can never take it all in one directionally. There is a little diner type stop at the end of the road, along the farm country. Shitty food, but worth the couple bucks to sit and eat a bad burger while taking in the effects of the drive.
Cyn said:
I'm more impressed with Maui than Oahu, which seems too commercaill for my taste. Have a good reason for going but am spending the rest of the time on Kauai which is supposed to be great--more "private" and unspoiled.
Lux said:
if Hawaii is like the rest of the states, you can get very far with an English accent (or Irish or Scottish or similar)... so if you need help with anything, just start talking and humor people when they ask where you're from.
Jack said:
I spent a week on Maui as a geologist. Definitely go up to the top of Haleakala. Any time of day. The sunrise is spectacular, but so is the midday sun when the ash deposits in the crater look like a moonscape. The Hana highway is magnificent. Spend the day out there. Get off the main road frequently and head to the water. Get out and walk around. The coastline is as magnificant as any I have seen on this earth. If you have time, take the short flight to the Big Island and see the active eruption of Kilauea volcano. If you hike out at sunset you can see the red fingers of lava on the hillslopes. You won't soon forget it.
I got weird disorienting jet lag, and won a triple can pack of macadamia nuts on a children's quiz on the flight from SF. I hid them in a youth hostel somewhere. I hate macadamia nuts.
I landed in Oahu, and stayed at a youth hostel in a quiet, drunk-riddled university area of Honolulu, and after a birthday of hiking up to Manoa waterfall, I spent my days exploring the island on the round-island bus. The people who catch the bus are the weirdo vagrants, the local tourism workers, kids and oddballs, as everyone else on Oahu has a car. So I made some offbeat friends on that bus, who've been amongst the most inspiring I've met all trip.
I flew on a teeny tiny 8 man Island Air plane (on two hours saki-raddled sleep) to Maui, where I stayed in a youth hostel in Wailuku. It's a one horse town, where food is strangely alien (a 'mac salad' = coleslaw = the only vegetables you're going to get), and has two youth hostels. I stayed in the one where you don't pay in dope. I hiked around a lot, then realised this was a one-horse town. I started hitching to Kahului airport, and hired a car. I did my first tentative snorkel in the Ma'alea Bay shallows. I saw some wormy things. Hey, I'd never seen a wild fish before, don't knock it.
I raced up and down the Hana highway, with its 375 or so James Bond twists and blind cliff edge turns to go see the Haleakala volcano crater, where I watched the sun set above the clouds in a truly Martian setting, then sped through the clouds and watched it set again. I wandered a black volcanic beach at Waianapanapa (say it fast and the budgie chokes in sympathy) and was smacked so hard by surf I kecked myself.
The best thing, though, was trying the Hana highway, backwards, after dark, at 80mph. Boy, that was hair raising. I picked up a hitcher I found under a bridge, who had a sign saying 'Australia'. He screamed a lot on the corners when the trucks kept trying to hit us, but he was useful whenever I forgot about looking before you turn left. I bought him two burgers and left him in Pai'ia. Then I hitched up to Lahaina port again (with a 17 year old who was working his summer on the islands, had never met anyone who wasn't Christian before, and was thinking of going home early to DC because he missed his ferrets).
After a storm tossed ferry to the ex-leper island, Molokai, on which the ferry hands tried to talk me out of my fear of deep water, I was met by Steve, an SF emigre and all round good sixties kind of guy, who told me I'd have to learn to hitch properly if I wanted to get anywhere on this island. We toured all the four bars of Molokai main street before we could find any old soak with a truck and an urge to drive us somewhere. Steve runs some summer-let cabins at A'ahi Place, but let me stay for peanuts in the spare cabin off his (scorpion and kitten infested) kitchen, and showed me his new solar outdoor shower. It worked 30 minutes out of every day. Then he cracked open beers, lau-lau, and invited his gnarly fishermen mates round for whisky and stories. Steve was one of the best landlords I got, anywhere.
After an evening of improbably coloured cocktails at the Molokai hotel, which I was reliably informed is run by entirely transexual waitresses (hey, I couldn't tell), one of the regs showed me round the deserted hale beaches of the west side of Molokai. These beaches had the best names (the ones that had names): Dixie Moreau, Papohaku, Hane o Loa. We're talking 76km beaches, with no one else on. Stunning. I got over my fear of deep water a little, and jumped off a low rock. Such a daredevil. I then recovered by drinking beers with paniolos (cowboys) at the Molokai Ranch.
After all that, I got bored, so I rang the guys from the North Shore of Oahu, and asked them over. Steve said that was cool, the more the merrier. (Why aren't people in the UK this blissed out on life?)
Then I hired a car. I only got it stuck up a mountainside once.
Next exploit was to hike through the Halawa rainforest to the waterfalls I'd seen on the ferry in to Molokai. We walked in totally unsuitable gear - flip flops, jeans - and got so lost that we just figured walking up through the river was the most reliable way. Hey, there were big rocks, we could leap from one to the other, right? At the waterfall, which was ma-hoo-sive, I got over my fear of deep water. There was no way I was going to watch the others standing under that thing and sit cowering by the edge while crayfish pinched my toes.
Of course, then the sun fell, it started raining, and we remembered we were lost. That was a wee bit hairy. Leaping from rock to rock is different when the rocks are wet and dark. And I kept falling in the river. And I lost my trousers. But it turned out getting lost had taken us to a different waterfall - one that no one had been to in three years or so. So nyaah.
The guys persuaded me to try surfing. We toured all of Molokai looking for a break, and there was only one, by the Halawa forest on the leeward coast. My surfing lessons consisted of jumping up and down on the board four times on the beach. I got in, got washed out (I believe that's the term), got rescued by some locals from a pile of sharp rocks (they also went off and found my board for me), then the gnarly fishermen called my mates 'morons' for taking me out there.
So I went a mile round the corner to Waialua and tried it again.
This was how I cut my foot open so badly I couldn't walk for a month.
(I had to cancel my membership of a Honolulu hiking group. They were very disappointed in me. True.) That was okay, I whiled away my time trying US beer (ughhhh), beating everyone at strip poker, and listening to gnarly fishermen's stories of old gambling dens in Reno.
I flew back to Oahu, changed my ticket (to NZ) so I could linger longer, and stayed up on the North Shore with the bus guys, who had a wooden cabin right on Sunset Beach, a skateboard ride from Hale'iwa. I mean, wow. I drank kava all day, swore blind it had no effect whatsoever, then lost 9:10 on the pool tables at Turtle Bay. Honestly, kava doesn't affect me at all...
I swam with a turtle for the first time at Shark's Cove. Really, wow. To someone from Lewisham, that's pretty polar-sounding.
Travel tips:
If you're ever going to Hawaii, then Molokai, and of course, Steve's place on Molokai, cannot be too highly stressed as the best you'll find anywhere. A'ahi Place B&B, Molokai. (tel 00-1-808-553-8033)
While you're at it, the Maunaloa Kite Shop is a fascinating cottage industry in the middle of an old cowboy town.
There's a great jazz bar with open mic in Wailuku, Maui, at the Maui Bake.
The Honolulu hiking group is run by Phil Booth (tel 00-1-808-382-4709), a really nice guy. Hikes start from Iolani place every saturday.
Don't forget the best way to meet the locals is by getting the round island bus on Oahu. On a daily basis.
And watch the sun going down at Ka'ena Point on Oahu. (It's the bit where the guy get's murdered at the start of Snakes on a Plane :)
You won't forget it.
The advice I got from readers before I went was -
e said:
For the States, which is only one of your countries I do know about- beware the specific no-go areas in most cities. If you do get mugged, just hand over everything they want straight away. The alternative is not worth risking.
Jen said:
1. First off, if you *must* go to Waikiki, see Diamond Head and run, don't walk for the balance of the island, leaving this tourist haven, Anybeach, USA, far behind. Yuck. See the north shore. And the black beaches, the white beaches, what's left of the unspoiled natural beauty.
2. Second, Maui. Oh, go. Do all of it. An absolute must is riding to the top of Haleakala. You must go very early - 3 am ish, and see the sun rise from below your feet. It will be freezing cold when you get there. Remember that. It will take your breath away when the orange ball of life begins to lighten up the sky and the crowds hush in awe.
3. Also, if time is not an issue, spend a day and do the drive to Hana. Takes hours and hours; a two lane winding, twisting road through primitive parts of the island. You can rent tapes to listen to that will point out things you should be noticiing along the drive. Sounds quite contrived, but it is worth it. Otherwise you'll never figure out where to pull over to see some of the most astounding things you may ever see. It also affords you interesting stops and information on the road there AND back, as you can never take it all in one directionally. There is a little diner type stop at the end of the road, along the farm country. Shitty food, but worth the couple bucks to sit and eat a bad burger while taking in the effects of the drive.
Cyn said:
I'm more impressed with Maui than Oahu, which seems too commercaill for my taste. Have a good reason for going but am spending the rest of the time on Kauai which is supposed to be great--more "private" and unspoiled.
Lux said:
if Hawaii is like the rest of the states, you can get very far with an English accent (or Irish or Scottish or similar)... so if you need help with anything, just start talking and humor people when they ask where you're from.
Jack said:
I spent a week on Maui as a geologist. Definitely go up to the top of Haleakala. Any time of day. The sunrise is spectacular, but so is the midday sun when the ash deposits in the crater look like a moonscape. The Hana highway is magnificent. Spend the day out there. Get off the main road frequently and head to the water. Get out and walk around. The coastline is as magnificant as any I have seen on this earth. If you have time, take the short flight to the Big Island and see the active eruption of Kilauea volcano. If you hike out at sunset you can see the red fingers of lava on the hillslopes. You won't soon forget it.
posted by Lectrice at lunes, junio 07, 2004
4 Advice:
>Hawaii (Oahu, Molokai, Maui)
Oahu? Oahu!
I can't feel my legs!
this is as god wills, for they are full of sin
If only
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