Storm Waves on the North Shore

I don't have a lot to say on this entry. We left the Macadamia plantation and headed around to the North shore to get a look at the waves coming in from the storm. The North Shore is where the big surf is in the winter on Oahu, and with the wind up, perhaps the waves would be on the bigger side. When we found a place where we could park next to a beach, I hopped out and started taking photos.

I was so puzzled when Harry stayed in the car with the motor running and the AC on full blast. It was 76 degrees and windy, and the temperature was comfortable. I had goose bumps in the car the whole time because he kept the AC on and the fan up. I couldn't understand why, when the waves were so awesome and the sound so impressive, he would choose to stay in the car with the doors closed and look at it through the windows.  It was possible to get down as close as you wanted to the surf as long as you didn't get in the water. I stayed behind the safety tape, but still was able to get great photos and video. I'll let the images speak for themselves. I'm not sure how high the waves were, but they were impressive.

These guys didn't care what the sign said...They paddled out pretty far before they started catching waves so I wasn't able to get very good photos of them surfing. 

You can get an idea of the wind from the spray that was blowing back from the tops of the waves

We got back to our hotel just before sunset and had Steak with vegetables and salad that we picked up earlier at the Times Market before we headed up the Windward coast. Harry says the Times stores elsewhere on the island have more variety of sides and give three sides instead of two for the same price. 

We watched some evening TV, several last year's episodes of Downten Abbey before settling in. Harry is back to work tomorrow...

Oahu Afternoon, Windward and North shore

Once again we headed to the windward side. This time it was to the Macadamia plantation and store to re-supply our Macadamia nuts and look at the pearls at the little pearl shop there. Harry wants us to go to the wholesale place to get them cheaper, and that will be my Christmas present. 

The macadamia store is just down the highway from the woodcarver and out in front is a couple of his carvings, statues of the parents who started the plantation depicting them when they were king and queen of Hawaii days. 

I enjoyed the ornaments hanging in the tropical trees and the tropical Christmas decor around the front door.

This is their dad's handmade surf board, and old style native board

More Christmas decorations

 The nearby view.

Honolulu Marathon 2014

The marathon runners start at 5 am, the 10 k walkers right after the runners, and Waikiki beach is in the first few miles of the marathon course, so by the time I got down to the beach at 8 am the very last of the walkers were coming by and the street cleaners were sweeping up smashed cups and taking up the cones that were blocking off the street. 

The first thing I noticed when I came out of the room was a rainbow arching over the Western sky. It was raining lightly with sun breaks and the rainbow persisted throughout the hour I spent away from the room. So my first photos on the beach were of the rainbow before I headed to the marathon finish line in Kapiolani park. Too bad the rainbow was behind the runners, but I guess the ones who were coming around on the other side of the loop to the finish were running towards it, so that must have been a treat. 

A Japanese booth was running a costume contest, so I saw any number of costumed Japanese in my time there.

Near the walkers finish line I saw these parents propping up their wheelchair bound young adult son for a finish line photo.

At the marathon finish line these lovely young ladies were waiting with shell leis for the finishers. 31,000 were registered. That is a lot of shell leis!

At the finish line an announcer kept up a patter and announced most of the runners as they crossed, adding their home state or town when he had time.

58% of the entrants are Japanese. This is a very famous and popular marathon for Japanese runners.

Isn't this so fun? here the surfer seems to be looking at the end of the rainbow. I can see why the rainbow is a symbol of the state of Hawaii.

The high winds had kicked up some good surf even on this end of the island, which is usually pretty calm in the winter.

The tide was up and the high waves were hitting the break water in dramatic fashion.

I went back to the room at 9: 00 thinking Harry would be impatient to get to breakfast, which we planned to have at a nearby IHOP. My holiday special pumpkin pancakes filled with cheesecake chunks and covered with whipped cream and butter pecan syrup were the delicious dessert part of a bacon and egg breakfast with hash browns. We ate near 11 pm and that covered breakfast and lunch. 

Saturday, 12-13-2014 Windward Side Woodcarver

I had my first adventure riding The Bus in Honolulu Saturday. I spent most of the day in our room catching up on my blog diary and researching bus routes so I could meet Harry at the Aloha Stadium at the end of the day. That is about 20 minutes drive from Schofield Barracks where he is working and meeting him there let us get on our way much more quickly to the Windward side. He didn't say why he wanted to go to the windward side, but I was eager to see more of the island and didn't mind the mystery. I assumed he was longing for some of the grilled steak he can get at the Times Market over there. They grill it outdoors with a local seasoned salt and slice it thin, then serve it with your choice of a variety of sides. 

The bus I chose actually came early, or maybe it was an earlier run of the same route, I'm not sure. I was a little anxious about how to know when to get off, but told the driver and then tracked it on Google maps on my phone and had no problem. The problem that I did have was that I assumed I would be catching the next bus to get me from there to the stadium at that same stop. That wasn't the case, and the bus wasn't listed at that stop, which was a transfer station stop. I had no idea where stop number 45 was or how to find it. I had a little extra time because of the earlier bus, so I just walked down the street looking for other stops. I eventually found one that had bus 11 listed, but it wasn't stop 45 and I had no idea when 11 would come. So I waited an anxious 15 minutes and decided the first bus that came that showed service to the Arizona memorial I would get on and hope for the best. Then one came showing that and Aloha Stadium, so I got on. It was crowded and stopped frequently. I got a good look at the ethnic diversity of Hawaii in the riders and the neighborhoods we went through. It was interesting and fun. We passed a Costco and the prison also. I got to the stadium just at 4:30 and had caught the first bus at 3:17. 

When I got off at the stadium I expected to have a 15 minute walk around to an entrance, but was able to go straight in after half a block walk and crossing the street. The swap meet closed at three and it was 4:30, so it was almost deserted. I found a place to sit and waited another half hour for Harry. 

Once we got on our way, I was amazed at how quickly we were surrounded by lush green jungle covered hillsides. Once you get into the wetter zone, the landscape is totally different. We had a beautiful drive through the tall, craggy mountains with their coverings of deep green. We passed the Time market and went on along the coast. Then Harry pointed out a wood carvers business. We passed it, then he turned around and parked there, saying he needed to pick something up. 

It turned out he had commissioned two carved walking sticks from this carver. The carver's name is Maile Niu and he is fairly well known. I was first struck by this massive carving of various sea life intertwined. 

Here is another impressive large sculpture

While the walking sticks were being brought out, my brother Wayne called, which was a happy surprise. I had to call him back though, because I needed to see the walking sticks. They were works of art! Mine had a dolphin on the top and Harry's had a whale.

Mr. Niu (or I could say Brother, as he is also LDS as we are) carved his signature into each of our staffs while we watched and chatted with him and some other folks that were there.

Tiki Masks

After leaving the woodcarver, we headed back to the Times Market for steak. They were out, so we got some teriyaki steak instead, with macaroni salad and sodas. It was really good. There is a 10 plex cinema in that same shopping center, so we went to see 'Mockingjay', which Harry had seen already, but I hadn't. It had me on the edge of my seat in spots and almost ready to try to jump up and do something to help defeat 'the Capitol' and President Snow. All in all it was a nice Saturday afternoon and evening for us. Harry was glad to be able to stay up a little and not have to get up at 5-or anytime earlier than he wanted to...the next day. 

Sunset, The Green Flash! Friday, 12/12/14

After the dancers were done I settled in to take photos and video of the sunset and the beach at sunset. The sun eventually went behind a low cloud and the effect of the light rays above and sunset colors below the cloud with boats silhouetted against the glow was stunning. Eventually I filmed the sun slipping below the horizon, hoping to record the green flash. I saw the flash, but had the camera set to warm the colors with the sunset setting, so it transformed the green to yellow or red. I'm not sure how a little point and shoot would do with it anyway, but at least I saw it!

I'll let a selection of photos tell the story better.

Surfers coming in for the day

Still plenty out there, though...

'Everywhere you look, boats and boards

I moved up onto the break water and got a better shot of the waves. 

Doing the Bono-Dori! 12/12/14 Waikiki

My best excursion of the day was time spent at the beach just before sunset. I almost forgot to take a camera, and was so glad I remembered! The sun was low when I got there, so I spent the first few minutes taking photos of the Duke statue silhouetted against the sun.

As I was looking for some other shots, I heard music and what sounded like chanting. It wasn't really chanting, more a call and respond type of thing, but in Japanese. I hurried toward the sound and saw a group of mostly women in bright, short kimonos, all matching with black capris and athletic shoes. They were dancing in two columns, toes tapping and stepping in a staccato rhythm, arms waving, and hands flicking gracefully from side to side. They were led by a man and a woman who were doing the call part of the 'song'.

In the middle of the group another man and woman, dressed in black kimonos, were playing a little gong and a bamboo flute in a rhythm that never varied and a lively, memorable little tune that was repeated over and over throughout their dance. At the end of the group were a few 'just folks' who had joined the procession and were duplicating the dance as best they could.

Here is a brief video clip

Their dance started by the Life Stones at the head of the beach walk which is the dividing line between Waikiki beach and Kuhio beach. They passed the Duke statue and the big Banyan tree , then formed lines facing each other, and made a circle with the musicians and a couple of callers in the middle. They started a new round of call and response, and after a bit the dancers started dancing in a circle.

This family did the whole thing and the mom was just grinning. 

I just missed getting the expression on the big Polynesian guy's face. He was totally having fun with it. 

Look how happy the guy on the left is, joining in to the dance

Some beach goers plowed their way through the edge of the circle and a few others joined it. One, a big Samoan or Tongan was really getting a kick out of it. another, a bushy bearded red haired young man also was transported with delight. I continued making videos and snapping photos, and had fun when one of the women saw me filming and smiled an extra big smile for me.

After they were done, I battled between my desire not to intrude and my desire to know what it was about. Finally I approached one of them and started asking questions. We had a language barrier but they were able to tell me they were from 'Tokyo-shima' and were here for the marathon and that they were known for their dancing. They got someone who spoke english to explain further. The dance was normally done for the day to honor the ancestors and is called the Bono-Dori. What a treat!