Tuesday, 1-16-14, Iolani Palace, Sunset

I adventured out on the bus to see the Iolani palace and the legislature building and maybe to do a little geocaching, I had a late breakfast, showered and was on my way by late morning. I was able to get there by bus with very little problem. (I did get turned around and went the wrong way to find my bus stop and ended up catching a bus from a different stop)

After walking the grounds a little and spending some time at the burial mound and stone alter, I went and got my ticket to do an audio tour of Iolani  Palace. I had just enough time to go take photos of the legislature building before showing up for my tour time.

Iolani Palace

Stone Alter

Burial Mound

Beside Iolani Palace

Hawaii State legislature building

Unique architecture of the legislature, an open roof over a central courtyard

Staircase in the Iolani palace

Throne room, also used for formal balls and funerals

Music room in Iolani Palace

I took tons of photos inside, and found my new Samsung camera to be excellent for indoor shots in low lighting. I'm very, very impressed. It is performing almost as well as my NEX and way, way better than the expensive Panasonic camera it is replacing. Only the canon SLR could have bested it in those conditions, and that not by much.

After the tour I selected a complicated geocache that had me walking all over the grounds trying to find the offset spot without the magnetic compass recommended in the description. I think I finally figured it out, but not precisely, and though I looked in many of the spots that matched the clue (places along the fence) I wasn't able to find it. I finally headed to a bus stop and made my way home.

I got back around 5:00 and thought I'd have time before Harry got back to go down and take photos of the sunset. I hadn't remembered it, but Tuesday is also the evening they have free music and sometimes Hula at the beach nearest our hotel. They had the sound system up and were playing Hawaiian music. It was idyllic sitting there on a rock near the small breaking waves that were washing up against the rocks and sandy shore, with the sun going down, the surfers out riding the water and the waves, and a few boats sailing against the setting sun. I tried to soak it all in and appreciate it. All too soon this scene would be out of my reach, almost certainly forever.

Warming up and tuning instruments

I found a spot to one side of the walkway and stood there waiting for the program to start, thinking at least if I couldn't sit down I was in a spot where no one would obstruct my view. Then a woman with a child came and stood in the sidewalk right in front of me and started moving back and forth taking photos with her cell phone so that my photos were difficult to frame. The torch lighter in his festive Hawaiian costume came and lit the torches behind me. When the music started I took a little video of the first song and then headed back, taking a few Photos of the torches against the fading sunset sky.

When I got back to the hotel Harry was just getting ready to go up the elevator. He brought Garlic shrimp from the BBQ guy on post for dinner. It was very good, but I wanted to see how it compared to the famous Macky's shrimp truck in Haliewa on the North Shore, so I made a plan for that the next night.

12-15-14 Monday Week 2 -Box Jellyfish, Geocaching

Monday I decided to try snorkeling again. The waves were still big from the wind so I decided to go down to the same place I went before. There aren't a lot of fish there, but I wanted to try using the fins again and needed the sandy bottom so I wouldn't have to deal with rocks while I got used to them. I found advice on the internet to go in backwards. That made a lot of sense since the problem I was having was with the ends digging into the sand. 

I also wanted to try out Harry's new purchase, a Go Pro camera. The two photos below were taken with it. It has a definite fish eye effect when set to the wide setting, but it was less pronounced when taking a long view like this one. It did a good job of catching a long stretch of the wall as the waves fountained up against it. I also took some video of the same view that turned out pretty good. 

 Before I got into the water I noticed the jellyfish warning signs were posted. I had read about their monthly three day spawning visit to the southern beaches. I decided to set up my beach chair under a tree just off the beach and see if people that were in the water were having any problems. I didn't see anyone in distress and after about half an hour, a bird in the tree let loose a load on my legs, so I thought, 'That's it! I'm going in the water!'

I went in first without the fins to try some of the ideas I gleaned off the internet for getting the mask to seal around my face more reliably. After a few tries I found the position that worked the best and started looking around under water for fish. I didn't really see much of anything, and the water was cloudy again.  I soon decided that I had the mask sealed well enough to go back and try putting on the fins. I was moving parallel and fairly close to the wall at that point and about ready to turn toward the beach when I felt a rippling sensation of sparking stings along my bicep, like the first second of brushing against a stinging nettle.

Oh dear. It wasn't very strong or painful, but I was pretty sure it wasn't normal to feel a stinging sensation from just being in the water. I turned immediately toward shore, and as I did I felt further sparks lower down near my tricep and on my upper forearm. I could see some foam and algae on the surface where I was and wondered if there were bits of jellyfish tentacle floating there, or if I had actually contacted a live animal.

When I got on shore I dropped my snorkel and mask on my chair and headed to the other end of that section of beach to the lifeguard's station. They have a kind of little room on stilts with stairs leading up to the enclosed area which has wide windows overlooking the beach. When I got there the lifeguard guessed immediately why I was heading his way so briskly and asked, "Did you get stung?"
He treated it by pouring white vinegar over my whole arm and activated a chemical hot pack. He said the vinegar would deactivate the stingers and the heat would help with the pain. The pain would intensify and last about two hours, followed by four days of intense itching.

I went back to my chair and sat with the hot pack on, feeling like an idiot for ignoring the signs and going in the water. The lifeguard said they actually concentrate on the beaches with the walls becuase they wash in through the baffle and then can't find their way out again.

While I was sitting there I noticed the family in front of me, a mom, dad and about a three year old little girl, were all in the water and their spot was covered with dozens of birds, who were trying to take apart any food packages they had there. I didn't intervene, thinking they would object to someone standing in the middle of their stuff.

Later the mom was focused on her phone and the dad had his eyes closed. The little girl picked up their spray on suntan oil and started spraying it around everywhere. The mother didn't seem to hear the sound of the spray can going off. After the little girl sprayed it towards her face a couple of times I went over and told them what she was doing and they took it away from her. Then they went back to their inattention. The child picked up one of those blow up floaty rings made in an incomplete circle so it can be fitted around the waist without having to step into it. She put it on and went into the water. I noticed when she floated to the edge and started calling out, 'Mommy, mommy, mommy!' She didn't stop for some time, but her parents never looked around at her. They were completely oblivious to her being in the water. I was amazed. She finally gave up calling her mommy and went back to playing in the water.

When her dad got up and went into the water with her I got up and left. The hot pack had cooled off by then. I headed back to the room to shower and dress. The stings didn't hurt very bad. I couldn't see where exactly they were, just had reddened skin in those areas.

I decided to rescue my day by going out after showering and seeing if I could find some geocaches. I ended up walking down to Kapiolani park. I saw this structure there that I hadn't noticed before, even though it is right at the entrance. It turned out to be a burial mound. The ancient Hawaiian bones that are excavated anywhere on the island are interred there.

They take the sacredness of this tomb very seriously, as shown by the warning sign below.

I was headed to the nearby zoo to find a geocache, which I did find, along with two others in the park nearby. At the first one I had a chance to photo this pretty little bird I see occasionally. It has a really sweet little chirruping song, and hops around so quickly it was hard to get a good shot of it!

On the way back to the room I took the following photos of the sparkling water, waves and catamaran sailing by. My feet were tired and sore, but my spirits were good. 

 I got back just as Harry did.  We went to the Times Supermarket for some dinner and got hamburger steak with gravy and onions with mixed steamed vegetables, salad and brown rice. It was good, but too much, I saved enough for lunch another day.

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.