Maui and Oahu wrap-up

The Great : Haleakala National Park on Maui. There is no other place like Haleakala National Park. There are a number of trails inside the crater. Visitors can choose to walk for two hours or hike for several days. It is even possible to rent wilderness cabins and camp out inside the crater.

This would have been a great option for us. Unfortunately, our 5-15 degrees celcius sleeping bags simply do not provide adequate warmth for the freezing night temperatures. A sleepless night in Volcano Park on Big Island was enough to convince us that we are not equipped to camp out at high altitude.

Hawaii is not unique because of its beaches; we will surely see other stunning beaches in Fiji and Australia.

Hawaii is unique because a visitor can walk inside a huge crater in the morning and catch a great wave in the afternoon.

That's why Haleakala is so special.


The Hidden: Waikiki Backpackers Penthouse. The owner of the hostel runs his hostel the way it should be: cheap and clean accomodation. But the owner goes an extra step: he cooks diner twice a week for all his guests! He even buys all the wine and beer for us thirsty backpackers!

This level of service is rare. Waikiki Backpackers Penthouse is a hidden gem in the huge world of hotel businesses in Honolulu.


The Overrated: Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. This world-class beach has only its name going for it. The beach is overcrowded, long but not wide and, worst of all, useless for swimmers. Sand dunes disappear about 20 meters inside the water. Beyond that, it is rocks and reefs everywhere. A quick dip in the water made it clear why most people in the water are surfers. Waikiki may be paradise for surfers, not for swimmers.


The Ugly: The airport to hotel experience. Honolulu runs a milk-the-tourist business where taxis charge 35 $ to get a visitor to Waikiki (a short distance from the airport). Shuttles cost less, but the level of service can be abysmal. Tourists cannot get on public buses that run from the airport to Waikiki. Apparently, our bags our too big (read – we want to protect our precious milk-the-tourist business).

We got into a shuttle with a couple of Germans and their kids. The father had crutches so he couldn’t load his luggage inside the shuttle. The operator just sat there smoking his cigarette while the wife was struggling to get all the bags inside. We waited for about 15 minutes in the shuttle so the operator could get more customers.

At some point the German decided to call a cab. As the cab pulled over, I took the opportunity to ask the cab driver about his price to get us to Waikiki. The operator of the shuttle did not tolerate my discussion with the competition: he took our bags and dumped them on the street!

Honolulu is not the capital of a banana republic. Airport officials should know that this kind of service reflects poorly on the city.

The sound of silence – a quick update

I thought that no Hawaiian accommodation could beat up our ***** lodgings on the beach on Big Island. But there you go – our hostel in Honolulu makes me reconsider the negative impact of computers on human interactions. Or I could rather say: it made me realize that the positive impact of alcohol overweighs the negative impact of computers .
The Waikiki Backpackers Penthouse made me actually feel like I was living the Auberge Espagnole dream again – people from everywhere getting together, actually getting to know each other.
And the biggest part of the success of this place is its manager Charles. His family lives right next to the hostel and he seems to treat the backpackers as his extended family. He prepares wonderful meals for EVERYBODY twice a week. These evenings usually end up as parties. And for the American Thanksgiving, Charles actually prepared 3 turkeys and a real thanksgiving dinner for all his guests. So a lot of our fellow backpackers (Japanese, German, British, Swiss, French, Polish  …) had their first taste of American Thanksgiving in Hawaii!

Oahu in the winter - Swim at your own risk!

I came to Oahu thinking that I was going to enjoy the warm waters of the island.

I was very disappointed.

Oahu in winter is a surfing Mecca. The North Shore hosts some of the most prestigious surf competitions in the world. The north northwest winter swell can generate monstrous waves.

Surf is fun to watch. But I did not come to the North Shore only to watch a surf competition. I wanted to catch a great wave myself.

The problem was that signs “No-Swimming Advisory” were everywhere on the North Shore. What a bummer!

I am doing fairly well at bodysurfing large waves. I thought these no swimming advisories were for the faint of heart. There's nothing I can't handle.

I put on my rash guard and jumped right in the water.

As soon as I entered the water, enormous waves started to pound me relentlessly. I mean these weren’t waves, they were mini tsunamis. But that’s not the worst part.

The worst part was the massive rip current which pulled me away from the shore. I panicked quite a bit, as I had absolutely no control in the water, on top of being pounded by the waves.

Fortunately I remembered a precious lesson I learned in Australia ten years ago: when caught in a rip current, don’t ever swim against it. In fact, people who attempt to swim against rip currents drown. The only way to survive is to swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the current.

All in all I stayed 10 minutes in the water. I spent 9 minutes just trying to get back to shore.

So now I’ve added rule number 3: respect no-swim advisories.

Haleakala - House of the Sun

Maui has fabulous beaches. In fact the most beautiful beaches in Hawaii are found on Maui.

But for us Hawaii is best enjoyed at 2000 meters above sea level. Our playground this time is Haleakala National Park. “Haleakala” is Hawaiian for “House of the sun”. According to a local legend, the demigod Maui imprisoned the sun here in order to lengthen the day.

Haleakala is a dormant volcano. Visitors can walk inside the huge crater. The landscape in the crater is littered with cinder cones. There are enough trails to walk for at least three days.

Have a look at the pictures on Picasa.

Why are we so restless?

One day we walk 20 kilometers. The next day we bike almost 70 kilometers (with garbage bikes on top of that). And today we walked 19 kilometers in the middle of a huge crater on top of Mount Haleakala. Elevation dropped more than 800 meters at some point. Then we had to get back up of course. The Hawaiian sun is merciless at that height: UV damage on unprotected skin occurs after only 12 minutes of sun exposure.

We had promised ourselves rest after the crazy marathon on Big Island. We had a military schedule from 7 am to 7 pm every day for a week.

Maui was supposed to be more restful.

Why can’t we just stay on the beach and enjoy a drink? Life would so much simpler.

Yet Ania and I want none of it.

Big Island

The Great:

• It is a tie between U.S. State and National Park facilities on Big Island (Hawaii) and the Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Centre run by the Hawaii University.
o United States park facilities: our camping sites where very clean, run by competent and friendly employees, and very cheap. At 5 $ a night, you can’t beat that price to camp right on the beach in Hawaii.
o The Hawaii University Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Centre gives outstanding presentations. As a visitor, I could use 10 to 15 different telescopes for my own stargazing experience. Astronomers helped us understand all the different constellations and planets. Seeing the satellites of Jupiter and all the craters on the moon is quite a sight! The presentation lasted a solid 2 hour. Price of entry to the site, cost of presentation, and fee paid to use the telescopes: zero. Unbelievable.

The Hidden:

• Definitely the Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Centre. There are not that many tourists. Most of them just go to the top of Mauna Kea, watch the sunset, stargaze a bit, then head back the hotel. They are missing out on the incredible presentation delivered by the astronomers at the Education Centre.

The Overrated:

• Big Island is trying to position itself as the “historical island” of Hawaii. However, we found that explanations about historical sites left us with more questions than answers. For example, we saw some great looking glyphs in the Petroglyphs field in Volcano Park. However, we could not find any written explanations about the glyphs. Why are they there? When were they left there? How did the natives manage to engrave lava rocks? Without proper explanations, most historical sites were underwhelming.


The Ugly:

• Driving in general on Big Island. Roads are often too narrow. Elevation can change quickly and without any warning. We felt like we were on roller coasters. The brakes on our rental car were busted for obvious reasons.

But worst of all were road signs on Big Island. They were either non-existent or placed in the worst possible locations, for example right when it is time to turn. Hawaiian tourist guides warn us tourists that it is dangerous to stop at crossings to get directions. Well, dear Big Island tourist officials, if tourists abruptly stop at crossings, it is because you did such a poor job at managing our expectations of what is ahead. Get a grip!

Other observations:
• We reached the Southern Point on Big Island at 18’54’39 parallel north. This is no ordinary place. The United States of America does not extend south of parallel 18’54’39 parallel north.
• Wine prices : 4.99 $ for a yellow tail shiraz. 6.49 $for a Turning Leaf, one of Ania’s favorite. I felt like a child exploring the alley full of cheap wines! Taxes on the precious liquid are too high in Canada!

But then as we exited the grocery store, a lady from a charity organization asked us if we would like to donate food or money. She mentioned that 1 in 5 Big islander food assistance. 1 in 5? I was shocked.

No taxes on wine, but no safety net for the poor folks. I guess there is no perfect world. Both sides have good argument. For now we chose to drink our Turning Leaf right on the beach :)

• “Kona Joe Coffee” was a great stop. We met a couple who were from the Ukraine. Both of them had managed to find an internship on Big Island. Life is so hard when your internship is in Hawaii. :)

Is Big Island affordable?

It is. But one needs to wander off the beaten track.

Lodging on Big Island can be two things – dull and expensive (any hotel) or exciting and cheap (Hookena Beach Park).

What comes to mind when I say “Hawaii”?

White sand beaches? Great surf? Expensive hotels? A good friend of mine grew up in Hawaii. He told me he has fond memories of camping on the beach; the sound of waves crashing gently on shore; the fresh wind after a very hot day; stunning sunsets.

Well Ania and I had the chance to do what no other tourist staying at the most expensive resort can do: get up from bed and put our feet right in the sand!

That’s right, Hookena Beach Park allows camping directly on the beach. The sound of waves, the palm trees, the birds singing Hawaiian songs in the morning. All of that, dear Lord, cost us 5 $ each every night. Unbelievable. Expensive resorts can never match that offer!

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Free snorkeling - We discover the beautiful reef around Pu’ohonua by chance – we had stopped a few hundreds meters away at an historical site called (Pu’uhonua O Honaunau - these names are impossible to remember). As we were touring the historical site, we noticed lots of snorkelers. We decided to jump in the water.

The snorkeling was stunning. The reef was huge, fishes of all colors, the coral beautiful and plentiful. And the best part was that the reef was literally a meter away from the rocky beach. This is a very rare occurrence. Reefs tend to be far from the beaches and require transportation. However, lava outflows on the island created rocky formations in the ocean that is ideal for the creation of coral.

I saw 5-6 boats unloading snorkelers about 150 meters from the beach. I snorkeled my way to their boat and asked the operator if the boats were part of an organized tour. The response was yes.

See, these poor chaps paid 60 $ to come to a reef that is definitely inferior to the reef that is just next to the beach. I know for sure because I snorkeled close to the boats to see what was out there. A lesson here: snorkeling is always great. Free snorkeling is even better.

Walking on fire

One of the biggest tourist attractions on Big Island is the most active volcano on earth. As a visitor you can see old lava from former eruptions, assess the damage on the rainforest caused by eruptions, and… watch hot lava flow into the ocean.

An active volcano is not an easily controlled tourist attraction. When Volcano Park was created, you could watch lava in there. However, lava did not respect national park boundaries and for a few years now, it has moved several kilometers outside the park, cutting a local road in half and creating an unexpected and new booming tourist center in the middle of a moon-like landscape created by old lava from past eruptions.

There are many possibilities for lava-watchers: you can go over the lava in a helicopter, approach it on a ship from the water, or, if you are more adventurous, just walk over there and see it right in front of you.

We opted for the last possibility. I don’t know exactly what I expected, but when I started walking, I understood that the fumes quite far away. We hoped to be able to see the lava at sunset before watching it in the dark. So we immediately set off at a quick pace.

Walking on lava is not simple – the surface is uneven and easily cuts through cloths and skin if you happen to fall. And you have to watch for cracks that can be several meters deep. Walking through it in the dark required all out attention. So imagine my feelings when suddenly I realized that the lava under our feet was actually warm! Well, let me tell you, my first thought was: “let’s get out of here!” this was more easily said then done, as all we could see around us was lava and there was no saying which one would be colder than the rest…

And then, just when I was starting to regret ever coming on Big Island, a lady in flip-flops approached us and asked if we were lost. As it turns out, there is a village hidden in the middle of the lava rocks. The houses once had backyards and driveways – those luxuries were swept off by lava. But the houses are still there and the lady who found us does not dream about moving anywhere else. She likes the moon-like landscape and when she talked about lava she actually used the ….. “she”.

Our savior explained to us that the lava rocks we were walking on were 3 months old and still cooling off – but apparently they were no longer dangerous. She also walked with us for almost half an hour to show us the trail and on the way we passed old washing machines trapped in the lava since the eighties, a mango tree grove that was swept away three months ago and many other interesting artifacts.

The watching of the actual lava was as amazing as it was scary – as I said earlier, an active volcano is not an easily manageable tourist attraction and watching it from a distance of 50 meters and knowing that there was actually lava flowing under the rock I was walking on, certainly did not add to my comfort level.

The lessons I learnt from this experience are the following:
1. It is Ok to walk on a hot lava rock, as long as there is no steam coming from the cracks.
2. It is hard to decide if I felt more panic or exhilaration while watching the lava flowing. I am probably not a candidate for tornado watching. Marc, you will have to do it alone!
3. After seeing the volcano village I can appreciate more living in Ottawa, where only an occasional earthquake disturbs my daily peace 

It got very cold on Big Island (Hawaii)

We are at 3000 meters above sea level. Temperature is unknown, but certainly below zero. Ania and I both have our Gore-Tex and two layers. And we still feel cold.

Did we come all the way from Canada to experience freezing temperatures?

Absolutely.

Each minute spent at the Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Centre is a minute of pure bliss. We get to journey through the universe using the telescopes provided by the centre. The moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and the Orion constellation suddenly have no secrets for us. Astronomers help us understand the world that is above and beyond our planet earth.

At the top of the mountain are some of the most powerful telescopes on earth. Why Mauna Kea? Because Mauna Kea has almost perfect night skies. Big Island has passed strict laws to prevent any light pollution.

Mauna Kea is the highest peak on planet Earth. Most of us believe that the Everest is the highest mountain on earth. It isn’t. The bases of mountains start below sea level. Mauna Kea only reaches 4200 meters above sea level. But its base reaches a staggering 8000 meters below sea level. Mauna Kea is THE highest mountain on earth.

Mauna Kea, from sunset to stargazing, is a unique experience.

San Francisco

Time to wrap up our San Francisco tour.

Here are a few of my impressions:

The Great:

• Eating out is cheap, varied and generally excellent. We bought full meals (Chinese, Mexican, etc.) for 6.50 $ every night. An excellent Hefeweizen (wheat beer) will set you back 3 $.
• Pedestrians, rejoice! This is a city where drivers actually respect people who cross streets in front of them. Drivers do not attempt to squeeze an inch in on you when they turn right. What a difference from our get-out-you-are-standing-in-front-of-my-car culture in Ottawa.

The Hidden:

• The view from the coastal walk from the Golden Gate Park all the way up to the Golden Gate Bridge is stunning.

The Overrated:

• The painted sisters seen from the Alamo Square, a famous San Francisco landmark, is “bah!” at best.

The Ugly:

• Lots of homeless folks. Not dangerous, but pan handling gets on my nerves after a while.

***First pictures have been uploaded!

Silence is gold?

We are sitting in a hostel lounge, chilling out after a long day of sightseeing. Around us currently 5-6 people on big comfortable sofas – all with their laptops, or, the trendiest of them, with IPads. Marc and I are bringing down the statistics, as we only have 0.5 computer per capita. But since I have taken the computer from Marc, he keeps asking: “so what are you writing?” and “And what are you writing now?”, which makes me think that maybe we should have brought 2 laptops instead of one…

This morning we noticed that several people preferred to have their breakfasts in front of their computers, rather than with other guests of the hostel Marc observed that nowadays people often prefer to stay in touch with their friends from far away rather than with people physically around them. And this evening seems to confirm his theory – half of the people around us are currently on Facebook, chatting with their friends. So everybody is chatting, and yet, it is dead-silent in the lobby.

Marc is saying that it is a sign of times. He says that it was different when we were young. I’m of a different opinion – partially because I don’t like to be thrown into Marc’s remarks about what was it like “when we were young” –I’m not yet 30 so I like to think that I am still young. And partially because I choose to think that computers enhance human interaction rather than inhibit it.

So I explained to Marc that this hostel is different: most of the guests in our hostel are not your everyday traveler. There are a lot of international students who stay here for several months and need to do their homework every night. They probably don’t have time for empty chats. And, more importantly, the hostel doesn’t have a bar, or rather has a very teasing bar that is closed because the liquor license has not arrived yet. I bet, I explain to Marc, that once Napa valley’s wines start to flow through the veins of the hostel guests, the atmosphere will change.

Marc is ready to give the hostels of today a benefit of a doubt. But if our next experiences in hostels are similar to this one, I will be willing to admit that my mentality might be closer to Marc’s generation than to the “youth of today”. Although I will never go as far as to admit that I’m actually the same generation as Marc!

BoB is on the move!!

This is an update for my dear co-workers:
Although this picture was taken in Toronto, I assure that BoB arrived safely in San Francisco and was even acknowledged by a US immigration officer at the airport :)

Those dangerous clementines

The card read : “Do you bring any food with you to the United States?”

Well I have a few clementines, but these will be in my stomach while we wait for the plane. So I check “no”.

Big mistake.

The U.S. Custom Agent asks me the same question. I tell her that I have a few clementines in my bag and that I do not intend to bring those to the U.S.

She tells us that we have to go through these revolving doors for a “secondary search”. Ania is angry at me. She had told me to get rid of those before we reach U.S Customs agents.

It is 9:15 AM and our plane leaves in 45 minutes. We all know that these “searches” can last an eternity if conducted by a jittery agent.

Thank God the fellow at the “Agriculture Department” booth where we are sent is not a zealot. He simply asks us for the clementines and drops them in a bin. Phew!

Two lessons for me here:

1 – Don’t underestimate the threat represented by clementines. In the hands of Evil Doers, the can become a national security issue.

2 – Listen to Ania. :)

The countdown has started

Our mobile phone lines have been deactivated.

We are returning our cable modem to Rogers.

Without Internet (Ania would prefer "without my mobile phone"), there is no going back; we are almost on our way!


The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine