Nov 28th

Nov 28th

Well it has been a long time since I posted anything about our trip. My cold was quite a downer and we spent another 2 days at the Manago Hotel in Captain Cook, totaling 4 days. We loved it there, the waitresses were so friendly, the food was great, the hot showers were amazing. Nothing like camping to make you appreciative of ordinary luxuries.

We checked out Ho'okena beach camping and it was nice but seemed a little rowdy, we were booked for the weekend. I really wanted to go back to the hot showers so we headed back to Manago. I am a bit sorry we didn't stay as the spinner dolphins are supposed to hang out in that bay early in the morning.

We did camp for 3 nights at Spencer Beach park, which was quite lovely. They had indoor showers that were not freezing cold. We had a nice level place to sleep in Mokio and there were a couple of secluded beaches we could walk to. Richard thinks he had the best snorkeling experience here and it was free! We met a woman who'd lived in Hawaii for quite a while in one of the pavilions while we were charging up my battery pack for my CPAP machine (for my sleep apnea). She told us how much native Hawaiians hate tourists and that they often poison drinks or put cut glass in them. I found this a bit hard to believe. She also told us some camper had left a cooler out with $50 worth of meat and camp back from a walk to find a group of rather large native Hawaiian men barbecuing everything. They were kind enough to invite him to eat his own food with them.

We then made our way to my favorite camp site of the trip, Kalopa state park. It was about 2000' above sea level in a rain forest. We did a walk through a nature trail that was very peaceful. We also drove to Waipi'o Valley, which is the last undeveloped valley on the big island. It is considered a sacred place and they'd rather you didn't drive from the viewpoint down to the valley unless you are invited. But of course many people are curious and if they have 4-wheel drive they charge on. Apparently lots of silly people have to get rescued as the vehicle they are unfamiliar with can't make it back up the hill.

We went to an amazing place called the World Botanical Gardens that also had a picturesque waterfall. The first day we went there we did not apply insect repellent. Big mistake. Operation "pasty legs" faced it's first real stumbling block. Granted I'm covered in bruises (from what I don't know) but my fluorescent skin was still mostly unblemished. Not so now, I am polka-dotted in the extreme! The bites don't itch and they aren't bumpy but they sure are red. We did another nature trail that had lots of beautiful flowers but the hibiscus were done and we walked along blossom-strewn pavement. We also saw some cool blue blossoms at the end of a private property, we later learned were from the Blue Jade plant. We came back the next day with bug juice in hand and had a much more pleasant experience along the orchid walk where we saw amazing flowers. We also took a short but muddy trek down to see a waterfall but weren't sure we could do the river walk without injury as it had rained heavily the night before.

We met some very friendly campers at Kalopa. I seemed to have great timing and whenever I went to the bathroom the woman was is some from of undress either showering or sponge-bathing. Kalopa also had inside showers but no privacy to speak of and very cold water. The lonely park warden told us it was called the "great big scream machine." It was very peaceful at the park and I could have stayed there much longer but Richard felt it was a bit creepy when the other campers left and we were all alone. The bird and frog songs were so beautiful. The ranger wasn't sure what bird the longest song came from but called it a melodious thrush. The foliage was too dense to ever see our serenaders.

We finally left Big Island and made our way to Maui. I love Maui, it's much more my style with hotels, condos, restaurants and shopping abound. We have a convertible Ford Mustang that is fun to drive and is allowing me to work on my farmer's tan quite well. Our condo is lovely with a comfortable queen sized bed and a well stocked fridge. I noticed immediately that we had a blender so we went out to buy supplies and Richard made up a batch of deadly Blue Hawaiian cocktails. I stumbled off to bed at 8 while he was watching some war movie on Netflix.

Our complex has two 5-story buildings, we are on the shady side in the morning and having breakfast on the lanai is lovely and cool. There is a decent sized pool, tennis court and a large green space between the two buildings where you can play on putting greens and barbecue your dinner on immaculate bbqs. There are stunning yellow hibiscus shrubs and palm trees off of our lanai and a good assortment of begging birds. We have mynas, doves and the dreaded house sparrow all giving us the eye. I have told them they are wild and have to fend for themselves but the twit in the unit next to us dumped about a cup of cheerios onto the lawn so we seem to have a confluence of birds. There is also one bossy shore bird that terrorizes all the others if they wander into his territory. Beyond the pool is a short bit of beach but it's pretty rocky so we haven't spent much time there.

My oh-so-annoying ear infection/feeling like I was underwater has subsided by about 90% now that we have gone up in the air again and landed on Maui. I no longer feel the need to ask if we are "having fun yet." We had a delicious dinner our first night in Maui at Coconut's Fish Place, named after a cat. I had island style fish tacos that were amazing. We talked with the owner who was very proud of his cat and we told him that we have the "cadillac of cats" at home and he demanded to know if our cat had a restaurant, we told him no, but that was the cat's human's fault, not the cat's.

The next morning we went to the "orientation" poolside. Lisa was very good and told us where things were in relation to our condo and then started trying to sell all the tours. We bought a Quicksilver snorkeling tour, tickets to Ulelena (a cirque du soleil style play about the people of Hawaii starting with the Polynesians and going up to today), tickets for a very fancy luau called Feast of Lele (a wedding gift from my friend Cathy in Ottawa) and a bus tour taking us up the Road to Hana (so Richard doesn't kill us in the Mustang).

So far we have gone on a tour of the Baldwin Sugar Factory, very educational. I am so grateful I was not an immigrant labourer who had to wear a self-sewn full body outfit with skirt and gloves to avoid getting centipedes crawling all over me, never mind the back breaking labour before processes became motorized. Good grief it was a hard life.

We had also bought some coupons for Atlantis Submarine through Costco so we went down two mornings ago and saw some cool fish and a wreck they had deliberately sunk to create an artificial reef. Richard was disappointed we didn't see more but it was kind of a neat thing to do. We stopped at the Aquarium and were quite impressed with their displays. There are so many interesting colourful creatures off the shores of Hawaii. I was a bit disappointed they didn't do a better job of labeling what species were in the tanks and need to do a bit of looking up of some of the fish I saw. I've decided the Moorish Idols are my favorite fish after seeing quite a few from the sub and then again at the aquarium. We came back to the condo in the late afternoon expecting a quiet dinner and then realized we were due to see Ulalena back in Lahaina, where we'd started off the day. Richard was not impressed that I'd muffed that up and we'd driven all the way home. Oh well. The play was interesting but I the Hawaiian mythology is a little weird from my perspective. They have a half hog-half man creature that was in love with Pele, the goddess of the Volcano. The execution of that was quite amusing and creative on stage.

Yesterday we were up early for the Quicksilver snorkeling tour. We got two seats in the upper part of the boat and had excellent views as we went to the snorkel sights. We were supposed to go to Molokini, a crescent shaped volcano crater that is partly submerged first, then to Turtle Town, a cleaning station where fish nibble off the parasites of the turtles backs, and then if town to a bay called Laperuse (I think) where spinner dolphins are often seen. Well the weather did not cooperate as it was quite windy. We went to Turtle Town first. We saw a turtle swimming in the ocean as we arrived but none in the water once we arrived. Other people (there were about 70 people on the tour) were luckier but I decided with my poor skills I'd stay on the fringes and not get kicked in the head. I saw lots of coral and many interesting fish once I calmed myself down and stopped hyperventilating. The waves were quite strong and Richard found it hard to photograph what he saw.

Next we went to Laperuse Bay and there was a volcano about 4 feet below sea level. I opted not to go back in the water and Richard said there weren't many fish and they were of the same sort we'd seen at the first stop. That was the official end of the cruise and we had a nice lunch aboard ship. As we headed back to the marina the captain gave a good spiel about who owned the fancy houses on the shoreline (David Bowie, Tiger Woods, Oprah to name a few), that someone from Oracle had won a bidding war against Bill Gates to buy a private island from a missionary family, how another missionary family had turned their private island into a 100% Hawaiian descendent only island that one must be invited to before going (good idea!). Then we saw maybe a dozen sea turtles and two pods of about 8 spinner dolphins, which were the highlights of the cruise! We had an american from Oregon behind us who kept flapping his jaw the whole time that made it hard to hear the captain much of the time and I thought about what a class act my Dad is and how we really only spoke when he had something worth sharing. Little did I know we'd come home to find out he'd passed this morning.

One of my major regrets is that Richard and my Dad never had a chance to really get to know each other (due to Dad's dementia). Dad was the smartest, most ethical man I've ever known and I've always had him on a pedestal. I will miss his wry sense of humour and having him to go to for advice. I often think of things I wished I'd asked him before the dementia robbed him of his memories and life experience. I did on occasion try to have a few heart to hearts with him but he was a very private man and did not talk about himself willingly. I do know though from the times he came to Ottawa and took me out for dinners when I was in university and all the one-armed hugs I got at airports how much he loved me even though it was always unspoken. It was through his very hard work and my mom's careful investing that my siblings and I received very generous inheritances before my parents died. I have often think throughout this remarkable journey that Richard and I are on for the next few months how my parents made this possible. Thank you Mom and Dad for your generosity!

After our boat cruise yesterday and a well-deserved nap Richard and I went out to a phenomenal Italian restaurant/bakery for dinner. Richard had a Guinness and I had Sangria Blanco and toasted my father and his wonderful life. We also had pretty awesome deserts, Richard had a crumble cake that he saved half of (such restraint!) and I had a tirimisu cheesecake that I scarfed down as fast as I could.

Today we have a free day and are going to head out to what is supposed to be a good snorkel spot before we come back and get changed for our fancy luau. I'm glad I will have an occasion to wear the one dress I packed.