Some places you visit not only impress you with what you see or what you experience but some how touch you in a spiritual way. That is how I feel about Hawaii
Hawaii is a scenic paradise. There are many strange and beautiful sights above and below the water to amaze. There is much history and many places to explore. Yet what I will remember most is the language and stories of the Hawaiian people. The language is musical poetry when spoken by a native. The words also seem more descriptive than the English counter part. The history of the Hawaiian people from the journey the Polynesians took to get there, to the war to unite the islands, to the fight to become a state is more interesting than most fiction.
This history has shaped the people into a unique society who are very proud of their heritage and welcoming of others into it. If you spend some time with the right people you will want to become more Hawaiian and become part of their Ohana (family). I don't know if or when I will ever get back to Hawaii but I brought back more than pictures and stories. I now know a little more about what is is to be Hawaiian and the true meaning of Aloha. It is more than a greeting of hello or goodbye it is a state of mind and a way to live a peaceful and enjoyable life.
My wife and I spent 9 full days in Hawaii so it will be hard to explain everything we did and saw in detail so the best I can do is provide a brief summary here of what we did. We spent two days at a hotel in Wakiki and then took a 7 day cruise around the rest of the islands. This let us spend two full days at each island so we could see all the islands and their different attractions. Here is a brief list of what we did.
In Oahu
Besides spending some time visiting the beaches we spent half a day at the Polynesian cultural center which was great. This is a place where they have 7 different villages from the different Pacific islands. Each village has a show that teaches about that island. I thought the shows would be boring but they ended up being really funny, entertaining and very interesting. Then at night after dinner they had a show that was like an opera only with Hawaiian dancing and music. It was as good as any Broadway show I have seen.
In Maui
We had two days in Maui. The first day we rented a car and did some snorkeling at a couple of beaches then drove up to Haleakala (a 10,000 ft volcano) for a beautiful sunset.
The snorkeling was great and I got a picture of the humuhumu nukunuku apua a (Hawaiian for trigger fish) with the new camera.
The sunset was some what magical too.
We also learned how to use the shaka to say mahalo (thank you) to people for yielding to you on a narrow road. Unlike NJ where people give you the finger when you do something wrong. In Hawaii they give you the shaka when you do something right.
On the Big Island of Hawaii
In Hilo
We took a tour to an active volcano. I didn't see any molten lava but saw a huge crater and steam vents all over the place. We also saw some old lava fields which were really cool. I learned the different between the pahoehoe and a'a lava. The picture below is obviously a'a lava. Some how when you see it and hear the word it makes sense.
In Kona
We did a zodiac boat tour where we got up close with some non killer whales then spent some more time snorkeling. The water was clear to 100 feet so you could see the whales as they dove under and around the boat. Although I got some pictures of the whales none of them really came out that good.
In Kauai
We spend a day driving around the island and stopped at a botanical gardens. We ended up being the only ones there on the last tour and had the whole gardens to our self for an hour and a half. It was a very zen moment being able to just sit in the gardens by yourself
The second day we did a helicopter tour which was probably the best thing we did. The Na Pali coast is one of the most picturesque places I have seen which is why a lot of movies are shot here.
I took a lot of picture and am still going through them so it may be another week before I have posted them all but if you want to see what I posted so far you can look here
The main downside of our trip was the weather. Because of recent hurricanes in the area the normal trade winds that cool the islands were replace with hot humid winds from the south which meant is was 90 and humid. Since this is so abnormal for them it meant some buses and buildings were not built for this so there was a lot of sweating going on. Hawaii is a very expensive place to live and visit and they don't have a lot of high paying jobs which means most people have to live with extended family or work multiple jobs to make ends meet.The other funny and annoying thing about Hawaii is they have wild chickens all over the place so as you are looking at the beautiful scenery you hear the constant crowing of rosters.
If you enjoy the water, especially surfing, and want a relaxing place to visit or live you can easily overlook some of Hawaii drawbacks. There are other islands in the Caribbean that have beaches that are almost as nice and picturesque so if you just want a good beach there are places a lot closer than Hawaii. However if you want to visit a tropical paradise and be taken in by the culture and spirit of a people you should visit Hawaii at least once so that you can understand the true meaning of Aloha.
