After nearly two years of not really going anywhere worth blogging about (do you really want to hear about my 48 hours at a convention center in North Carolina?) I was lucky enough to go on a real vacation with my family. Not a quick weekend getaway -- a real week of relaxing.
Let's talk about sun. I'm pale as heck. I'm also from the Midwest, where winter is five months long and my college encourages students to go sit under a heat lamp in the counseling center to keep the entire student body from getting wildly depressed all winter. So if you hand me a plane ticket that says "Honolulu," me and my several bottles of SPF 70 will be there in a heartbeat.
It's really an eight-hour heartbeat, but you do what you have to. We spent the first few days just lounging around the beach and the pool, soaking in the sun and eating papayas. Few things are as deliciously simple and simply delicious as half a papaya with lime juice squeezed over it. I definitely went on a bit of a health kick this week.
After a couple of days of being beach potatoes, we decided to check out some of the local scenery. I love to hike and I love volcanoes, so naturally I pushed for us to hike a volcano. Of course, you can't hike an active or dormant volcano -- risk of fiery death and all that -- so I settled for a volcanic tuff cone -- a high ring of craggy hills created by the ash fallout from an ancient volcano. The Diamond Head volcano, Lē'ahi, last erupted about 150,000 years ago, and its ash fallout created a distinctive tuff cone that rises 700 feet above the surrounding landscape. Located on the O'ahu coastline, the cone is a natural fort, and was home to U.S. Army's Fort Ruger (now a small National Guard base) that defended the island with 12-inch mortars built into the mountainside from 1906 through the end of World War II.
The hike is only a mile long, but it isn't for the faint of heart. It takes over an hour to reach the top via a steep, winding pathway, a long cave cut straight through the rock, and 173 very steep stairs. We were downing water like crazy, and we had to stop about 45 minutes in when my mom got very dehydrated. It's certainly not a walk on the beach, but the views from the top are incredible. The old army fortifications are still in place, including a false peak at the top of the hill that hides several large mortars. You can see the entire south shoreline of O'ahu and a huge swath of the Pacific Ocean. Some French hipster was blaring the Chainsmokers on his portable Bluetooth speakers, although he entirely failed to give the peak whatever vibe he was going for.
After a considerably less difficult downward climb (thanks, gravity), we went back to lounging on the beach for the rest of the afternoon and turned in early so we could make our 6:30am bus.
Where in the world do you take a bus to on a tropical island at 6:30 in the morning? To Pearl Harbor. Our bus driver was a pleasant guy, although he seemed to struggle with setting the mood. It is difficult to find a balance between "get excited, it's 6:30am" and "thousands of brave American soldiers gave their lives here." Pearl Harbor is hard place to describe. The best I can accurately do is call it very beautiful in a very sad, solemn way, full of tradition and respect and tragedy that feel both at odds with and perfectly at home in the beauty of the surrounding island paradise. We took a small Navy tour boat out to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, part of the Valor in the Pacific National Monument. 75 years ago, 2,471 people (sailors and a few civilians) died during the Japanese raid on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base. 49% of the military casualties were on board the battleship Arizona, and most of them remain entombed onboard the ship, which lies just below the surface of the shallow harbor. Survivors may have their ashes placed inside the ship by Navy divers, and only 4 military survivors of the attack are still alive today. The beautiful memorial building sits over and perpendicular to the wreck, and some of the gun turrets are still easily visible protruding above the water. The Arizona is still full of fuel, leaking about 2 liters of oil into the water a day, giving the water around the memorial an eerie rainbow hue. The ship itself is now covered in coral, tropical fish, and tiny blue crabs, slowly but surely rusting away into the coastline of Ford Island.
We spent the majority of the day at Pearl Harbor, exploring all its many museums as well as the decommissioned submarine U.S.S. Bowfin. My dad absolutely insisted upon having his own little photo shoot with the submarine's torpedoes. It was a long and somewhat emotionally tiring day, but I'm glad I went to such an important historic site.
One of my last noteworthy adventures on O'ahu (because let's be honest, it was 90% lounging on the beach and at the pool) was our ocean day on the south shore. My sister made reservations through a water sports company for us to go on a little well-organized adventure out in Maunalua Bay, where I finally realized my dream of going parasailing. We were shuttled by speedboat far out into the bay, where they strapped my dad and me onto a huge parachute with a not-very-reassuring smiley face painted on it and launched us into the sky. It was some of the most fun I've ever had. The parasail reaches about 50-60 feet above the ocean surface, and the water is so clear and blue that you can see little green fish swimming in the shallower water. Before they reeled us back onto the boat, they lowered the sail and dipped us into the bay, at which point my dad decided it would be fun to "try to run on the water," which I think was just an elaborate excuse for splashing me in the face. I got to go for a second spin with my mom, since my sister prefers to stay at sea level.
Later in the afternoon, we rented some snorkels and headed out to nearby Hanauma Bay. Hanauma Bay is an ancient, partially-flooded volcanic crater that is home to a thriving coral reef in the shallow waters near shore. It is also part of a wildlife reserve, so the species live in relative comfort and safety and aren't at all bothered by snorkelers. The only rule is that you can't touch anything, but honestly, you don't want to touch coral anyway. It's razor sharp.
About thirty seconds into my first time snorkeling an actual coral reef, I was surprised by an enormous parrotfish, as well as tons and tons of other colorful species. They didn't mind at all that I was paddling around inches above them. I saw cornetfish, triggerfish, parrotfish, tons of convict tangs, and Hawaii's official state fish: a colorful, big-lipped little critter called the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. No joke. It means "the fish that snorts like a pig" because, well, that's what it does. It was incredible. I would love to go back and spend a whole day just cruising around in my fins and mask and hopefully manage to get more than four seconds of video before my sport camera dies.
After a few days of adventure, I had just a day or two left of beach-potatoing before I had to head back to the mainland for the spring semester. My dad had been telling me that if you walked down the street from the hotel a little, there was a place where you could see green sea turtles. The way he talked about it, I got the impression that it was some kind of nature center where you could stand in a sea turtle tank, which sounded pretty alright, but I was delightfully surprised when my parents led me out to a tiny natural cove, just a few hundred yards from our hotel, where turtles cruise in over the reef to relax in the shallow, protected waters of Paradise Cove. Five minutes in, my dad disgruntledly declared, "There are no turtles here today!" at which point my mom promptly announced, "Turtle!" There was a smallish green sea turtle, about two and a half feet long, gliding gracefully over the sandy bottom right next to her. Within a few minutes, there were three sea turtles, all happily sailing around and poking their tiny, adorable heads up for air. Touching or otherwise bothering the turtles is strictly not allowed, so I calmly waded a few feet behind it, circling around to get a great video of the little cutie swimming right around me, within inches of my legs. They don't seem bothered by people at all, as long as you are calm and respectful of them. I'm fairly certain sea turtles are my favorite animal.
I had to head back a little early to make it to school in time for the start of spring semester (my lucky sister doesn't start her spring semester for another three weeks so she gets an extra two days in paradise), but the flight is shorter on the way east, and I slept for most of the seven and a half hours on the plane. I'm currently sitting in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, waiting for my connecting flight, taking advantage of the free wifi, and absolutely hating the amount of snow that's on the tarmac.
It was 70 degrees warmer in Hawai'i. Take me back!