Blog 35 - Oahu Hawaii

Time flies when you're having fun… My last two weeks in Hawai'i were over before I realized it… Lot's of surf and some yoga @ Waikiki. I didn't have to use Travis 8'6'' too often, because a new south swell hit O'ahu, so that was great. On Sunday I met Eduardo (Dudu), I found him on couchsurfing.com and was going to stay at his place for a couple of days later that week. We went to surf Publics, a reefbreak @ Waikiki. Pretty shallow… The rest of the week… surf, beach, books… On Wednesday I taught a surfing lesson! 3 girls from the hostel were very keen on learning how to surf and asked me to teach them… was really nice to get some extra cash…

In the afternoon I went to the Ala Moana center (big mall) to see if there was a ukulele shop there (had some money now). I borrowed a bike from Travis (another Travis, not the guy with the 8'6'' surfboard). It was abmx, so not the most comfortable bike ever, but at least I didn't have to walk or catch the bus. No ukulele's at the mall though, but when I passed the ukulele shop where I went before (on my way back), I walked in again and did find a nice one, so now I have a ukulele!

Thursday morning I surfed Diamond Head with Jamie. Diamond Head is a reef break as well, but a really nice one! Although it's again quite shallow, the wave is kind of mellow if you take of at the right spot…

It's quite a walk from the hostel to Diamond Head. Luckily Jamie had a moped. We put the boards in the surf rack and took of. Unluckily there wasn't enough fuel to get us all the way to Diamond Head! We didn't know… so we had to walk the last kilometer and all the way back, well, nearly all the way.. downhill we just hopped on and had a free ride…

Later that morning Dudu picked me up from the hostel and we drove to his place on the East coast near Sandy Beach. We went for a surf later that afternoon and had a typical American dinner: pizza & beer…

On Friday I was so tired! As Dudu went to work, I borrowed the car to chill out at the beach. The waves weren't good that day: there was a heavy shore break and the body boarders were having a great time!! In the evening we watched a film (the Island) and we got up early to go for a surf at Sandy Beach. The waves were better again and the rest of the day we chilled on the beach… what a life!

Sunday we both slept in late and in the afternoon we did a bit of sight seeing.. we went to Halona Cave: a tiny and very pretty beach. Went for a swim there and chilled… In the evening Dudu dropped me of at the hostel again, where I walked into Warren, an English windsurfer who was about to buy a Volkswagen combi (a blue one) and, since he just started surfing as well, we agreed on going for a surf together somewhere that week.

The room (girls dorm) they put me in this time was great!! Nora, a girl I met the week before in the hostel was in my room and she's só nice. Then there were a couple of Irish girls in the room, Ashley and Katie and an English girl named Pam(ela).

Monday morning I went for a surf @ Waikiki. The waves were quite small, but a girl in the dorm next to ours borrowed me her NSP 8'6'', so I had a really nice surf anyway… hypes of rides. After that Pam and I went to the beach together. As we walked back to the hostel, we ran into Warren again and we decided to go for a surf the next day.

Back in the room I askedif someone was interested in going for arun ( I know.. too much energy that day) and Pamela and Katie said yes! So we went for a run, although Pam gave up after about 5 minutes… Katie is quite active though so we ran for nearly an hour with a 15 minute break for some other exercises.. Quite tired after that, so an early night..

On Tuesday I wanted to go for a surf and Jamie as well, so we were going to meet at the main beach, but couldn't find each other! That was really annoying… The other annoying bit wwas that is was nearly as flat as a pancake, so after lying on the grass in the sun for 20 minutes I decided to walk back to the hostel… no surf today… When Warren passed by, the waves were still crap, so we went for a walk and a drink and some food instead.. I had to go back to the hostel to get my drivers license, because you're not allowed to drink alcohol without one when you look younger than 40…. There is a hotel in Waikiki that's got an glass elevator and the view from the top is amazing (check pic's) We had dinner (my first hot meal in Hawai'i besides the pizza) at the cheesecake factory: cheap, big portions and the food was actually not bad at all. We shared the pasta and the dessert (We couldn't even finish the desert! And Djoeke, you would have loved it…) and I was só full afterwards!

On Wednesday I had to get up really early, because Pam, me and 2 friend of Pam, Tierra, and Heather (from California) went on a roadtrip to the North Shore. We hired a car for the day and took of. On our wayover there we passed Kailua Beach (where we hang out for a bit) and the La'ie Hawaii temple (temple of the Mormons). On the North Shore we chilled at Sunset Beach, went to see Ehukai Beach: Pipeline: completely flat… Pam and I did some snorkelling at Shark's cove and Heather and I did some cliff jumping at Waimea Beach. We drove to Hale'iwa where we did some shopping, looked at the sunset and had dinner at a really nice Thai place that Davis (from reception) recommended: Hale'iwa eats. We had an awesome day and took some really nice pic's! We got back around 10.30pm and after a shower, Davis and I went to a really nice, tiny Jazz Club.. there was this man (Pierre) playing piano, trumpet (with his right hand) and bass (with his left foot) at the same time and the woman played the bongo's and sang… it was great! There were only about 12 people in there, so really intimate. We got back around 2am and I went straight to bed, cause the next morning we had to bring the car back to the rental company.

After that, we had breakfast and I started packing, since I was going to leave the next morning… Warren passed by later that day to say that he was going to windsurf… still no waves (we were going to give the surf another try, but no luck)… Warren knew this guy in the park that gave yoga lessons in the afternoon, so we did go there around 5pm and Sara (works at reception) came along… but… the guy never showed up!! So we did our own yoga practice, which was actually not too bad… I still feel it now! (3 days later). After the yoga we went for a swim in the ocean… my last swim @ Waikiki… On my last night we went for a drink and some food again (3 days in a row with proper dinner!) and the next morning.. early.. I took the shuttle bus towards the airport.

There's a story as well… I was supposed to fly with Air Pacific… straight to Vancouver… but they don't fly to Vancouver anymore, so they changed my flights: had to fly with Alaska Air: Seattle - Vancouver, arriving at midnight… No (free) meals on the plain and paying to bring luggage along… Somehow I got away with not paying for my luggage… This lady that checked me in was very comprehensiveand as I explained the whole thing and told her that so far I never had to pay for my boards/ luggage before, she was sorry for me I guess and just checked me in without asking me for any money… Jeee!

In Seattle I had about an hour to get out of the plain and check in again, but that was enough…

In Vancouver… well… I'll write that down in my next blog….