After diving, we took (free) hot showers at the public pool, ate pu pu platters and fish and chips for lunch, and went souvenir shopping at a nearby strip mall. I bought a turtle necklace (which you will be seeing a lot of from this point on) and turtle magnet because after our diving trip, I was now one with the turtles.
We “hung” our wet clothes and towels inside the Westie in hopes that they would dry and set off for Haleakala National Park.
You may wonder how someone who claims to be terrified of the ocean became open water scuba certified. I can blame Sly for that. Back when we first started dating on opposite coasts we semi-planned to meet up at a friend’s place in the Bahamas. Sly mentioned that he liked scuba diving and I thought it would be wrong to NOT go diving if we were in the Bahamas. I secretly took a diving certification class thinking that when we arrived in the Bahamas I would surprise Sly with a diving trip. As it turned out we never made it to the Bahamas due to scheduling conflicts AND I came to find out that Sly was actually NOT certified (or he was certified overseas at some weird place a long time ago). Awesome. Right before leaving for Hawaii, Sly had to finish up his SCUBA certification coarse so that we could dive together. After all that I was not letting my SCUBA creds to to waste!
The most common dives are either shore dives or boat dives. In a boat dive you get up early, board a boat, head out on the *shudder* open water and typically complete two dives with a break in between. A friend of ours recommended Mike Severn’s diving company. We met up with our group around 6 am or so and were fitted for shoes, wet suits (I swear I always get the WORST suits. I’m pretty sure they gave me a men’s suit too because…well…extra room in the crotch that kept filling with water when diving), and weights.
And so it began. A journey into the heart of darkness…
I can’t believe it’s been seven years since we were last in Hawaii. Everything seems so similar yet so different. I can’t tell if things really have changed that much or if my memory has become that bad.
The last time we were in Hawaii was in 2008. We rented a VW campervan and camped all around Oahu and Maui sleeping any place that would allow or at least tolerate us being there for a night. This included the side of the road and illegally camping on a beach (we didn’t know it wasn’t allowed). I mysteriously lost most of the shorts I had packed — how is still a mystery, but we think they fell out of the van somehow? — so I had like one pair of ugly brown culotte type pants that I pretty much wore the entire trip. I hated those shorts. We ate so much passion fruit and so much spam — I never really liked Spam much before then but now whenever I eat it, it reminds me of Hawaii. It was our first trip together. and the first time I met Sly’s side of the family.
So much happened on that trip — so many memories. I’m sure I’ll recap it all in excruciating detail one of these days, but for now a video I made way back when (back when I actually edited my crummy video clips to cheesy music) — on our FIRST trip to Hawaii (Oahu and Maui) — that pretty much sums it all.
PS — I usually pick music that reminds me of our trip. In this case, this song played NONSTOP when we were in Hawaii back then. Years later, this song is still going strong on the Hawaiian airwaves… Good to know some things never change.
if only a traveler’s photo filter existed that masked being sweaty, dirty, and tired
I have lived two Sundays. When July 26 was over and done with in China, I boarded a plane in the wee hours of the 27th and flew 9 hrs to Hawaii — where it was still 5:30 pm Sunday. I guess time travel does exist.
I will make up for it flying back — one (or is it two?) days will disappear from my life completely. Those day(s) will never exist for me.
From Korea my path separated from Sly’s as he had a direct flight (paid for by work – the reason we’re in Hawaii, or at least Sly’s reason. I’m just tagging along) and I took a much cheaper indirect, 15+hour layover flight to Beijing.
Once in Beijing I obtained a 72hr visa and then, without the aid of a smartphone, (bc I couldn’t find a sim card machine) set out on my own to explore the city with a blurry, barely legible, subway map I thankfully found at the train station.
It’s been a really long time since I traveled anywhere overseas alone and a huge part of me wanted to just stay put in the airport where it was safe and sound and air conditioned. But then the larger, more curious side of me always seems to win in these matters.
15 hours is a lot of time to do a good bit of exploring.
On a sticky, hot, humid Saturday afternoon, we — like many other Korean couples — took a stroll through the charmingly quaint streets of Samcheong-dong. Nestled between two palaces and the President’s house, the hilly neighborhood with it’s mix of Bukchon Hanok (Korean traditional houses), adorable cafes, mountain views, and streets lined with artist vendors quickly became a favorite of mine.
It felt more like a Korean version of a small European town or Main Street USA. or like my old SF neighborhood in Noe. For a moment I forget we were in the concrete jungle of Seoul.
