Month: June 2015

Monday

June 29th, 2015

Who comes to Oahu and doesn’t spend some time on the beach at Waikiki?  That certainly was on our list of must dos.  Since we were signed up for a luau that would pick us up at 4:00, we decided this would be a day to sleep in, go for breakfast, and then head for the beach.

Waikiki, is spite of the string of high-rise hotels, ABC stores, and specialty stores galore, is really beautiful.  We browsed through some shops then hopped onto the beach.  We set up our towels under a shady palm tree and took turns swimming in beautiful clear aqua blue water.  It was sunny, hot, and in the 80’s.

We took the hotel shuttle back to our hotel, got showered and headed to the meeting place to catch the bus to the Germaine Luau. It wa a hour and a half bus ride to the site which was on the leeward or west side of the island. Our escort was named Chad; he looked about 16, was quite comedian and  kept up a lively dialogue. We even played bus games and sang a humorous rendition of Old MacDonald with those on the bus participating on the way back to Honolulu.

I had been to a luau previously. The Germaine Luau was smaller with only about 150 guests tonight. They pulled the roasted pig out of the pit and proceeded with our buffet. There was a lot of audience participation like women volunteers learning to dance the hula and a men’s hula competition. Betty and I opted out of the hula instruction. There was one hula dancer from the show who came on stage with her back to the audience. She had on a grass skirt but no top across her back. I noticed the men paid careful attention to her swaying, anxiously awaiting for her to turn around. Unfortunately for the men, when she did, she had two strategically placed coconuts securely in place.

Can you believe it; I was still awake by the time we returned to the Hawaiian Prince at 10?  That proves that the luau  was indeed a successful evening! Got to get some rest for more adventures tomorrow!

Continue reading “USS Arizona and Aloha Swap Meet”

Saturday, July 27th, 2015

Today was the day for the Lions Club International Parade.   There are about 20,000 Lions club attendees at the convention.   It was neat to see delegations from all over the world wearing their native costumes and/or outfits representing their club.   Betty had borrowed  a loden green PA Lions shirt for me to wear, had the appropriate pins and even a small PA flag for me to wave.   Our PA group was 38th in parade order.   As we walked it was neat to see so many people wave back and cheer as we passed.   I can see how international conventions like this do a lot for building community worldwide.   Quite a contrast to all the bad you see on the evening news each night!

We spent a relaxing afternoon at the pool here at the Hawaiian Prince Hotel.   Then we got ready for the International Show at the Convention Center this evening.  It was a rock music extravaganza.   Since most of the audience was older, we were surprised at this choice of entertainment.    The groups performing were Journey, Jefferson Starship and Kenny Loggins.   Betty knew a lot of the songs such as Journey’s Anyway You Want It and Jefferson Starships’ Sarah.    I recognized a few but not many.   I did recognize Your Momma Don’t Dance and Your Daddy Don’t Rock n Roll and Footloose by Kenny Loggins.    I must say this concert was a quite different that my usual Saturday evening back in Blandon.

Tomorrow we are headed for Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona.  We need to catch the 7:21 am bus.   Hope we make it!

Friday, June 26th

For those you who do not  know, I am in Hawaii.  I accompanied my friend Betty Murphy to the International Lions Club Convention in Honolulu.   We left yesterday on  a  7:30 am flight from Philadelphia and with two flights and a delayed layover in LA, we arrived at our hotel last night around 7 pm Honolulu time.   Since they are 6 hours behind us, it was about 1 am back home.  We were exhausted!

Today was the day we planned to head to the windward side of Oahu to Hanauma Bay.  This is a  natural preserve noted for great snorkel.   I had called ahead and wrote down in great detail how to catch bus 22 to this beach.   Unfortunately I asked the hotel staff and they told us to take bus 23.  That was not correct, but a  kind bus driver helped us find the correct bus stop to catch 22.  However by this time we missed the 8:00 bus and found out the next bus wasn’t until 9.  After sitting for about 15 minutes, a guy in a not so great looking van pulled up and said he would take us to Hanauman Bay for 5 bucks each.   I decided to jump on the chance, although I could tell Betty thought I had lost my mind.   The van driver stopped at several bus stops trying to get more passengers and finally a guy from Belgium was added.  In  our conversation with him, we found out he was a policeman.   Then Betty ( and I ) felt much better.  I am happy to report that we got to our destination just fine and a lot faster because of my rash decision!

Hanauma Bay was once a volcanic crater and is now just a visual delight!  You really didn’t have to swim very far to be over reef with  lots of colorful fish.  I loved every minute of this place and wished we could have stayed longer.

We had to catch the 12:30 bus for Sea Life Park, about a 15 minute drive from the bay.  Betty had signed up for a session to swim with the dolphins at 3:15.   We did have time to take in a dophin show and a lion show before her swim.  I watched and  was the designated photographer.  Luckily their was a real photographer on hand as well.

We caught the 5:00 bus back to our hotel and were quite pleased with ourselves for our first day’s adventure.  After a dinner  at a restaurant down the street, we were once again exhausted and called it a day!   We did everything we had planned.   So far, so good.   Stayed turned for Day 2 of our Hawaii adventures!