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Posted 06-27-2009 at 02:57 AM by TexasCasey
June 25, 2009: Today is 4 weeks since I arrived. I have had the double-dip of: 1) going, going, going & 2) the island-time syndrome with oceanic cable to end up not having any internet connection. It should be hooked up tomorrow & if this blog update hits my page on Friday, that will be a pretty good sign that it all went successful. If not, then I’ll bet it will work itself out sooner or later. Anyhow, I am going to touch on a few highlights of my first month living in Hawaii:
*May 28: Arrived at airport in Dallas on time; woke up early, got on internet & for $300 was able to upgrade the flight to first-class, baby!; Flight to Phoenix was on-time & great; Couple hours layover, was uneventful; Flight to Kona was on-time & great – that long of a flight, 300 bucks was well worth it.
Arrived in Kona & went to the car rental center just to find out that I couldn’t rent a car. 3 factors played against me here. 1) My one-way ticket, tells them that they don’t know when their car will be returned. 2) As a local, you must have a physical address for them to rent to you, which of course I did not have at that time. 3) They can get by all of this, with a major credit card, which I do not have, nor desire to have. So after about an hour of scrambling, I called a cab & made it down to Alii dr. Had my bags, no car, no bed & no worries. I felt pretty sure that I could get a room for a few days at Uncle Billy’s, which I did.
*May 29: Got up, way too early, which I assume is normal, going west 5 time zones. Made some coffee & went down to the little beach by King Kam hotel to watch the day start. Then I walked up to Mickey D’s for a little breakfast (of course I wanted something I could never get in Dallas!) Once I got back to my room, I got on-line & on the phone and start searching for a cheap vehicle of some kind – just something that I feel comfortable will get around for about 6 months. By noon I had parted with a little money & was the proud new owner of my own island rambler (199? Mitsubishi Montero – looks kinda like a jeep). It is all legal & runs, although I am not sure how or for how long on either point. Now I got wheels, time to go find some snorkel gear & hit the water – which I did at Kahaluu beach. Snorkeled a bit; found some lunch (Fish hopper: wow, on the clam chowder); drove around a bit; snorkeled a little more at sunset; found some dinner; the day just kind of went by & went away.
*May 30 (& 31): Back on track, woke up about 6:30. Went down to grab a paper & started hunting on-line for some place to live. Lots of phone calls & e-mails; several appointments to go look at places over these couple of days. By the end of the day on Sunday (the 31st), I picked out a place that I thought would work out real nice for a couple of months.
*June 1: Loaded all my stuff (both bags & my snorkel gear) into my car & went down to sign a lease at a place on Alii, real close to Royal Poincianna. Signed a 3 month lease. The place is more like an apartment than anything else, but it is not an apartment complex. The people that owned the land, built these 2 buildings & just rent out the 12 units. My place is on 2nd floor, 1br & bath; Furnished enough to get me by; All utilities (except for internet & cable – which I had thought was included); Front windows face the ocean, with a wonderful view, from across the street; Rear windows look straight up the mountain – amazing at night; The winds blow through perfectly & I like the whole set-up. I haven’t closed a window, since I moved in… A few days ago, I was on the phone with a friend & they said something about AC, I ended up walking around my apartment & realized I don’t even have any. That is just fine with me!
*June 1 to June 24: At this point I was feeling pretty good about things. I even found someone close by that I was able to scrounge off of an un-secrured internet connection for a few days (but that eventually went away for some reason). The next 3 weeks have really been a blur of nothingness & just going & doing whatever I want, whenever I want. Oh my, that sounds so selfish… & I guess it is… but at this point in my life, with no other responsibilities, that was my goal, when I started all of this.
Highlights so far:
#1, #2 & #3, by far the most amazing thing I have done is diving with the Manta Rays. I have gone on this dive 3 times now. The first time I was setting myself up for a little bit of a disappointment – no way could this be as all of that, that everyone says. Well, I was wrong - completely wrong. It is all of that & a bag of chips! We dropped into the water, about 50-100 yards or so outside of the “campfire” area. The dive master explained that we would swim over to the meeting area & find a place to sit on the ocean floor & just watch the show. As we were approaching the meeting area, I glimpsed my first manta… it was real! They really were there! & they really were amazing! I spent the next 35-45 minutes fighting buoyancy problems on & off, fiddling my camera on & off & just sitting there with my mouth agape & forgetting to breath. A few times that I did settle in & get comfortable, these creatures (there were only 3 at the site this night, but I would have never known there were any less that a dozen, until someone told me later on) just floated over me, around me, next to me in such an amazing way. I still cannot find the words to express the gracefulness & majesty of these animal & the amazement of the way that they interact with us humans. I am going to shut up now, or I will type pages & pages, while never really saying anything else. The second dive, I did a much better job with buoyancy & was just as thrilled with the 9 to 11 mantas that showed up this night & got a few more pics. The third dive (last night)…I never really thought that any dive could be better than that first night I went out. But this night, I must say that I spent the entire 55 minutes of this dive comfortable & settled into my little campfire spot & truly watched the show. I left the camera behind & worked out all the buoyancy issues. As soon as we settled in, I just laid there & was amazed the entire time as 5 mantas put on a show of barrel rolls & touch & go landings that all occurred right on top of my head. Several times, one of the mantas actually made me duck to avoid ending up in his mouth at the end of his barrel rolls. I just know that he was doing this intentionally. Well, in case you haven’t figured out my subtlety on this subject… I likes this! If I go broke spending all of my money to spend time with these mantas, I will have gone broke, happily!
I also went surfing for the first - and probably last, although never say never - time. It was fun & I can definitely see how so many people get hooked on it. I really think my problem was some combination of age, not the best of conditioning, definitely too much weight on my body to stand up that quickly and I think a lack of balnce or agility. I’m not sure, but I know that I just never really got it. I did get up on the board, on a wave a couple of times. Very short times. I also scorched my back… that too has passed.
I keep my snorkel gear & a swim suit in the car. Many times I have been happy about this bit of advice I received. Lots of snorkeling at a few of the Kona beaches. Lots of sunset picture moments. Lots of just cruising around & loving the weather. Lots of shopping & learning tricks on how & when to shop around here. Lots of garage sales. I have been gathering a pretty good set of gear to go hiking/backing, in the near future. I could just keep talking and rambling now for quite some time… but I am going to wrap it up for now. Oh & yes, on-line again... Till next time, Aloha!
*May 28: Arrived at airport in Dallas on time; woke up early, got on internet & for $300 was able to upgrade the flight to first-class, baby!; Flight to Phoenix was on-time & great; Couple hours layover, was uneventful; Flight to Kona was on-time & great – that long of a flight, 300 bucks was well worth it.
Arrived in Kona & went to the car rental center just to find out that I couldn’t rent a car. 3 factors played against me here. 1) My one-way ticket, tells them that they don’t know when their car will be returned. 2) As a local, you must have a physical address for them to rent to you, which of course I did not have at that time. 3) They can get by all of this, with a major credit card, which I do not have, nor desire to have. So after about an hour of scrambling, I called a cab & made it down to Alii dr. Had my bags, no car, no bed & no worries. I felt pretty sure that I could get a room for a few days at Uncle Billy’s, which I did.
*May 29: Got up, way too early, which I assume is normal, going west 5 time zones. Made some coffee & went down to the little beach by King Kam hotel to watch the day start. Then I walked up to Mickey D’s for a little breakfast (of course I wanted something I could never get in Dallas!) Once I got back to my room, I got on-line & on the phone and start searching for a cheap vehicle of some kind – just something that I feel comfortable will get around for about 6 months. By noon I had parted with a little money & was the proud new owner of my own island rambler (199? Mitsubishi Montero – looks kinda like a jeep). It is all legal & runs, although I am not sure how or for how long on either point. Now I got wheels, time to go find some snorkel gear & hit the water – which I did at Kahaluu beach. Snorkeled a bit; found some lunch (Fish hopper: wow, on the clam chowder); drove around a bit; snorkeled a little more at sunset; found some dinner; the day just kind of went by & went away.
*May 30 (& 31): Back on track, woke up about 6:30. Went down to grab a paper & started hunting on-line for some place to live. Lots of phone calls & e-mails; several appointments to go look at places over these couple of days. By the end of the day on Sunday (the 31st), I picked out a place that I thought would work out real nice for a couple of months.
*June 1: Loaded all my stuff (both bags & my snorkel gear) into my car & went down to sign a lease at a place on Alii, real close to Royal Poincianna. Signed a 3 month lease. The place is more like an apartment than anything else, but it is not an apartment complex. The people that owned the land, built these 2 buildings & just rent out the 12 units. My place is on 2nd floor, 1br & bath; Furnished enough to get me by; All utilities (except for internet & cable – which I had thought was included); Front windows face the ocean, with a wonderful view, from across the street; Rear windows look straight up the mountain – amazing at night; The winds blow through perfectly & I like the whole set-up. I haven’t closed a window, since I moved in… A few days ago, I was on the phone with a friend & they said something about AC, I ended up walking around my apartment & realized I don’t even have any. That is just fine with me!
*June 1 to June 24: At this point I was feeling pretty good about things. I even found someone close by that I was able to scrounge off of an un-secrured internet connection for a few days (but that eventually went away for some reason). The next 3 weeks have really been a blur of nothingness & just going & doing whatever I want, whenever I want. Oh my, that sounds so selfish… & I guess it is… but at this point in my life, with no other responsibilities, that was my goal, when I started all of this.
Highlights so far:
#1, #2 & #3, by far the most amazing thing I have done is diving with the Manta Rays. I have gone on this dive 3 times now. The first time I was setting myself up for a little bit of a disappointment – no way could this be as all of that, that everyone says. Well, I was wrong - completely wrong. It is all of that & a bag of chips! We dropped into the water, about 50-100 yards or so outside of the “campfire” area. The dive master explained that we would swim over to the meeting area & find a place to sit on the ocean floor & just watch the show. As we were approaching the meeting area, I glimpsed my first manta… it was real! They really were there! & they really were amazing! I spent the next 35-45 minutes fighting buoyancy problems on & off, fiddling my camera on & off & just sitting there with my mouth agape & forgetting to breath. A few times that I did settle in & get comfortable, these creatures (there were only 3 at the site this night, but I would have never known there were any less that a dozen, until someone told me later on) just floated over me, around me, next to me in such an amazing way. I still cannot find the words to express the gracefulness & majesty of these animal & the amazement of the way that they interact with us humans. I am going to shut up now, or I will type pages & pages, while never really saying anything else. The second dive, I did a much better job with buoyancy & was just as thrilled with the 9 to 11 mantas that showed up this night & got a few more pics. The third dive (last night)…I never really thought that any dive could be better than that first night I went out. But this night, I must say that I spent the entire 55 minutes of this dive comfortable & settled into my little campfire spot & truly watched the show. I left the camera behind & worked out all the buoyancy issues. As soon as we settled in, I just laid there & was amazed the entire time as 5 mantas put on a show of barrel rolls & touch & go landings that all occurred right on top of my head. Several times, one of the mantas actually made me duck to avoid ending up in his mouth at the end of his barrel rolls. I just know that he was doing this intentionally. Well, in case you haven’t figured out my subtlety on this subject… I likes this! If I go broke spending all of my money to spend time with these mantas, I will have gone broke, happily!
I also went surfing for the first - and probably last, although never say never - time. It was fun & I can definitely see how so many people get hooked on it. I really think my problem was some combination of age, not the best of conditioning, definitely too much weight on my body to stand up that quickly and I think a lack of balnce or agility. I’m not sure, but I know that I just never really got it. I did get up on the board, on a wave a couple of times. Very short times. I also scorched my back… that too has passed.
I keep my snorkel gear & a swim suit in the car. Many times I have been happy about this bit of advice I received. Lots of snorkeling at a few of the Kona beaches. Lots of sunset picture moments. Lots of just cruising around & loving the weather. Lots of shopping & learning tricks on how & when to shop around here. Lots of garage sales. I have been gathering a pretty good set of gear to go hiking/backing, in the near future. I could just keep talking and rambling now for quite some time… but I am going to wrap it up for now. Oh & yes, on-line again... Till next time, Aloha!
Total Comments 1
Comments
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I was just thinking about you yesterday, wondering how you were enjoying your adventure.
Sounds like you are doing great. Certainly something to remember for a lifetime!
Thanks for sharing it with us.Posted 06-27-2009 at 09:34 PM by yukiko11
