Posts from — February 2018

Aloha from Hawaii
On January 3rd we flew from Vancouver to Honolulu and our final destination was The Pacific Monarch Hotel in Waikiki. The flight was great we left Vancouver at 9:30 a.m. and landed in Honolulu at 2:30 p.m.
The Pacific Monarch is a block and a little bit from Waikiki Beach, so the location is perfect. We got room 3103, which is almost to the top of the building and the view is absolutely stunning.
Unfortunately Brenda was battling a late December flu and was feeling “crappy” but she is a trooper and after a few good night sleeps she was on the mend.
Early on I found a ukulele jam session right on the beach at Waikiki. In fact the groups calls itself “On the Beach” and they have been doing this for almost 50 years or 35 years depending who you talk to……………. obviously this is run by Seniors. Anyway, the gentleman (Wayne Deffenbach”) leading it this year was from The Villages in Florida. He arrives January 2nd and they “jam” every Friday and Monday until he leaves at the end of March.
After the first week we got settled into a routine. Up early watch the sunrise then go for a long walk. Back for a quick breakfast and then off for another walk or sight seeing adventure. In the afternoon we hit the beach each day and had a dip in the ocean. Then back to our room for a shower and a Mai Tai or a beer or two! In the evening most nights we would stroll Kalakaua Ave. and watch the street entertainment.
You will notice in this post there are no pictures. We brought the camera but we only packed it the day we walked around Diamond Head. I guess we have been coming to Hawaii for so long that the pictures we are taking are mental pictures and memories. We did take a few with the cellphone, but will have to wait till we get home to download them to our desk Mac and then upload to our blog.

The start of our second week on the Thursday we caught a shuttle bus to Waimea Golf Course to watch the opening round of the Hawaiian Open. We got to see a lot of the big names on the tour Jordan Speith, Justin Thomas, V.J. Singh, etc, etc. it was a great outing for the day. Then on the second Saturday we did hike around Diamond Head and ended up at the Kapiolani Community College Saturday market. It’s always interesting to see the various market items. We did change our route to get to the market this year and we arrived just before 11:00 a.m. so the merchants were already wrapping up for the day; something we didn’t anticipate when planning our walk. When we got back from the walk around Diamond Head we started to hear about the false warning regarding an imminent nuclear attack on Hawaii. I guess on the one hand it was a good thing that we had no idea about all that activity. We think your chance of survival would have been pretty slim if it would have been the real thing. Also, trust good old USA ingenuity the very next day an old guy is walking down the street with a T-shirt that said “I survived the false nuclear attack”.

One thing we did this year was that we both had our Vivosmart step counters and we kept track of the steps we did each day. We estimate that on an average day we did 16000 to 17000 steps which works out to about 14 km. Time for another Mai Tai we deserve it.
On Thursday and Sunday nights we found a traditional Kani Ka Pila on the beach behind the Waikiki police station. We never went the first week as we both were adjusting to the time difference and getting over the flu/cold. A Kani Ka Pila is like a Ukulele jam session, however the majority of the songs are Hawaiian and there are locals who join in to teach the Hula to visitors/watchers. So what happens is the leader goes around the circle and you get to play a song and everyone else joins in. If you don’t have a ukulele and are just watching then you can request a song. So, Brenda and I would plan out what song she was going to request or what song I was going to play prior to going, it made it not feel so stressful. We usually stayed about an hour or so and it made for a fun evening. I learned a few new songs and variations on some songs that we already play, so I can’t wait to get them written out so we can try them when I get home.

One other highlight was that I got to play with the ukulele performers at the Royal Grove. I was invited by the Bass player to join in with them for the evening entertainment, what a thrill to play with this group of players and hula dancers. The Royal Grove Hotel is a traditional older Waikiki hotel that is right across the street from the Pacific Monarch. They have been having these evening Hawaiian entertainment Monday night sessions since 2004. The leader (Leonard) plays the ukulele and his wife (Caroline) leads the Hula. The rest of the entertainers are made up of local ukulele or guitar players and the upright bass player; these guys are really, really good, so it was an honour to be asked to join in with them.

Our four weeks in Waikiki passed quickly and then we headed to Maui to meet up with Jeff, Lindsay, Zach and Oliver for a week in Kihei.