So Mike Pooh made the big jump and decided to get married, and Jen being from Hawaii, then so it was. I went there to share that magical moment and took the opportunity to see some people I had not seen in ages and explore that unknown ocean (to me).
Thus arriving in Honolulu on Tuesday, the initial plan was to go hiking and sea kayaking in Lihue, but not finding a suitable return flight, I picked another island (it is pretty cool you can pick any island and have a great time), and so it was Maui.
There I did the classic drive to Hana (which is similar to the drive to Osma (a beach in Venezuela)). I had a cool master plan to hike up Haleakala directly from that side of the island for a whopping 3000m gain!!, but when I saw the statistic that the windward side of the island gets 400in. of rain a year and that the leeward side gets just around 20in. and having this realization under a downpour, I decided it would be wiser to go to the dry side!!
There, mastering the LateStart [(c) Sosnowski 2000] technique I started up mountain at 4pm, thinking that I could be up at the summit at 7pm. Unfortunately I had read the name of the trails chalantly, and only later I understood the meaning of a trail called "Sliding Trail"...which is similar to walking on a very long beach that is tilted 30 degrees for hours on end.
Having hiked, the next day was Snorkling. I wanted to do the standard Molokini (a crest island that jousts out of the water that is super cool and unique) trip that left really early. So I was there really early, unfortunately at 6am it is impossible to go without a reservation. After looking around for other options, I was proposed the "Molokini Express" from Bluewater Rafters, which turned out to be super fun, even if I would not recommended to my parents (but yes to my friend Robert which went out with them just few days later). Nothing textual to add, just look at the pictures! (I rented for $20 an underwater camera)
Back in Honolulu, Mike invited us to meet the other guests and to visit a nice little place to hang out.
The next day, we still needed to do another modality: Biking. The initial plan was bigger, badder, and worse. We opted for a 40 mile loop with beach stops, good food, nice views which worked great. Ajay thought he would bailed, but once he made it to the other side, he had no choice but to complete the loop. The other fellow, Mr Nick, is akin to sandbagging in climbing, he was making a fuzz about the distance, when in fact he was in the biking team!! and he dusted us behind. The ride was very pretty through very tropical rain forest.
The day of Mike's wedding (remember what we came here for?) I did one last loop (16mi) before returning the bike, although the loop turned to be longer than I expected and I almost arrived late at the wedding. I managed fine, and I was even able to improvise and export a classical wedding game of roles of the bride and groom to conclude that Mike and Jen are well aware and coordinated about each other's role in the couple.
And of course, you thought we would have forgotten?! no trip to Hawaii is complete without Surfing lessons! we took some the day after, and we did manage to catch some radical waves dude! (well really some, for me like 4, but still fun).
More pictures at Nick's Piccasa Album or
Robert's Album
