[travel log] day 2 in hawaii - oahu

ok,
day 2 here
did i mention how hot it was here?
or did i block it out of my mind
i realize
there are many people
who would trade places with me in an instant
but i seriously
don't do that well in heat
it's about 30C during the day
and humid and sticky
this morning
i got up at 4:30am
putzed around my hotel room
getting ready to go diving
and i decided to leave earlier
which i was glad i did
left shortly after 5am for north shore
made it there in the dark
and as i arrived
the sun started to rise
did a quick walk about the beach area
across sand
and around the lava rock area
checked out the shore access
and decided to go in on the rocky part
(of course!
because fish don't live off sand very well
...at least most don't :P)
took my time gearing up
and came up with a good solution
for my key and cards
key was on my bc
left the autoremote stuff at the hotel in the safe
the cards i put into a plastic ziploc bag
(drivers license and credit card
as well as the cell number of the dive shop guy
bill from "sea n see"
that was for emergencies
like if my car got stolen or something)
anyways
did a decent dive
69 minutes long
on an aluminum 80
took forever to get deep
went off the shark's cove
bearing about 5 degrees east of north
and went to about 50 feet
(which took forever!!!)
along the way
found a green sea turtle
sleeping in a cavern
and played with him a bit
didn't touch him at all
also found a few eels
(spotted moray,
another one which i looked up
but can't remember the name now,
and a moustached eel
which was really neat
and big!)
along with tons of colourful fish
which was neat
haven't been tropical in a while
and it was tres tres fun :)
nice not to have latex burns
on my neck after every dive
my weighting was good
as was my wetsuit fit
tho scary enough
i think i've lost a fair bit of weight since taiwan
so there was a tiny bit of flushing
in the armpit area
which had a cooling effect
but nothing uncomfortable
(yeah,
my armpits are thinner now
not my belly *wink*)
on the way back
swept into the shoreline
and found some amazing swim throughs and caverns
the tide was coming in
and i was getting low-ish on air
about 1100psi
and i'd gone quite a ways out
(maybe 400 meters)
so i had to conserve air
just to be safe
of course
the shore always looks different
when you're coming into it
and the waterlevel rising
doesn't help all that much
hehheee :)
anyways, i'll be going back there on saturday :)
after the dive
they had showers there
so i stripped down my gear
and it was only like 8am or so
showered off
and stopped at the local foodland
to get some water and gatorade
and then drove back to honolulu
dropped off my tank
and went back to the hotel
to shower
and wash my gear
had a nice lunch at bubba gump's
(forrest style theme based restaurant)
nothing amazing
and i got a souvenir cup
yeah
looks like i'm going to start
collecting the darn things :P
hehehe
went off to work with my client
and that all went smoothly
so smoothly
that i'll be going back tomorrow
so that means
no extra day of diving
but that's ok
:)
got to test my gear configuration
and all works well
after work
slowly went through
rush hour traffic
and eventually got home
went shopping for food
checked out the food court
at the ala moana shopping center
and decided in the end
to go back to jackie chan's restaurant
watched most of drunken master 2
while eating there
had to order the sashimi thing again
sadly,
it wasn't as good as the night before
if only because
the person cutting the fish
didn't do as delicate a job of it
it still tasted good tho
had coconut shrimp on a stick
(with a spicy sweet sauce)
and had lamb chops with garlic mashed potatoes
again,
they cooked everything to my specifications
which was perfect
tho the mashed potatoes
weren't as good as my own
they were still tasty enough
with string beans
that had been fried in some kind of chinese sauce
(the lamb chops were in a chinese marinade
hoisin sauce with some other stuff)
and i washed it all down with a strawberry cool-ada again
darn those things are tasty
so of course
i got another jackie chan cup
this time purple tho
just for variety's sake
there was a big sale at macy's
and so i did something i never do
i went shopping
to be truthful
i was interested in seeing
if i could find a "hawaiian shirt"
you know,
one of those ones with patterns and stuff
and look super touristy...
well,
i found 2 that i liked
neither of them were on sale
and they costed $70USD and $98USD
damn eh?
i didn't get them of course
and you know,
the ones i chose
were NOT tacky :)
very cool prints
all silk
one was dark grey the other black
with very subtle patterning
ah well,
maybe one day
i'll enjoy shopping and buying clothes
as it stands
they would have been a bit heavy to wear
in this weather
(a heavy silk weave)
oh yeah,
got a perfume thing for a friend
those things never go on sale
tho the price is cheaper than what
one would pay in oz
sooooo...
that mission accomplished
i have yet to get
coconut syrup (proper brand) for another friend
and macadamia nuts for my bro
(got him his spearmint certs in a flat box already)
may pick up something else for other friends
but i'm seriously not a shopper
or a souvenir hunter
all i can think of
is the logistics
on how to get tanks for my next dive :)
hehehehe
got to time and plan things well
or it won't work
and figure out a way
not to have my stuff stolen in the process
anyways,
headed straight over to the internet stations this time
(didn't go up to my room first)
and it's NOISY!
sounds like some kind of spanish live band
in the restaurant right next to this station
it's a bit distracting
but i'm almost done anyways
besides
my time is almost up now
and i should post this
last time
i was down to like the last 30 seconds
trying to post this
and log out
and i think i made it
with about 3 seconds to spare
talk about cutting it close eh?
ok,
i'm starting to get to know
the streets of honolulu
did i mention
i got lost on my way to my client's again?
this time i left the city
and swung back
on the highway where the plant is located
luckily for me
i planned an extra 1/2 hour
for me to get lost
so i was still there early
and
i got to see the countryside a bit
so there! :P
ok
it's just past 9pm here
i'm off to shower again
(it's the sticky humid weather :P)
and then to sleep
tomorrow will be
a work day!
you know? day?
as in "D-A-I-E"?
*wink*
nite all! :)