Flotilla 2010

We did it every year, always with the same level of delight. Held on the 4th of July, for our 30-something lifestyle in Hawaii there is nothing the better represented freedom. A floating frat party in the most stunning location.

This year we headed out with friends on floaties. We met up with the canoes, ran into other friends, surprised by some we had never seen on the water, one that even lived on another island. Toasting with our spiked Gatorades and graciously accepting free food, we smiled, and smiled, and smiled. I get choked up looking back on the photos... our lives are so great.













Oh Hawaii, our beautiful friend, full of good times. Happy 4th of July. Here's to all the future Flotillas!

Saying Goodbye (to paddling)

On Sunday I raced my last paddling race in Hawaii. And I cried.

I had absolutely no idea it would affect me that much. In fact, I nearly didn't race that day. I almost stayed home to read a book and pack up the apartment. But my loyalties to the club won out and I dragged myself down to Ke'ehi Lagoon near the airport.

When we first moved here there was a massive sewage spill in Waikiki that drastically polluted the waters of Waikiki (oh, isn't Hawaii lovely) so our club moved our practices to Ke'ehi Lagoon. Ke'ehi Lagoon is dull, flat, ugly, and cold. But that's where I learned to paddle.

So as I drove into Ke'ehi Lagoon on Sunday afternoon I remembered those early days of paddling. Days when I didn't know anyone but desperately wanted to be invited to join in the fun. Days when I flipped-flopped between loving and hating paddling. Days when Hawaii was so new to me it really hadn't even sunk in.

My race on Sunday wasn't that great. I was in terrible shape to race. I was physcially and emotionally exhausted. I had just eaten a Subway sandwich, and hadn't really warmed up at all. But I truly gave it my all. And because I blessed to be racing with some of the best women in my club, we easily won. I am so honored to walk away with a gold medal.

As we slowed after the finish line one of my beautiful, bubbly and incredibly buff paddling friends piped up from the front of the boat, "Jenni James is that your last race?" And I responded, "It was, thanks for the great ride." Then I paddled on with a big smile.

It's customary after a race to hug all your fellow paddlers. And that's when it hit me. Paddling has been as much as my life in Hawaii as Bryan has. All of my closest friends have come from paddling. Much of my growth as a person is a direct result of paddling. I truly love this sport. And I really, really love the girls.

As I gave each girl a hug the tears started to well up more and more until I couldn't keep it in. I am so incredibly sad to leave this. I truly don't believe I will find this again in my life. I am letting myself mourn it, and honor it.

And I'll cry it out. I will miss paddling. I will miss my paddling friends. And I will miss my Hawaii life so terribly. So, so terribly.

More of What I'll Miss

• Pretty, cute birds.
• Smells that remind me of Hilo.
• Warm air. That perfect mid-year evening temperature when the air isn't cold, it isn't warm, it just is. And maybe there's the slightest breeze...
• Manoa Valley.
• Kids that call me Auntie.
• The high, slow drawl of friendly local ladies, ending their statements with a question mark.
• My tan.
• The ease of weekend plans, BBQs, and meeting up with friends.
  

What else do you think I'll miss?

Island Count

At the risk of bragging, I thought I'd recount our various neighbor island trips since we moved here...

Oahu
Four and a half years of living and loving.

Kauai
Together: trip with Bryan's parents, kayak Na Pali, Princeville weekend with friends
Bryan: additional trip with parents, visit childhood friend
Jenni: 3-4 trips for work, hike Na Pali, paddling competition

Maui
Together: Wailea/Lahaina weekend, Wailea/Upcountry weekend, Road to Hana camping, Paia weekend, Sara's wedding, New Year's with Carr family
Bryan:
Jenni: 3-4 trips for work (never did make it to the top of Haleakala)

Big Island
Together: Bryan meets Tutu weekend, Brian and Maiko weekend, Thanksgiving in Waikoloa, Kohala Coast with Carolyn, Thanksgiving in Hilo, Easter in Hilo
Bryan:
Jenni: Visit family Waikoloa-Volcano-Hilo, Tutu recovery weekend with Mom, paddling races x3 in Kona, 3-4 work trips to Waikoloa

Lanai
Weekend with Laura and Dan, Anniversary weekend

Molokai
Together: Easter weekend
Bryan:
Jenni: paddling race x3

The benefit to knowing we weren't going to be here forever is that we really committed to doing and seeing it ALL. And we don't skimp when we aim for ALL!

What I'll Miss

• Swimming "laps" in the ocean - the taste of salt water, the buoyancy, the fishies swimming along, the swells and waves, and the view looking back at the beach.
• Walking out of a freezing cold grocery store to the comfort of the humid, warm evening air.
• Rainbows.
• Anticipating the sunset.
• Looking out the conference room at work and immediately knowing the ocean conditions.
• Ramen soup.
• Lilikoi anything and everything.
• A closet full of sundresses and still not enough.
• A legitimate reason to own more than two bathing suits, many many more than two.
• As embarrassing as it is to admit it, a few cheese-ball Hawaiian songs.
• BBQs in the park.
• Camping at the beach.
• Trade winds.
• Wonderful genuine friends.
• A few Hawaiian words that seem to express more than their English translations.
• Maui Brewing Company beers in cans.
• Our trash chute.
• Smell of plumeria trees and ginger stalks.
• The perfect blue colors of the ocean.
• Rainbows on my license plate and my drivers license.
• Hawaiian blessings.
• The kiss-on-one-cheek greeting.
• Discovering sand on my feet hours after I returned home from the beach.
• Lei.
• Banyan trees. "Umbrella" and "Monkey Pod" trees too.
• Shave Ice.
• Bumping into friends at the bar, the beach, the bagel place, and nearly everywhere in between.
• A flower behind my ear. But I can still pull that off, right?
  

One Perfect Day on the North Shore

On Sunday last week Bryan and I headed to the North Shore for a day of beach and paddling-watching. We stumbled upon the most perfect little beach and stayed so long we missed the paddling-watching. But we weren't too sad.


This beach was absolute relaxation.






Finally we pulled ourselves away from the sand and sea and headed on over to the canoe race. Turns out we'd missed our friends race. Oh well! So we headed into town for food. We cannot go to the North Shore without a stop for the best Thai food on the island. On this day we had dessert first because they close early. Shave Ice, so good!




After dinner we weren't ready to head back to the reality of the other side of the island. So we wandered around a bit, discovered a sweet quiet beach, and watched the sun go down.



A day for the record books. It was perfect!

Magical

Last Saturday during paddling practice I was huffing and puffing, sitting in the first seat of the canoe when someone said "dolphin!" I looked up a bit and pretty much saw this:



It was absolutely incredible to have this one dolphin swim along at the same speed we were paddling our canoe. S/he stayed about ten feet in front of me, never broke the surface of the water, and cruised with us for about 15 seconds. The dolphin powered by his own body, our canoe powered by our bodies.

***

On Tuesday I was sitting in the canoe in the Ala Wai canal when we heard splashing sounds. A quick glance to the left and we all saw a tiny (12 inches across) stingray JUMPING out of the water. It probably jumped five times or more. It sort of looked like this:



Incredible.

Easter Weekend in Hilo

We spent the long Easter weekend in Hilo, visiting my grandmother and showing Bryan all the hidden corners of the island. On Friday we started early and headed south. Our first official stop (after I stopped for breakfast even though I repeatedly asserted I was not hungry when my grandmother was offering me free food) was in Punalu'u to see the black sand beach.

Pretty! Black!

There we also saw turtles. I hovered over this one until it put its head up so I could be assured it was not dead. Then we made eye contact and I got this look. I don't think he's a fan.

After Punalu'u we meandered farther south to a teeny tiny town called Na'alehu where we grabbed some sweet bread for french toast the next morning, and we enjoyed lunch at a rather bizarre restaurant with a huge EAT HERE sign.

Then we went even further south to South Point. This is where I once (twice, actually) jumped off a cliff and fairly significantly hurt myself. That's a story for another day, remind me.

South Point is also home to the most southern location in the entire United States. And who made a point to stand there and take pictures? We did!

I am further south than all of you!

Now Bryan is!

Now we are together! Can't beat that!

About a two mile walk, that feels like five, is the green sand beach. Yes, green. So we walked there. Then we swam and enjoyed this little surprise of nature.

Does it look green? I promise it is. It's truly green sand. According to my friend Google, this is one of only two green sand beaches in the world.

The sun started to set so we began the long walk back to the car. A stunning sunset rewarded our journey.

Exhausted after our two colored sand adventures, plenty of driving, lots of walking, and the late hour of the day, we traveled back north and stopped for a yummy dinner in the Volcano Village.

The next day was "Hilo day" as I coined it. First must-do was the Farmer's Market. Tutu had sent us with the grocery list of papayas and apple bananas and we didn't disappoint!

A thorough review of every booth at the Farmer's Market led us to the conclusion that these bags of papayas for only $1 were our best bet.

$1 deals make me very animated! Also, please note the free orchid in my hair. The Farmers Market rocks!

Hilo day also included errand running for Tutu, mochi gathering, and a rest at Richardson's Beach for mochi eating. Then we headed back home to cook our Easter meal with the family. Yummy, funny, and a good time with folks who share my DNA.

Relaxing on Tutu's lanai we took in the view of Hilo and waited for the family to arrive.

Day three was our mellow adventure day. We headed north for sightseeing, lushness and hiking.

If you've ever "hiked" to Akaka Falls you know I'm lying about the hiking part. It's just a humid walk. Little exercise, big reward! Check out the view of the first waterfall.

And Akaka Falls!

The rest of the day we toured the coast, stopped to look at pretty plants and stunning vistas. Then we headed back to town to catch some hula, and enjoy Big Island Candies. Yumm!

Happy weekend in Hilo.

Tsunami Day

We survived our first tsunami! Here’s how it all went down…

Friday Night
10:30pm – Arrive home from mediocre movie, watch end of Olympics coverage, catch beginning of the news. Learn of Chile quake, get very sad for the people of Chile, shudder in fear of an 8.5 quake. See news of tsunami warning. Think “hmm, that’s nuts but I suppose a quake that big could move the ocean all the way to Hawaii.”
11:00pm – Go to bed because I’m an old lady and it’d been a very, very long week.

Saturday Morning
6:00am – Awake to horrid alarm outside. Think about it for a bit, turn to Bryan and ask him “what do you think that alarm is for?” He responds, “Probably the neighbor’s fire alarm.” I know he is very wrong. I say, “I think it’s a tsunami warning. I’ll go check the news.”
6:02am – Out of bed on Saturday morning, very alert. Look outside. Very pretty. Turn on TV. Yep, we are under a tsunami warning. First wave should hit at 11am. Pick up laptop, check Facebook, update Facebook status. I mean, what would you have done?
6:15am – Bryan enters SURVIVAL mode. He’s sort of a nut about emergency rations and stuff. He opens the cabinet above the refrigerator that I can’t even reach. This is where I make him store all the weird emergency stuff he buys. Then I make him throw it out when it expires. I’m sure some day I’ll be very thankful for that cabinet. For now, I roll my eyes at him. He determines all we have in the cabinet is canned green beans and water. This will not do!
6:30am – Bryan is making list of new emergency rations we need. But he’s so amped he can’t think straight. “Beef jerky?! More green beans?!” No! No! So together we create a list. My items include “bananas and canned chicken.” I insist he only buys things we can eat eventually. This is crazy talk to him.
7:00am – I have checked every news channel and every news website. Convinced tsunami is for real. Study map of ocean trying to come up with my own conclusion as to how bad it could really be. Survey very messy house and get motivated to clean it lest I be trapped for days without water to wash dishes or electricity to run the dust buster.
Note: after the earthquake three years ago, the power and water were off ALL DAY.
7:10am – I refuse to go to the grocery store with Flight-or-Fight Bryan. He heads off. I turn up the sound on the TV and start washing dishes. I pause to check the TV or Facebook about every 15 minutes. Also take a picture of the sunrise.
8:00am-ish – I see a Facebook post from friends that pretty much live on the beach. I immediately offer for them to seek refuge at our place. Then I immediately grab a sponge and go to town on our bathroom and then our floors. Because it would suck enough to have a tsunami hit Hawaii but have our friends see how messy our house can get? I would DIE!
9:00am – Learn friends ended up somewhere else. Chill out on the cleaning.
9:05am – Really wonder why Bryan has been gone for so long. Worry about the chaos he may have discovered at the grocery store.
9:15am – Bryan arrives home very tired, very annoyed.
9:17am – Conversation about what exactly we will do with a large can of Dinty Moore stew. I refuse to eat it until I am starving. News reports that after 10am all water use should be limited to “emergency situations only.” Huh. Take showers, lest we be stuck stinky for days.
9:30am – Fill up pitchers and other containers of drinking water. Continue watching the news. See that large waves killed people on an island off of Chile. Learn that rather small waves hit other Pacific Islands.
10:00am – Sit and watch TV, return text messages, check Facebook.
11:05am – Intently watch TV coverage of Hilo. First wave is supposed to hit now. Learn that largest wave may not hit first. The risk could continue for hours and hours. Really? We’ve been braced for five hours already.
11:15am – Absolutely nothing has happened in Hilo. But keep staring at the same low-res image of Hilo Bay.
11:25am – Water levels at Hilo Bay are changing! The weather man tells us how DRAMATIC this sight is. We squint to try to see the drama. We learn a lot about water movement.
11:45am – We have seen the water level changing in Hilo. While not devastating, it is pretty crazy to watch it change. We see still images of the reef exposed in Maui, and one flopping fish. We hear reports that the humpback whales are acting unusual. We definitely get sucked into the media buzz and turn to each other to exclaim “Wow” when the water changes direction.
Noon – We are shown footage of the water level change on Oahu but can’t see what they’re talking about.
12:45pm – I keep watching just in case something amazing happens. Nothing does.
1:00pm – I change the channel to Bravo. Bryan takes a nap.

And that was our tsunami day. Anti-climatic to say the least. Of course, no one wanted the excitement that would have been the worst-case scenario. But you start to want something to make all that wasted adrenaline worth it.

Truth is that it wasn’t a false alarm. There was a tsunami. They measured 5 foot surges from peak to trough. We certainly saw it affecting Hilo Bay. It just wasn’t what you think of when you are awoken at 6am by a tsunami alarm.

Four Years and a Crowd in the Bar

On this day four years ago Bryan and I arrived in Hawaii with nothing more than our two suitcases each and good attitudes. We didn't have suntans, we didn't have jobs, not even a car, or a favorite restaurant. Most importantly, we didn't have friends here.

Life develops and days go by. And it gets to the point where you don't really need to celebrate the exact day you moved to Hawaii four years ago. But here's a testament to how far we've come...

A few days into our Hawaii living Bryan and I had dinner at a restaurant with a live band. As Bryan's personality and Hawaii's hospitality would have it, Bryan ended up singing on stage. I shared it here on this blog, and maybe over the phone with a few friends on the mainland. There was no one else to share it with.

Tonight Bryan will be performing at an Open Mic night at a local dive bar. I invited a few of his friends, a few of our friends. Word got out and a few other friends invited themselves along. I think we may have as many as ten people joining us tonight. Ten friends willing to spend their late Monday night at a dive bar. We have come a long way.

Friends at the bar, that's how you know you've made a home.

LOST Sighting

Claire and Desmond. In my office lobby, riding escalators.




Post lunch update: Jack too!

Isn't It Ironic?

We spent our Saturday afternoon... ICE SKATING... for a nine year old's birthday party.

And it was FUN. And funny, because I barely let go of the wall. But I didn't fall. Even when all the punk pre-teen boys darted in and out of my personal ice space. This is Hawaii, where did they learn to skate so fast?




When it was all done, I returned my rented skates, put my slippahs back on, and happily walked out into the warm air.

6 Months Ago

May 24th 2009

I danced the hula for Bryan, a Hawaiian tradition to honor life's greatest events and happiest occasions.

I danced Nani Venuse, a poetic story of love, and a beautiful song.




It was the most confident I ever felt dancing hula. Must be love.

Kayaking Na Pali: A Tale in Pictures

A few weeks ago we headed to Kauai to kayak the Na Pali coast with three other couple friends.

We arose crazy early in the morning, packed our dry bags and loaded ourselves into the back of an enormous flatbed truck.




We bounced along the coast in the wind and light rain but all was good as we watched the sunrise and got peeks at the Kauai scenery.



Once at Ha'ena Beach, our starting point, we dragged our kayaks to the water, loaded them all all our crap.



We had a lot of crap for just 48 hours.



Lifevests on and we're ready to go.



And we hit the water. Actually, Bryan and I literally hit the water. We got a nice push off the beach into the surf and immediately flipped out boat and found ourselves submerged. Hello ocean, nice to meet you! But quickly on the kayak, we got our paddling groove and moved along the coast.



This is good.



And this is where we're headed. So lovely.



Along the way we found a bunch of caves. This was a cluster of three. So cool and a bit eerie too.



Making excellent progress we enjoyed the scenery and had a great time.



The beach along the left there is Kalalau Beach. Our stopping point for the day. Kalakau has a nasty shore break and we experienced the full brunt of it. Kayak flip. Sunglasses and hat gone. Minor freak out of how bad it could have been. But what are you gonna do? We had all our limbs and our sense of humor.



We explored the beauty that is Kalalau.



And we set up camp in an enormous sea cave.




A nap and snack later, Bryan and I went exploring.



Ooh, lovely.





Then we headed back to the group to get dinner going. A nice little fire, a little wine and we were ready for the sunset.



And later, s'mores.




Off to bed for a rough sleep entertainingly interrupted by our friend's shrieks as a crab entered her tent and snipped at her toes. And then up to a beautiful morning.



We're headed out that way to finish the trip.



Approaching Open Ceiling, an insanely beautiful exposed cave.



Our friends taking in the beauty at Open Ceiling.




Some paddling, some floating, some silliness, and some snacks. And now we're approaching Polihale Beach where our adventure ends.



Another rough landing, a freshwater shower, and snacking. And then we load our stuff onto the same truck and have the bumpiest ride of our lives.


The End.

Moral of the story? Never pass up any opportunity in Hawaii. Beauty and fun is around every corner. Also, Bryan and I make a good kayaking team.