Aloha!

Makaha sunset
Originally uploaded by MsMoo

Hawa'ii was surprising. Beautiful, green, warm; ohh soo nice and warm she says from winter further north ( we are now bunked down in picturesque Fairfax, California. We stayed in Makaha, a coastal town on the leward side of the island of Oahu. Not the most picturesque of the islands that make up Hawa'ii but with small person who needs sleep every two hours or so, we had decided a bigger trip on to the big island and a walking holiday probably wasnt going to work without some major hair loss for someone. beach holiday it was. The bean slept for about two hours in the 14 that it took to get from home to the apartment. thankfully he appears to be a brilliant traveller at this stage and was a cheery little guy the whole time. He then fell into a deep coma. The island of Oahu looked a bit like a tip. De rigeur is to stack about half your worldly goods outside your place. its nuts. so between all the stuff piled up and about 24 cars in each front yard in varying stages of usefulness....you've got a tip. Americans love their cars! The beach was glorious. warm, clear, tropical and most mornings i would go for a swim alone, watch the turtles silently cruise the shoreline waves and read my book. heaven but a bit weird when you run into them body surfing into shore. i also was pretty pleased to sight 3 humpbacks just off shore before the tourist boats also spotted it and ruined the very natural view! They blew, waved and did some spectacular side divesw, rolls and some tail waving;it was a sight and experience that made me very happy. Our last night there saw a huge rain squall hit the west coast and the poor guy downstairs in the basement woke to water lapping his bed. biggest flooding in 40 years. ..no insurance. bummer, he lost his whole place as water rose to over head height. it was dramatic and the beach of Makaha was totally swept away, so the picture...taken with my phone so the quality is not that great...completely gone and covered in trash. The homeless population was depressing and the incredible 'towns' of tents along the coast were very confronting and many lost it all with the storm; strip remnants of tents waving around, lots of couches and bedding and kitchens out in the open and not alot of of repair looked possible. lots of people over here are doing it tough and its a pretty unforgiving place to be poor. Aloha and mahala and hope you are all doing well...until i get to a pc again!