Hawaii: Arizona, Snorkeling, Skydiving and Volcanos

Hawaii: Arizona, Snorkeling, Skydiving and Volcanos
December 4, 5, 6
Honolulu to Hilo, Hawaii Day 1, 2, 3

I have a new post for Japan before this one so don't forget to read that one. We’ve spent 2 days in Honolulu and left the second night and arrived in Hilo the next morning (this morning). I’ve been to Honolulu on Oahu once before already and remembering it being nice but really touristy. It’s even more touristy today but still nice. We arrived in Honolulu early (we got an announcement over the speakers at 5:45am) and I got ready for the day. I had no plans but I wanted to see the Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor again because I felt like I didn’t fully appreciate it the first time I was there years back. I talked to some friends who said they were going to head there so I readily went along with them. Our ship was docked right next to Aloha Tower and pretty close to the downtown area. We all started talking about how great it was to be in a place where there was Americans again (though many people here were Asian). Seeing exclusive American stores and nothing but English really stressed how close to home we were.
We found the bus and took it to the museum and main area. Our tickets were free so we got in line to watch a movie about Pearl Harbor and then boarded a boat that took us over to the memorial itself. As you all know, it sits perpendicular over the Arizona and it slowly leaks oil. They have a huge list of names of all the people on board who died in the explosion. The next boat came and picked us up and took us back to the main area. We walked around the museum for a little bit and then left for the ship again. We were all tired but I had been really wanting to go snorkeling so I called my mom and asked her if she remembered good spots to snorkel. The famous Hanauma Bay (which I had visited once before when I was much younger) was fairly close and I got two of my friends to try and come with me to snorkel. Unfortunately, we got confused with directions (I was pretty sure where I was going but they caused me to second-guess myself) and ended up walking through a lot of Honolulu/Waikiki and swimming at a beach which was also nice. Later that night, we came back to the ship and went out with more of our friends and went to dinner. We walked around a town center-type area and went to an upper local restaurant. Afterwards we walked around trying to find a Walmart to by food. While walking I noticed that Honolulu wasn’t as nice as it could be in some parts and some streets looked very shady and poor. Eventually we came to Walmart and my friends bought welcome necessities such as Pringles, Coke, candy, etc. When we were done there we bought a cab ride back to the ship.
The next morning, my roommate and I were signed up to go skydiving. Yes, that’s right- skydiving. We signed up a little before Japan and were really looking forward to it. I honestly was not feeling nervous at all but was expecting to when I was in the plane about ready to jump. A large van picked 11 of us up at the ship and took us to an air field at the north shore of the island. We watched a short video with a lawyer with a humorously long beard telling us that if we die we can’t sue them or any of that stuff. We then waited for a few loads of people to go and then we got our harnesses on. I was not nervous at this point but was getting really antsy to go. Since this was my first time I was obviously going to go tandem with myself strapped to someone. That someone was a guy named Troy. The thing about all the skydiving guides is that most seemed middle-aged to fifty, sported ponytails, and had a very surfer-like outlook on life. My roommate E was strapped to a younger guy who had not gone to high school. He said being a skydiving instructor was a neck-down job (you don’t have to use your head). Anyway, they called our names out and went out to the end of the landing strip. The plane pulled right up to us and we loaded on one by one. It was a tiny plane with 2 narrow benches stretching about 8 feet inside. You straddled the bench in front of your tandem guide while the rest lye on the floor. One person was getting video taken of them so they had 3 camera people filming them.
After the last person got in, we close the door and the plane began to take off. It took us the whole runway to get up and we didn’t take off till the grass at the end. Right after we took off they opened the side door of the plane so we could look out. I thought as soon as they did this it would freak me out but I was surprisingly calm. I was also surprised when I realized how calm I was. I thought I’d be jittery and asking questions and stuff but I just looked out the door and the window and enjoyed the view. Troy had an altimeter watch and I watched as we went from 5,000 feet to 8,000 feet to 14,000 feet. As we got higher, everyone started getting strapped to tighter to their guide. Finally, the pilot said we were ready to go and they slid the door open. Still I was not really nervous, but just ready to go. The first guy (also SAS) who had the cameramen with him got ready to go. Two of the cameramen hung out the side of the plane and the guy sat in the doorway with his guide. And then at the same time they all flew out. The next people left, this time with only one single jumper hanging on the side. Then the next. Then the people in front of me. Troy told me to start scooting to the door. On the ground they told me to cross my arms and arch my back as soon as I leaned out. We got to the doorway and I stuck my legs one at a time out the door. Looking down, I saw my feet and then a 15,000 foot drop to the ocean below. Troy was positioning himself behind me and I continued trying to take in the sight. Finally, he started the countdown 3..2..1.. and then slowly we started leaning out and then there was a sudden acceleration of me plummeting at 120mph towards earth. The directions they gave me completely went out of my head after we jumped. Luckily, you really have no choice but to arch your back. My hands were out but I quickly realized that I had to have them folded and did so. Finally he tapped me and said I could hold my arms out. The wind was pretty violent and I opened my mouth for a couple seconds and it was immediately dry. I had goggles on so my eyes were fine too. We shot down and freefell for about 50-60 seconds. Before going up he told me a lot of people tend to look down and miss the view. I remembered this and looked up and saw the mountains and beaches and forests. It was a really nice day too because it was really clear out and still morning. When it was time to deploy the shoot he told me to hang on to the shoulder straps. I was told that the jolt was really violent so I braced for the worst but really it was just a sudden slowing. I have to admit, though, it was really hard on the groin area. Troy asked me if I wanted to do some spinning and stuff and I said yeah. We spiraled for a while down and I felt the g-force start to kick in like a rollercoaster. We then did a stall in the air by accelerating down and then quickly pulling up. Before I knew it we were right above the air strip and we did one last quick turn down. We then hovered above the ground before landing on our feet (many people land on their butts apparently). I have to admit I thought it would be way more thrilling (no that it wasn't). I really wish I had been way more nervous because that adds to the buildup and climax of the whole thing. Anyway, thus ended my first skydiving experience. We got certificates and paid and then caught an early shuttle back.
When I got back to the ship it was a little after noon. I had not expected to be back this early and I had it in the back of my mind to attempt to go to Hanauma Bay. So I got my stuff packed really quick and went to the right bus. I got off at a transfer stop and waited for the transfer line. While waiting, I asked a lady to confirm my directions to Hanauma. We started talking about SAS and I told her I was originally from Long Beach. It turns out she went to CSU Long Beach and dormed really close to my house. When my bus arrived I got on and saw some other SASers who I found out were also going to Hanauma Bay to snorkel. Hanauma Bay was the last stop so we got off there and walked down to the entrance. After paying admission we had to watch a short movie about the bay and then we walked down to the beach. We got a good view of the entire bay which was enclosed in an old volcano caldera. We rented snorkels and fins and snorkeled for a little bit. Unfortunately, the people I was with took a while to get ready and took a break 15 minutes after we got in. We eventually went back out and snorkeled a little more. I began to recognize the area from when I was there years back. I saw many types of fish but I seem to remember there being more way back. It was really cool to see all the fish, but it seemed like the reef had been warn down a lot. Before I knew it, it was time to go because we had to be back on the ship by 6 and it was almost four. We returned out gear and began walking back up the hill. While walking up I looked over the edge and saw three people snorkeling following a sea turtle. We went back to the bus and caught it back to the ship. We made it 30 minutes before ship time (we weren’t really rushed or anything) which was probably the closest I’ve come to dock time. We left later that night and arrived in Hilo the next morning.
I woke up today and got ready for my field trip to the Volcano park. We drove up 4,000 feet to the Kilauea caldera and walked around a small visitor center for the surrounding volcanoes. After looking around, we got back on the bus and headed to the Kilauea caldera outlook. It was sprinkling lightly but everyone stayed in the visitor center. Visibility of the caldera was low unfortunately because of the ‘vog’, or fog caused by volcano steam. After walking through the center I took a quick hike along the edge of the caldera and looked around by myself. There was a volcanic vent that had just recently spouted and was causing excessive vog for Hilo. I then speedwalked back to the bus and we left for our next stop which was a steam vent, caused by rainwater hitting rocks that were heated by underground magma. We then left for another overlook, this one much clearer than the previous one. We walked along a short trail and were picked up by the bus at the end. We were then taken to a lava shoot that was pretty massive. We walked briefly through jungle to get to it and then walked over a deep gorge to enter it. It was a long tunnel that extended about 400 feet. We exited the shoot and got back on the bus. Our guide told us she had a narrower shoot in her back yard that goes pretty far up the volcano. She then took us to the downtown area of Hilo where we drove through Banyan Drive which was a street where famous people, including Babe Ruth, had planted Banyan trees, all of which very large now. We drove through the downtown area and then returned to the ship.
At this point, I had no idea what I was going to do. I had tried earlier to get on my roommate’s trip which lasted all day so I could avoid this dilemma. However, it was 1 o’clock and all my friends were elsewhere. I decided I wanted a good Mexican burrito and so I decided to head out and grab a taxi for the downtown area. I saw there was a free shuttle for us that drops off at Walmart. I got on and was dropped off at Walmart. I walked around looking for a Mexican restaurant. I asked a woman in a store called Hilo Hattie if she knew where one was. She pointed me to the nearby mall where I had a burrito. The store Hilo Hattie was based on a woman called Hilo Hattie who was a singer, hula dancer, and entertainer. My guide on the volcano trip said she was a world celebrity and also performed for the local population as well as disabled audiences. I had no further plans so I headed back to the shuttle. While heading back, I saw one of my friends getting out of a taxi. I wanted to go to some sort of outdoorsy thing so he suggested Rainbow Falls which he had earlier visited. He offered to come with me and so after going through Walmart and him getting Pizza Hut, we called a cab and drove to Rainbow Falls. They were pretty tall and there was a massive cave behind the falls. This was my friend Drew’s third time being here today. While I was looking at the falls, Drew took a picture of a family for them. What I did realize was that there was an SAS girl with them. It turned out to be a girl, Jenn, who I had snorkeled with at Hanauma Bay the day before. Apparently, she went to church that morning but went to the “wrong” church, misled by her GPS unit. She ran into an Asian family (I say Asian but they were really Hawaiian with Japanese influence) who took her to their church. After church, they took her around Hilo, gave her lunch, and took her caroling with them. We ran into them at the falls and they invited us to have dinner with them at their church. We had no plans whatsoever so to us this was literally a Godsent. They dropped off the rest of their family and came back and picked the two of us up. While we waited for them to return we walked around the falls. I can’t remember if I mentioned it in previous posts but Drew is partially deaf and night blind so we walked around for a little bit with him holding my shoulder while we walked in the dark. When the lady, Margaret, returned, we got in her car and left for the church. She had her 2 grandchildren (5 and 7) in the back seats. They were very quiet and so naturally I asked them what they wanted from Santa. They perked up and I discovered one of them was going through a train phase so he wanted a Lego Train for Christmas.
We got to the church which was small and quaint (mom, if your reading this, its just like Saint Paul’s). We went into the hall where there were about ten women and men, just about all Asian or Hawaiian. We were served Portuguese bean soup, salad, garlic bread, and plenty of deserts, many of which they received while caroling. While eating, we discussed our various travels and I soon realized how good it was to be in the company of English speakers who could fully comprehend your story and understand your perspective. What was funny was at one point all the elderly Asian women started talking about football and the Cowboys earlier loss. We talked about how great it was that we had all met and that it was pretty lucky (especially for me). After helping to wipe down the tables, we were taken back by one of the ladies that was somehow associated with Margaret and knew Jenn. I told my friend Drew on the short ride back to the ship how it surprised me that we were taken in like that in America (granted it was by a Church, specifically United Church of Christ). In many of the countries, people invited us into their stores or into their homes and gave us meals. After all these times, I said to myself people in America were too distrustful and would be hesitant to invite people to their house. For people like in Ghana and India (I was invited here but didn’t go), they felt obligated to offer hospitality, even to people who were obviously more well off than them. Its probably a matter of circumstance that we’re not that welcoming of strangers. It might because people in other countries are forced to live closer than people in the U.S. who have their own personal space. Whatever the case may be, I was not expecting to get such a great experience (though it wasn’t a home) like this in America. We got back to the ship around 6pm and I am relaxing for the rest of the night. I am planning on going with my roommate and a friend to rent bikes and go biking somewhere (we don’t know where yet). I like Hilo a lot more than Honolulu already (though admittedly there’s more to do in Honolulu). It’s a lot more quaint and less touristy and I get the feeling the locals are less hostile towards the tourists. Btw, I’m really going to make a concerted effort to write post for Yokohama, Shanghai and Hong Kong. I might leave out Vietnam because I think half the people who read the blog were there.