In what is clearly a recurring theme, geocaching led to a fabulous day, courtesy of geocacher tour guides. This time it was on Oahu, and we (June and I) owe our debt to Ahuimanu Hui, aka Dick and El (collectively known as the Huis). They live on Oahu and spend a month or so each year in Portland which is where I’ve met them. Anyhow, shortly after booking the cruise I reached out to them and let them know we would be in their neck of the woods….and they couldn’t have been more generous, thoughtful or kind!
I’m told that the Huis are not fans of Honolulu yet they braved traffic twice for us — once to pick us up and once to drop us off. In between they toured us around a few sights in Honolulu — including the Maui Warrior, palace, Eternal Flame, etc. — and elsewhere. We explored the Nu’uanu Pali Overlook (where El had prepared the wind gauge we needed for the nearby Earthcache) which has beautiful views of the mountains and oceans. Then we went to Ho’omaluhia Botanical Gardens where we saw beautiful flora, a stunning snail, took a beautiful walk, climbed up to a spectacular viewpoint (where there weren’t other visitors when we were there, such a treat!) and might have found a few caches.
At lunch El graciously helped me solve a puzzle I hadn’t taken the time to solve earlier because the answer hadn’t jumped out at me. The first half took a bit, the second half came more quickly (and once I had the concept she didn’t make me to do legwork). This led us to one of my two favorite viewpoints of the day, where I took a picture of the non-PC named Chinaman’s Hat island that may end up on my wall at home. Dick had to climb over a wall to retrieve the cache as vegetation had changed since it was hidden, and we found a new hiding spot for it — something that works well when the owner is present but is definitely frowned upon in normal circumstances. Dick had wisely brought umbrellas with us for the little walk, a precaution that worked to prevent rain from falling while we were there.
We then went to my other favorite viewpoint, La’ie Point. This time the rain was rather impressive, so Dick had his umbrella and I wore my windbreaker as we walked down the coral toward a spectacular rock arch. Dick and El were such gracious hosts that they apologized for the weather — clearly not something they had control of. Interestingly, it stopped raining while we were near the rock, then cleared enough to take some pictures in different lights during the few minutes we were there. We even remembered to take a selfie of the four of us to share with friends.
Significant traffic (and weather) changed our plans a bit, so we ended up skipping some North Shore caches, though we did get to see some impressive surf, a few towns, and some lovely rainbows. Our final cache of the day was at the Dole Plantation, where we saw different varieties of pineapples growing, including a pink one.
I hadn’t realized I was tired until we returned to the ship, had a quick bite of dinner and called it a night.
The ship remained in Honolulu overnight. Today June went to Pearl Harbor — having been there twice I didn’t feel obligated to return yet again. Instead I foolishly took a very long walk where I found a cache hidden by an Oregon friend who used to live in Hawaii and a couple of adventure labs but then returned to the ship dripping in sweat. In a rare flash of insight, I declined to go out again in the afternoon when June went with a ship employee. After I heard she walked over 18K steps I was happy to skip it (my total for the day was over 15K which seems plenty).
Yesterday’s adventure is definitely one whose memory I will cherish. I’m often asked what the best thing I’ve found while geocaching and without question it’s the friends I’ve made.
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