MORE THAN 9 MILLION HAOLES LIKE US visit Oahu each year. They come for the sun and the surf. For Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head. And for many, a week in Waikiki is the beginning of a life together. For others it's the trip they have been planning for a lifetime.
Footprints in the Sand Coconuts for the taking
We’re staying out near the airport, not on the beach. The Pacific Marina Inn is a bit of a dump but the price is reasonable—for Hawaii—and it’s near the cruise terminal. It isn’t just the $1200 a week for a room (+15% tax) in Waikiki that I object to, it’s more the additional $40 resort fee and $30 parking per day.
Waikiki Beach—Luxury and Greed (Getty Images©)
Besides, we’re not here for a holiday—we’ve come to pick up our mail. Well, that and because our cruise leaves from here on Sunday. Amanda, my good friend Jones’s daughter lives in Honolulu and graciously let us forward our mail including new prescriptions so we’ll be set for another three or four months. We will also get a chance to meet her brand new daughter, Madison.
Talley-ho! Black-thighed Curlew
We got an exceptional deal on a car for the week so we can go anywhere on the island, which isn’t as far as you think. Oahu is 40 miles long and only 33 miles wide. We did all the touristy things back in 1996 when we actually stayed in Waikiki and we may revisit Pearl Harbor if we have the time. Besides our mail, we have laundry to do, financial details to settle and phone calls to make—we discontinue our service when we are out of the country—before we leave on the cruise.
Black-crowned Night Herrons Hawaiian Coot
And a bird to find! The Black-thighed Curlew has been Connie’s nemesis for a decade. We’ve been unsuccessful in Asia and Australia but curlews have been spotted recently at the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu’s North Shore. After dozens of black-crowned night herons and crowds of Hawaiian coots we finally spotted our quarry. The photo isn’t fit for publication but you can tell from its curved bill that it is most definitely a curlew! #5416 for Connie.
