snorkel adventures on Maui

I'm waiting for the rest of the pictures to put together a blog about our trip to Maui for you all, but here are some pictures from snorkeling on Maui to hold you over!

Hope you are all having a good holiday season!

This is the state fish...."humuhumunukunukuapua'a"

A very cool sea urchin

This is a CRAZY school of fish all swimming in a giant circle together, much like in "Finding Nemo".
The water was getting a bit hazy and I pretty much ended up swimming into the side of their circle. They were not deterred however and kept their vortex pattern going. There must have been 2000 fish!!

An invasive species of marine mammal...

Maui sunset (courtesy of Kristen)

Soccer days...

I'm getting way worse at this as time goes on!!
I will say that the last 3 months have been filled with a new challenge for me -- coaching!  Sure- I've done a little coaching here and there, mostly as an assistant that filters in from time to time.  The local AYSO league however signed me up as a head coach for the season due to being short volunteers, despite my email going something along the lines of - "I can probably help out 1 -2 times per week on an intermittent basis."  This apparently translated into "I would like to do Saturday training events before the season even starts and be present 3x/week every week for 2.5 months." And so I was assigned a team...

The girls team was U12 and elected to call themselves the "Lemonheads" due to our fluorescent yellow jerseys! They were overall a great group of gals and I did enjoy working with them- although some practices were a bit more challenging than others given the gift of gab that some of the players have.  The AYSO league as a whole is a recreational league- so all of the teams have a pretty wide spread of players, from those belonging to club leagues to those who have never touched a soccer ball at all!   This wide gap in knowledge and skill level can definitely make the training sessions difficult to help everyone, but in the end it's also supposed to be a lot of fun for kids this age.  We ended the season 5-3-1, so did have a winning record and I think most of the team if not all really enjoyed the season.  Our best game was about 3 weekends ago- it almost brought a tear to my eye how beautiful our team was working together that game!!  This was promptly followed the following 2 weekends by much bickering and sloppy passing....oh well...=)

I learned to have a great deal of patience, a slight ease to my competitive intuition and was starting to put together what motivates each of the players by the time the season ended.  Right now, I'm pretty stoked to have a break from such a commitment outside of work, but it seems likely that I'll get pulled back into being a head coach again next year...I'll have forgotten the tough days by then =).

I did have a lot of support thru the season from the team parents, my assistant coach (and co-worker)-Tonya, and all of my friends on the island! A big mahalo nui loa to those folks and go Lemonheads!!
Here are some pictures from the team for you to enjoy!

Back in the islands!

After several long flights and lay-overs, I made it to the East Coast and back to Hawaii safely, despite 2 natural disasters in the mix! And yes- made it back a while ago but have been adjusting to a new busy schedule here, sorry for the delay!
My vacation home started with 2 great birthday parties- one for my 4 year old nephew, the other for my now 8 (gasp!) year old niece! The latter elected to have a Hawaiian themed birthday party- so this put the knowledge that I gained over last year to the test to re-create a more authentic party/luau.  I also got to meet my newest niece who is already sitting up on her own and not far from walking I think- she is adorable and such a good baby!

Rock n' Roll b-day party for my nephew

Hawaii beach cake- complimented with tropical fruits

Youngest and oldest nieces- both adorable!

After this great visit with family up north- I rode with my parents and oldest niece back down to Maryland. On this ride- we were informed of a pretty major earthquake that extended from VA up through New England, with a measurement of 5.8 in the Richmond/DC area.  Luckily- we didn't have any effects on the road, but during the next few days of my visit you could see some of the after effects in buildings around the area.  We enjoyed a quick visit with my grandmother, whom I think I may have convinced to come to Hawaii...we'll see though =).
The next several days were spent in the Annapolis/DC area visiting old friends as well as my sister. This visit was extended a couple days longer than anticipated due to natural disaster number 2 -- Hurricane Irene!  Again- quite lucky in that only minimal effects were felt where I was, and luckily no loss of power.
Then, I was off on the road again heading back to New England for my old roommate's wedding in NH. It was a long drive and I arrived late evening, but woke up to this amazing view in the morning:

So, needless to say- we had a great time visiting and enjoying the beautiful scenery at the lodge! We had amazing weather thru the week and the wedding was held at an outdoor chapel area on a little hill looking out over the mountains and lake.

Sadly, my visit to the east coast came to a quick end the day after the wedding as I drove back to New York to catch the first of many flights.  This part of the road trip was made even longer by the fact that all east/west roads in Vermont and upper Massachusetts had been washed away with the hurricane.  Of course I drove half way across VT before realizing this and having to turn around and back track to the Mass Pike.  I still was able to squeeze in a quick dinner with my sister and family and then started the long trek back to the islands.
I had a great trip overall and got to see lots of friends and family!  I do wish the trip was an easier one or I'd make it back more often to see everyone, but hoping that all will come to visit HI sometime in the near future as well!
Ok- back to the grind here, hope everyone is well!

One year later....

Whoa- what happened to the time?!  I thought island time ran slower than elsewhere?!?
It was one year ago almost to the day when this blog and my adventures living in Hawaii began, and I can't believe how fast the time went by! Part of that is certainly the lack of seasons on the island- yes, there is 'rainy' and 'dry' seasons, which I can now feel the difference between - but definitely not a quartered year from seasons like most of the states. So I think it becomes a little harder to mark the passage of time when it overall feels just about like the day before =).
Probably another part of how fast the year has gone is a steady increase in volume at work. The hospital is putting out more advertising for our emergency hours, most of our long time clients now make use of the late night hours and several hospitals on the island send their after hours cases to our clinic (especially if it is feathered!!). My work schedule also changed around March of this year and has put me in the clinic an insane amount more than the previous fall- during which time my oldest sister often asked if I was working at all since I seemed to be 'off' more days than 'on', and if all jobs in Hawaii offered that kind of work schedule!
Good news here- the work schedule is changing again in September with the addition of 2 new doctors to our staff. Hopefully this will lighten the load a bit on each of us, and possibly facilitate the notion of leaving work on time! While these new doctor additions should help the other docs, I do worry that it will put a lot of stress on our receptionists and techs as we already seem under-staffed in these areas and they are likely to be put to the test for a while until we find our new groove. Hopefully it will all work out!
The first post on this blog was about traveling West and the stories I encountered en route. Now I'm writing from Las Vegas during an awesome 8 hour lay-over on my journey back East to visit friends and family.  So far not a whole lot to share- other than all flights leaving the islands were over-sold apparently and I met quite a few people who had been trying to leave Oahu for the last several days!!  I figure at some point you shouldn't fight such a strong opposition and just decide to stay on a warm, tropical island instead =).  I should have told them that a year in Hawaii would pass in the blink of an eye!
More to come...

Post-hike

We made it!
The day started early as we left ~3am in order to beat the guard to the trailhead. And apparently we were not the only ones with this idea! There were 3 other groups hiking with us- one group of whom stopped to smoke cigarettes at every opportunity and still made it thru the whole thing faster! The stairs make up the entirety of the hike, and frequently turn from stairway into a ladder on the fairly vertical sections. We reached the first platform to rest and take in the only view we'd end up having the whole hike- still dark over Kaneohe but a lit up H3 highway and town far below and we were only 1/3 of the way up! Little did I know we should take a picture from here since we were not to see anything further up! As the ascent continued- the rain, wind and clouds worsened. Parts of the stairway follow a very narrow ridge line with sharp drop offs on either side- which one is made all the more aware of with the rain and wind blowing. And I swear the state must have run out of money or supplies because from the last platform to the top the stairs are about 1/2 the width as the first part of the stairway!
All this being said- it was still a far less scary climb than going up Half Dome!! See previous posts for this story if you don't recall... Nonetheless- I was happy to get home to a nice warm shower and breakfast!
So although today was far from the best day to undertake such a hike- it was still a noteworthy accomplishment. And tomorrow will be far from the best day of walking to show for it I'm sure!

On the way down during a brief intermission from the rain.

This is someone's internet photo- just wanted to show you the stairs and ridgeline!

In other hikes over the last couple of months- I went up to Ka'ena Point at the very western most tip of Oahu to watch the sunset. Gorgeous view from here and much preferred time of day for me as well! This area is a state park with no vehicle access on the last 2 miles of the peninsula. It serves as a nesting ground for several of the local seabirds including shearwater, albatross and frigate birds. Easy, flat hike and very peaceful area. In the right season the endangered Hawaiian monk seals can also be seen resting on the coastline- didn't see any this time around but plan to go back!

Looking back down the west coast of Oahu from the point

It's an alllllbatrossss!

No words needed

I was also finally able to do a short hike with one of the hiking groups on the island over Memorial Day weekend and was joined by my previous roommate- Leslie for this 3 mile trip overlooking Kaneohe Bay. Didn't find this hike listed in my hiking guidebook but it's a nice, fairly easy hike with a great view at the end! The group photos are courtesy of another member from the hiking group- thanks Mike!

Vilma (ironically a friend of my new roomie...small island...), Leslie and I 

Gorgeous view from the top looking northward up the east (windward) coast of Oahu

Hiking group on the way up

Coconut/Gilligan's Island from another view!

Pre-hike update

Most of my blogs are post-hikes or adventures- but as I've been quite bad about regular updates, thought I'd give a little pre-hike update and I'll return soon with some pictures from the planned hike tomorrow.

Island life continues to amaze me on a pretty regular basis, and although I've gotten used to the many little quirks of the culture, language and amenities here- I still have to laugh and sigh in amazement that I have been so lucky to be a part of it over the last year. And yes- can't believe it's been a year!! At this point- work is continuing to go well and the hospital is hiring 2 new doctors in September. I plan to continue on here for the better part of the year to come, and then- well, who knows!

A big local event just occurred last weekend called 'Bayfest'- which is held on the marine core base not far from where I live. They have a fair type set-up with live bands, rides, carnival food and lots of military vehicles for folks to check out the inside of (helicopters, hummers, etc.). It was pretty fun to attend, although much smaller than I anticipated for a 'big event'.  Puddle of Mud and Hoobastank were the performing artists the evening we attended- decent performances overall but it seemed to rain more as the night went on so I bailed a bit early from the concert.

I recently played paintball again and remembered that I don't really care for it as much as I keep thinking I do!  I think the sharpness of my distance eyesight is a limiting factor, and the rented gear never seems quite as accurate as the guns everyone else has! These are both probably reasons that I find laser tag much more enjoyable- everyone is in the dark and everyone has rented gear. Plus in laser-tag- you are never fully out of the game even if you get shot- you just need to recharge somewhere and then keep going. Ah well- not a bad time overall and certainly a good workout!

The upcoming hike is reportedly one of the best on the island- called Stairway to Heaven. When I first told people on the east coast I was moving here- there were actually a couple of people whose first remark was- 'you have to do this hike!' After moving here- there are 2 caveats I encountered to this notion.
1) It's not so much a hike as it is a stair master for 4000 steps up the side of one of the tallest peaks on the island. Awesome...I've always dis-liked the stair master...
2) It's mostly illegal. After the state paid to have new stairs installed up to the old federal coast guard station at the top, there was dispute over who was responsible legally for any injuries on the hike. And so they closed it and instead pay a guard to sit at the bottom and tell people not to climb it (brilliant use of money). From my understanding- these guards are more of a formality than an actual law enforcing entity, and many of the guards tell people not to climb up the stairs, then casually mention a side entrance to the hike that skirts the guard shack. And for any of you that have visited this state- you'll understand that many laws here are taken as suggestions and enforced with about as much gusto. Several people drink on the beaches, despite several signs that say no alcohol. Or prop their spear guns on the signs that say no fishing as they prepare to enter the water. As you might guess- this can be a good or bad thing, but overall doesn't cause as many issues as it might in other areas of the country.
And it is with this in mind that we prepare to wake in the pre-dawn hours and start up some insane number of stairs for arguably the best view on the island. Wish us luck in by-passing any legalities, I'll post pictures either from the top or from the bottom looking up at the top =).

A tale of a fateful trip

A couple weekends ago- my roommate had sorted out a rare trip to Coconut Island in Kaneohe Bay. The island is currently home to a marine research institute and is only accessible by boat. It's a state owned island and kept completely private access except for about a 4ft x 4ft square of land on the point that is public access...which has potential to disappear with a high enough tide! Things worked out that morning that I could join the tour group before work that day, with the boat ride and island tour lasting from 9am-12pm. And although many random small islands claim to be this- Coconut Island is actually the island featured at the beginning shots for the Gilligan's Island tv show. Apparently they were going to film the whole thing there, but had too limited of a budget- so shot the island from several views and then did all the episodes in a studio in Hollywood. Images for comparison...the 2 tall pine trees are supposedly the telling mark on the island- but you can't really see them for the words on the tv picture.

And yes, that's right- our whole adventure was ironically a 3 hour tour...
But our tiny boat had beautiful weather throughout and I made it back to the bigger piece of land the same day.  We saw some cool creatures and learned a lot about the islands history and although the tour did not include as much science as I would have liked- it was a nice start to the day! 
In history- the island changed ownership several times but seemed to find repeated use an exclusive get-a-way for the upper class over the years. There is even a few old spotlights left that look down on a natural lagoon where they would host evening 'pool parties'. One of the rich owner's even brought over a small collection of animals for entertainment as well- elephants, monkeys, etc. The most prominent owner of the island was Edwin Pauley- who was a trusted advisor to several presidents including FDR and Truman. There are several pictures of him in the current library with various famous people, and also in attendance with Truman at the Potsdam conference after WWII. 
A few creatures of note during the tour- hammerhead sharks, reef sharks, crazy spiny sea cucumbers and a sad lonely octopus whose tank mate had died from a bologna sandwich tossed in by a previous group of tourists. Darn tourists!
Interesting in all that the island was in past and has become, although I wish they had spoken in . I also thought it was pretty awesome that the people who work at the research station park their cars on the coast and take a little boat over to the island to work for the day, and I found myself thinking- man, it would be really cool to work on an island....
Oh, wait...