We checked into the Marc Island Colony with no fuss at all. It wasn't quite as close to the beach as the Ohana Maile Sky Court had been, but it was still close enough to walk easily down to the ocean. In addition, it was more centrally located in Waikiki so restaurants were closer. We were hungry after our flight, so we wandered out to find some food. To my delight we found a pho place right around the corner, so we slurped down noodles and played Pokemon. Afterwards, we went to Coldstone and got ice cream, then wandered down to the pier to watch the ocean splash our legs. There were a couple of people swimming, and lots of people wandering around. We walked along the boardwalk, then back to the hotel. On the way I stopped at a ubiquitous ABC store to pick up some waterproof cameras and water. The weather was warm and humid in Honolulu, so I tried to drink as much water as possible. It was fairly late by then and as the night got darker we went back to the hotel room and slept.
Tuesday morning- the zoo.
Tuesday morning we bounded out of bed, eager to start the day! Well, okay, not really, neither of us are morning people. We staggered out of bed around 10am, and decided to have breakfast at a little coffee shop which was also around the corner. They had some good breakfast deals and we ate pretty well. Then it was off to rent a car from Enterprise, which was around the corner (sense a theme here?). Car acquired, we headed over to the zoo. I admit it... ever since I heard there were hyenas at the Honolulu zoo I wanted to go. I'm a hyena slut.
The Honolulu zoo is fairly small, but still good (after all, there were hyenas!). They had a decent bird selection, though most of them were behind cages which were not conducive to decent photos. These sun conures were squabbling at the vulturine parrot in the next cage- you can see what I mean about the bars on the cage. Feh. Another funny thing that happened was that an argus pheasant (I didn't get a photo of him) was pacing back and forth. As he did so his huge long tail would sweep out behind him, and at one point he smacked a small bird sitting on a branch behind him with his tail. To my surprise, the little bird seemed fairly nonplussed but didn't fly away or react very strongly. It was quite funny.
The hornbills had been fed mice, and were smacking them around before gulping them. The kookaburra also had a mouse in its beak and was really smacking the mouse around, I guess to make it nice and jelly-like to slide down its throat. Urp!
Unfortunately, the bird area was shady and there were a lot of mosquitos there, and they homed in on my tender flesh almost instantly. I'm a magnet for mosquitos. :P I hurried through the rest of the birds and we made it to an area where there were a few primates and turtles and tortoises. We saw some gibbons who were busy grooming. Or maybe these are spider monkeys? I'm not very good at my primates. :P
The lemurs were very lazy. Very, very lazy. So lazy, in fact, we scarcely saw them move. They were flopped all over the place. Yep, lazy.
There was a moat surrounding the lemurs and gibbons, and turtles had taken it over. Every log had turtles on it. This turtle seemed to have something to say, but then he decided against speaking out.
In addition to lazy lemurs and turtles, there was a lazy alligator. A closeup of his head, his tail, and foot. You just never know when you might need reference for a gator foot.
A view of Diamondhead from the zoo. This day was overcast and yet bright, so I had trouble shooting things that were backlit by the sky.
Case in point: this siamang. This photo is not so good because she's so backlit. This one was much better. And hooray! She was very active. Here is an avi of her swinging around on her monkey bars. We were pretty impressed at how easily and effortlessly she avoided the rocks.
The Komodo dragon was nicely active too, wandering around and flicking his tongue out. I just love big lizards.
And speaking of lizards, the monitor lizards were taking a cue from the lemurs and were lazy. They were also very fat. And one of them had crammed himself under a rock.
The savannah monitor, on the other hand, was active and scratching at the glass in his cage.
We left the lizard area and came to an eating area. Zebra doves abounded and I wondered what this mystery bird was. Anyone know?
Then, on to the hyenas! Hooray! At first when I arrived at the enclosure it appeared empty. I was disappointed, but then they came around the corner in single file! It appeared that the larger female was chasing and harassing the male. Around and around they went, with the smaller male looking harried and harassed. Occasionally he would spin and fight with the female, then run away. It was difficult getting decent shots of them because they never stopped and posed nicely. But I did get some video of them galloping around! Avi 1 and avi 2.
Next we moved on to a walk-in aviary with lots of cool birds. Alas, the coolest bird was so brightly backlit my photos of him didn't turn out at all, so look at these other birds instead. A blacksmith plover! So smartly dressed in his black and white finery. He knows he's pretty! There was also a cool duck with iridescent wings. The color on his wings really shimmered. A not-great-but-cool-anyway photo of the duck flapping his wings.
Oddly, also in the aviary but off to the side was a serval. We wondered if he lived a life of frustration with all these flapping birds around his cage. So close and yet so far!
And that was it for the zoo trip. We also saw giraffes, elephants, waterbucks, cheetahs, African Wild dogs, and some other critters, but either it was difficult to photograph them or I decided not to- I've been to so many zoos, I know there are zoo where it's easier to photograph certain animals, and the giraffes and AWD are much easier to photograph at the San Diego zoo, for instance.
Tuesday afternoon-tidepools
After the zoo Shawn wanted to visit some tide pools and drive along the coast. Whee! Well, that was the sort of thing we had rented the car for, so off we went. We stopped at a beach to check out the tide pools there. Shawn had on "slippers" (we call them thongs or flipflops or sandals on the mainland, but in Hawaii they're slippers) so he was able to wade out and investigate pools farther out. I had on sneakers so I contented myself with the nearest tidepools. Is there nothing better than poking around in tidepools and finding cute and weird creatures? It was also nice that the tidepools were formed by interesting lava formations.
Some creatures that Shawn found were a bunch of cute little hermit crabs! They had bright blue eyes. This one had a hole in its shell, but it didn't seem to phaze him as he crawled around on Shawn's hand. I picked up a hermit crab and it instantly began trying to pinch me with its huge front claw. It was adorable. Blue eyes!
We had taken the hermit crab back to the car because initially I had been reluctant to take my camera close to the sea spray. Shawn headed back to return the crab to its tidepool, and I fooled around with my camera a bit before heading back to the tidepool. On the way I stumbled over something that made me shriek in surprise: A large bloated dead puffer fish! Awesome! I poked at it but it was pretty stiff. It was about the length of my forearm from wrist to elbow, and had been dead for a while. Shawn came over and took a look and we took turns poking it and turning it over. I experimentally tried to break off a spine to keep as a souvenir but it was no go.
The beach around the tidepools- it was a cloudy, rather windy day. Shawn had to keep pulling his hair back so he could peer into the pools. Looking for victims! I really liked the shapes of the rocks and all the neat little pools. Another neat pool. Shawn found a piece of coral.
Can you see the crab in this photo? :D
Some more lava formations.
After scouring the pools for glimpses of various small fish, dead crabs, hermit crabs, and snails, we headed on to another tide pool farther down the highway. The rocks here were sharper. And the ocean seemed rougher as well- look out for that wave, Shawn! He got splashed by one (avi file)... Some rock texture and more rock texture. Alas, the tide pools at this stop seemed to have less to offer- except some crabs which stayed underwater. There was a neat lava bridge though, and Shawn ventured under it to explore a small cave underneath the rocks.
As we left the tidepools, I spotted some boobies flying around. I didn't know there were boobies in Hawaii! We had thought about taking some lava rocks or perhaps dead coral as souvenirs, but on second thought we didn't want to anger Pele, so we left things alone. :D
By the time we got back to Waikiki we were hungry, so we headed over to the Ward shopping center to find a steakhouse. Shawn also wanted to see if Triplets of Belleville was playing, but alas, it was not. We did find a Stuart Anderson's steakhouse though, and we dined pretty well there. I was starving so the steak was really delicious. Afterwards, back to the hotel where we parked and wandered around Waikiki for a bit, then off to bed.
Wednesday- Hanauma Bay!
On Wednesday we headed to Hanauma Bay, an excellent top spot for snorkeling and seeing fish. Alas, when we got there it there was a brisk wind. It wasn't exactly a cold wind, but it definitely felt so when one was wet. It was also very cloudy. And unfortunately the water was pretty cold. :/ I managed only about 1.5 hours of snorkeling- the last time we'd been in Hanauma I'd stayed out for 6 hours and got horribly sunburned. This time I was too cold to truly enjoy the fish, although there were times I forgot how cold I was. It is truly a great snorkeling spot, with a ton of stuff to see.
Some butterfly fish pecking at the coral.
Huge coral-chomping parrotfish! Was this a fish I saw last year? Could be!
This parrotfish was more reddish than the previous one, and s/he had a little guide fish- the rainbowy colored wrasselike thing off to the left accompanied the parrotfish as it moved through the coral.
The parrotfish and the tail of its guide off to the left.
Chomp chomp chomp! It can be unnerving when one of these approaches you.
These guys were pecking at the coral.
Zooming away from my camera. Some sort of tang.
More fish pecking at the coral.
A cute little threadfin butterflyfish!
And finally, my favorite fishes- the humuhumunukunuku apua'a. There are two different kinds- this one, and then this adorable one. The humuhumunukunuku apua'a is Hawaii's state fish and I'm always pleased to see them.
I do wonder, though, if Hanauma will eventually become so popular it will be closed to the public. In spite of the 9 minute film we were forced to see, in which it is clearly stated DO NOT WALK OR STEP ON THE CORAL BECAUSE IT IS VERY FRAGILE I still saw people standing up on the coral! Hey you! Yes, you! "Do not stand on the coral" means YOU! Argh. >:(
Alas, because the water was so cold, I found myself more interested in the mongooses trotting back and forth along the grasses next to the crater slopes. However, they deserve their own post, so I'll get to them later.
Shawn and I were a bit disappointed we couldn't stay out longer. As we were sitting there debating what to do, it began to sprinkle rain on us, so we decided reluctantly to head back to town. We really need to invest in some dive skins for warmth. We showered at the hotel, then went and had dinner (an excellent buffet) at the Pacific Beach hotel's Oceanarium restaurant. This is a great place to have lunch or dinner. As usual, after dinner we wandered around a bit to let the food settle, then headed back to the hotel to laugh like loons at the Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.
Thursday
On Thursday we decided to look into whether we could island-hop to the big island to see the volcanoes. Alas, it wasn't meant to be- there were no slots open on the tours, and there was simply no way we could fly over to Hawaii and then back to Oahu on the same day. It IS possible if you plan ahead of time! But we'd been hoping to do it on Friday, and we just didn't plan ahead enough. I guess next time we go we'll definitely visit the Big Island and see what it has to offer. I want to see the volcanoes!
We decided to head over to a photo place to drop off the one camera I had managed to fill at Hanauma, and I also craved some Dunkin Donuts. We don't have that chain in Los Angeles, phooey, just yucky Krispy Kreme and Winchell's, which is okay but not DD. Along the way Shawn's radar spotted an ARCADE so he stopped in at the arcade while I went on to get donuts. On the way back I noticed a Thai restaurant called Keoni's, and when I reunited with Shawn I suggested it for lunch. When he was done playing his game we went to Keoni's for lunch. I had the "muslim beef curry" which was excellent. I also accidentally dropped small grains of rice on the floor for the little bold sparrows who flew into the restaurant.
Afterwards we went to an internet cafe so Shawn could collect any addresses of people to send postcards to, and I checked my email briefly to make sure there were no problems with the pets. I also checked LJ briefly because I am a sad addict. LJ taken care of, we searched out Serenity Spa to reserve massages. Thre were no openings for Thursday, but there was a couples opening on Friday so we took that slot. Afterwards we were hot and tired and decided to head back to the hotel to decide what to do.
Shawn flopped down on the bed, and I was thinking about prodding him to go back to Hanauma when I suddenly felt very sleepy. Every time I've incredible sleepiness hits me suddenly I've had problems- it usually means I have food poisoning. I figured this time it was just the heat and humidity while walking around. I flopped down too and we both napped for several hours.
When I woke up I was feeling not so great. My stomach was hurting and I figured I just had indigestion or something. Shawn and I walked out to get dinner, since I figured some dinner would settle my stomach. We got some okay food from a vendor at a hotel on the beach, and sat outside on a patio to eat it. I had fried chicken and salad- Shawn had a hot dog, I think. Afterwards I had to get some Baskin Robbins ice cream and we wandered around for a bit before heading back to the hotel. I think Shawn went back to the arcade at this point- he had some tokens he wanted to use up, and I wasn't feeling well so I lay down on the bed and played Pokemon. Alas, I started feeling worse and worse, though I felt a little better if I sat up. At times the cramps doubled me over in pain. Shawn came back and went out to get me some Pepcid stuff for indigestion, since we figured that's what I had. I thought maybe I'd eaten too much rich food or something. I didn't sleep well at all, I was tossing and turning all night. I felt like a sharp rock was residing in my stomach, digging into me no matter which position I tried to sleep in. Ugh.
Friday
I woke up Friday morning feeling unwell. Shawn went down and got some cereal and milk from the convience store in the hotel, and I ate some bland cereal. I was still having intermittent STABS of pain, but we had a massage scheduled so we headed out to do that. I was hoping my gut would calm down and it seemed to on the walk over.
We arrived at the Serenity Spa with plenty of time to shower beforehand. I didn't want to show up all sweaty from the walk over from our hotel. :D We were given robes and towels. Initially I was uncertain whether I should be completely nude or leave my panties on, but I decided to just strip completely, as did Shawn. After showering we waited around until the massage guys were ready for us. My guy was named Kevin and Shawn's guy (teehee) was named Drew. A nice pair of guys! It was our first time getting a professional massage and I thought I would be really uncomfortable having a massage from a stranger, but it wasn't bad at all. I normally don't like strangers touching me, but I guess it's different if you PAY them to touch you. At any rate, Kevin had large, strong, warm hands, and the massage was amazing.
The massage tables were covered with several sheets and blankets, and we laid facedown on the tables, under the sheets. Kevin and Drew would peel back the sheets in a certain order so we were never fully exposed, and our modesty was preserved. It was sort of interesting how they did that but I was too relaxed to think about it too deeply. I had the Swedish massage and Shawn had the "hot lava rocks" massage. His massage must have been good because he said the speech centers of his brain had shut down. :D My massage was excellent.
Afterwards we tipped the guys really well and walked out feeling really good, though soon my guts were stabbing me again. We stopped at Planet Hollywood for lunch and I tried to get some fairly bland roast chicken and plain mashed potatoes to eat, but when we reached our hotel I had to run into the hotel bathroom where my guts let me know just how unhappy they were. Ooof. It was bad. No nausea, just diarrhea. I won't get into any more details.
I limped back up to the hotel room. Shawn wanted to go to Hanauma but I was feeling way too crappy. My guts were poking my other organs with knives and there was an internal war going on. I told Shawn to go to Hanauma by himself. He didn't want to do that. We hemmed and hawed over it, but alas, 6pm arrived and Hanauma closes at 6. We played pokemon and watched tv, with me running to the bathroom every so often. I finally decided to go pick up my photos and also buy some Pepto-Bismal. I headed out, feeling very crappy, and the streets were full of Friday-night party-people. One guy staggered in front of me, held his hands out as if framing me, and said, "Beautiful! Beautiful!" I smiled weakly and kept walking.
I got my photos and Pepto and headed back to the room, where I grimaced and drank some of the nasty pink stuff. It DID seem to help a bit, and my guts stopped stabbing me with knives. I slept okay that night, not great.
Saturday
We had to check out on Saturday, but our flight didn't leave until 10:30pm. That left us some time to kill, and we decided to head back to Hanauma Bay. I didn't feel at all up to snorkeling, so I brought my backpack with me and my camera to photograph the mongooses. When we got to Hanauma we discovered that Shawn had left his snorkel gear behind, so he drove back to fetch it while I went down to the beach. I bought a hotdog and an orange juice to eat on the beach, and while I ate a flock of pigeons crowded around me and demanded a tribute. They were very sassy pigeons, even going so far as to land on my hand while I was eating the hotdog and peck at it! I shooed them away, though I did hand them pieces of bread to eat. I did save a little bit of the end of the hot dog for the mongooses.
I played Pokemon while waiting for Shawn to return and made a few trips to the bathroom. 9_9 The day was warmer and sunnier and much nicer than Wednesday, and I regretted not feeling well enough to snorkel.
Shawn eventually showed up and I offered to get him some food while he changed and headed out to snorkel. The consessions stand is up on a fairly steep hill, and I was not feeling up to the climb, so I rode the shuttle up and got Shawn a hotdog and chips. He emerged from the ocean when I returned and gulped down his hotdog, then headed back out to snap some more fish photos.
We had to leave around 4 because I was nervous about getting the car back by 5. We didn't make it, however, and I was trying to figure out what to do to return the rental car. I decided to look at the receipt and found there was a number and address for the Enterprise near the airport, so Shawn called them and found we could return the car there, and they would take us to the airport. It was kind of sad though- we could have spent more time at Hanauma if we'd known we wouldn't get back by 5. :P
Still, we decided to have dinner, and we wandered around a bit before stopping at a place that was serving kalua pork (yummy) and teriyaki chicken with big balls of steamed rice. The steamed rice sounded really good to me- nice and bland for my stupid intestines. I was also still gulping down Pepto at this point. While we were eating on a patio, a parade went by on Kalakaua Avenue. That was amusing. We got Haagen-Dazs ice cream, then retrieved photos we had dropped off, and got our luggage from the hotel and made our way to the rental car place to return the car.
We made it to the airport with time to spare, and got on the plane. It was late, but I stayed up playing Pokemon becuse I cannot sleep on planes. Finally exhaustion overtook me and I managed to doze uncomfortably, only to be awakened by a crying baby. I amused myself with coming up with ways to silence crying babies on planes, but they're rather nasty so I won't get into it. ;)
We arrived in Los Angeles at 5:30am, got our shuttle, and got home around 7 or so. I took a shower and promptly collapsed into bed to sleep until 3.
And that was our trip, hoo-ha. In spite of the sickness, it was well worth it, and I really enjoyed it. I do regret not being to snorkel more, but that's just incentive to go back.
Mongooses
The first time we went to Hanauma Bay in Hawaii, we noticed these brown animals running along the grass line along the rocky slopes of the volcano crater that is Hanauma Bay. I figured they were squirrels at first until one stopped and scratched itself just like Nile (my ferret)! Then I realized they were mongooses!
Mongooses are definitely not native to Hawaii. From here: "The mongoose was introduced in Hawaii in 1883 in a failed effort to control rats that were feeding on sugar cane." Unfortunately, the mongooses are diurnal and the rats are nocturnal, so the experiment did not work well at all. The mongooses turned their attention to native Hawaiian birds instead. :/
In spite of that, I find the mongooses really, really cool. I love Viverrids and mongooses and these guys are diurnal, unlike genets and civets, so it's easy to see them during the day. The species is the Indian Mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus).
The mongooses are fairly bold, wary, but bold. They dash from cover to the trash cans, hop in, grab what they can, and carry it back to the tall grass to eat.
If you leave your backpack near the grass, the mongooses will not hesitate to go through it. This bold little fellow happily investigated this couple's backpack and cooler. It tugged and pulled at the backpack in exactly the way Nile does when she wants to get into something. The couple was very amused when I told them later.
So, I was very, very bad. I saved some of my hotdog to lure a mongoose out to get photos. Mea culpa. A bold little fellow responded to the lure of the hot dog scent.
He regarded me warily from the grass.
A slight close up. He wasn't afraid, but he was wary, and the slightest movement on my part sent him fleeing back into the grass, only to pop out again, sniffing at the delicious hotdog scent.
He slunk out a bit to have a look around.
I know there's a hotdog around here somewhere!
He grabbed the first piece of hotdog and ran off with it.
I threw out another piece, closer to me this time, and he slunk out again to check it out.
Another hotdog grab! Back to the safety of the long grass!
Now this is an avi file. It shows the whole sequence of the mongoose emerging from the grass, grabbing the hotdog, and running back with it.
This avi sequence is shorter. In this one, the mongoose only emerges slightly, sniffs at the hotdog scent, then vanishes back into the grass when some people passed by a few yards away.
It's people like this who provide food for the mongooses! Actually, Shawn didn't share his hotdog; he was too hungry. :D But here you can see the strip of grass from which the mongooses emerged.
When we were packing up to leave, two mongooses chased each other in and out of the grasses, running along, apparently playing, but then they vanished into the grass and we heard a loud angry "SKREEE!" I guess one of them didn't want to play any more.
So that's it for the mongoose, at least until we return and I can get more photos of them. :D I'm glad the park rangers didn't catch me feeding them. -_- I know I shouldn't, and I do feel guilty about it, but I still like the mongooses.
