National Annoy Matt Week

I'd just like to say a few parting word to National Annoy Matt Week. This week has been filled with little annoyances. Good riddens to this week. Well, the week hasn't been bad. I've spent some quality time with my g/f, a couple of my best friends and m...ok...I'm starting to figure this out. It's not National Annoy Matt Week. It's National Annoy Matt During the Day Week. Honestly, my evenings have been pretty good. It's the daytime hours that are annoying. So, good riddens to the annoying times at day. A fond ado to the rest. Please hurry up and get here, oh weekend!

Big 2001 Vacation: Part 10: 11/17/01 Evening

[I took the] catamoran off the coast [of Waikiki] for the sundown. The mai tais were flowing nonstop. [Everyone] watched the sun set.
A group of us sat on the netting in the front and talked and took pictures and had a good time. Two friends were named Jenn and Jenn. Kinda funny, even if it wasn't [their real] names. I enjoyed relaxing [on the] ride. {Relaxing, downing mai tais, watching the sun set, and chatting made for peaceful and relaxing evening. I did feel a bit out of place at times though, going stag and all. Plans to meet up with a couple of people had fallen through on the trip, so I made the best of it. Thankfully, it wasn't an issue often. There are a lot of friendly people in Hawaii. Side note: the corrections I made to this journal entry are more for clarity than the fixing of errors.}

Big 2001 Vacation: Part 9: 11/17/01 Morning

Hanauma Bay

I snorkeled for hours. There were tons and tons [of] schools of tropical fish. Beautiful. The reefs were beautiful. There was a [small] shark and eel too. I didn’t see them though.
It was very fun. I was able to swim in deeper waters and in the reefs. The fish were everywhere. It was incredible. I made sure I was well protected by sunscreen. There are a ton of new freckles. [M]y back shoulders look like I’m a [cheetah].
{This is a surprisingly short and poorly written journal entry, given how much I enjoyed snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. I’ll go into more detail now. I got to Hanauma Bay very early in the morning. If one doesn’t get there early, one will have to wait in line behind large crowds of people all waiting their turns. I snorkeled for about an hour, then sunbathed for ½ hour, on and off all morning. Hanauma Bay has two reefs areas. The inner area is very rocky and shallow. The number of fish is moderate, prolly because this is the area where most of the human kids cause a ruckus daily. However, I so amazed by the variety of fish, clarity of the water and rock/coral formations, I used up my underwater disposal camera there. One time I played with this poor little baby flat fish (I forget what type). It was the color of the sand. To hide, it simply laid down on the sandy bottom and fluffed up sand over itself. I remember seeing a huge, full grown version of this critter in the submarine ride the day before.
I wish I hadn’t used up my camera in the inner reef area because the outer area was even more incredible. Large schools of all kinds of small and large fish were on patrol. I managed to swim into a couple of schools a few times. I wish I had pictures of the outer reef area. I remember looking down from the surface to see schools of fish swimming around the coral reef formations that stuck straight of the unspoiled sand 30 feet below me. At about 11:30am, the beach and water got too crowded with people. It got hard to swim without some dumb kids bumping into me. After sun-drying myself, I took off. On my out, I noticed this one golden skinned girl blatantly take off her top to sunbath topless on the beach. I had to mention that cuz it’s not a common site in the U.S., regardless of location. I think she wasn’t American. On the tram ride back up to the parking lot, I looked back to take in the beauty of Hanauma Bay from high up. I’m sure there are much better places to snorkel, but even this lowly experience blow me away.
The photos in this blog entry are links to their full size versions.}

UPDATE: By complete randomness, I just came across this blog entry of Waikiki pics.

Big 2001 Vacation: Part 8: 11/16/01 Night

The Wave Night Club
The music wasn’t [as] loud as I expected. Still had a good club volume, but not ear numbing. A band of two female leads did covers of Blink 182, Linkin Park and others. It was fun.
I [hung out] with a couple of girls [for much of the night], but they [were] there with their men. {For the record, they were flirting with me. At the time, I just didn’t feel like getting involved with the drama.} Oh well.
After I was done drinking, I got a water and hung out at the bar, getting ready to head out. Th[is] one girl sat next to me and started leaning on me and sticking her cigarette in my direction, try[ing] to get my attention. I didn’t have a good feeling about her, so I tried to ignore her. Didn’t work. [S]he started telling me [about] the cab {which she rode in} had those auto[matic] doors, and she fell [out] on[to] her ass [when it opened on her]. {To this day, I don’t know what she was talking about. I’ve never heard of automatic doors on cabs before or since. I do know that this girl annoyed me.} I rubbed her hurt tush for a little bit, but started to [try to] find a way out. She finally went off to dance [with her girlfriend]. I was done for the night, so I headed back to the hotel about 3a.m. It was a fun time in general.
{There are tons of errors in this entry. I must’ve written this right when I got back to the hotel.}

Big 2001 Vacation: Part 7: 11/16/01 Day

Waikiki
I went on a beautiful submarine ride [off] the [coast] of Waikiki. [When] I first went snorkeling the other day; I was impressed by the number of fish in the water right [off] the beach. Well, multiply that by 1000 at the artificial reefs at 75' under the Waikiki bay waters.
There were large schools of tons of tropical fish. Three large turtles showed up, and a ray, and a small shark. {The deep water was so blue, as if we were in the largest swimming pool in the world. Many of the natural reefs had been destroyed by a large storm about a decade prior to my visit. Several sunken ships and some old airplane wreckage served as the start of new reefs. The submarine ride cost $99. I feel I more than got my money’s worth.}
{As part of a promotional consideration, after the submarine ride, guests were bussed to a coral driver jewelry maker for a tour of their facilities.} Time keeps slipping by today. It seems like hours vanished throughout the day…kinda sucks. I was going [to] go snorkeling today, but lost track of time somewhere. Don’t know how.
Anyways, a friend gave me the number of his friend on the islands. We’ve been playing the longest game of phone tag I’ve ever played. Humorous and annoying. She left a message saying she has bron[ch]itis. That sucks. Kills my original plans for the weekend…still going to go out, but not as much fun alone.
Man, I hope the pictures I took from the sub came out…we’ll see. {Who’s this "we" that I keep talking about? lol}Ya’no, I miss Kaua’i. :)
Now, let’s see how tonight shapes [up].

Big 2001 Vacation: Part 6: 11/15/01

Kaua’i

No words can do this place justice. The island is very very beautiful. It’s called “The Garden Island.” This must be a reference to the Garden of Eden. Today, I’m told, is unusually clear for a fall month. {No clouds shrouded the volcano summit.} My God, it is beautiful. I drive up to the North Shore and was frustrated that I had to keep my eyes on the road instead of taking in the isle’s glory.
Everyone here is so laid back. I even picked up a hitchhiker. His name was Tim. [H]e was in his 50’s, but was young for his age. I didn’t take him far before we were at his destination. Hitchhiking is still common place here, like what I’ve heard the early 70’s were like on the Mainland.{Arg, I really did use the word “Mainland.” LOL Ok, I got to the island early in the morning. As I was driving up to North Shore, I noticed a 10 year old boy hitchhiking. It was like 6 or 7 in the morning. I was thinking about what the hell his parents were thinking letting him do this. Later I figured out that the locals treat hitchhiking same as mass transit. They line up at what appear to be specific locations, as if waiting for cabs or a bus, taking their turn as cars pulled up.}The helicopter ride was awesome. The island is awesome to behold. [W]ords just don’t do this place justice. {Didn’t I say that already?} The canyons are…I don’t know the word. The tour had a video to sell at the end, but the video doesn’t do this isle justice, and neither do photos. The helicopter ride itself was fun, going in to valleys, over the ocean, into the great crater of the volcano that built the island. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I’m in love with Kaua’i. {Check out these two silly photos I took with my I-Zone camera. :) I took real photos too. See the link at the end of this entry}I drove down to Poipu after the helicopter ride. The beach was good…on the surface, nothing special, at least until [I swam] in it. The water is crystal clear, and (for the time of day) clam. I snorkeled in Waikiki, but didn’t have the gear to snorkel here. I wish I did. I swam in the waters, then sunbathed dry. It hit [me] on the drive back to the airport that I felt completely renewed, energized, refreshed. Wow!
I’m setting [here] at the [airport] bar chatting with the barkeep and the waitress talking about “[written unintelligibly]” and “Dakine” (sp?). Hawaiians use these words excessively. (Dakine) = anything that is usual. “I’m going to the store” = “I’m going Dakine.” It’s kind of funny. The waitress’ name is Berrie. She’s interesting, about my age, two kids and was pretty much telling me her life story.
I’m coming back [to] Kaua’i again, maybe next year.{Check out my photos from the helicopter ride.}