San Diego to Oahu (Hialewa, more precisely)

We got out of the apt with lots of time to spare.  Enjoyed the full moon, now setting, in a beautiful clear sky.  A great way to start the day, for sure.

An easy walk to the bus, and the busses getting us to the airport in 45 minutes—more than 2 hours before our flight.

San Diego’s airport super-easy to navigate.  No line at all to check our bags; no line at all to get through security.  Sitting and enjoying a nice breakfast less than an hour after arriving at the airport. 

The flight was smooth and easy, albeit long. Hawaiian Airlines certainly showed everyone a great experience. All smiles, patience, efficiency, and humor. We were told that the weather over Oahu wasn’t nice (we’ve had a few scuba-trip reschedulings due to this bad weather), with 30-50 mph gusts, steady hard rain…but it wasn’t nearly as bad as we’d expected.

I got to our rental car while Pattie retrieved the bags and awaited my return. It was now 3pm local (5pm Pacific, i.e., it’s a 12-hr day now), and we were hungry. We stumbled (thank you Yelp) into a wonderful little Thai place in a Honolulu strip mall, creatively named Pad Thai (imagine that). We were thrilled that this was so good–we’ve have eaten anything, but this was fab. By the time we left there (4?) it was packed, and the take-out orders were streaming in/out. And, two storefronts away was a Safeway to deal with the week’s grocery needs, and we’re off to the north shore.

A bit too rainy, gray, and traffic-laden to stop for pix, but the fog surrounding the mountains are so very impressive. About 25 minutes of highway (H-1 west, then H-2 north), then onto 90 for about 18 miles. Passing stormy beaches whose shade of blue is new to me (passing too quickly in heavy traffic, but the pic below from the web is about right), passing the Dole plantation, past old Hialewa Town, then onto the Kamehameha Hwy. We were greeted by our host, Sylvia, and have now settled in for the night.

Happy as clams, ready to see what tomorrow brings.