My wife Betty and I spent the week of the 19th through the 25th of January, 2003 in Hawaii. It was a working vacation, but I managed to find time to enjoy a little piece of Oahu, and to catalog enough memories to last at least until I'm able to return. There is never enough time when there's so much to see, but I took my camera, and some of the images I brought back can be seen on the left of this page.

We stayed in the Renaisssance Ilikai Hotel on Waikiki Beach. The view from our varanda looked out directly on a tennis court and a service alley behind the hotel, but the lack of a direct view of the ocean was more than compensated for by the completeness of our room appointments. Stove, refrigerator, microwave...you name it, it was there! And air conditioning, of course, though we didn't really need it for the week we were there because of the unusual cool weather courtesy of a storm that finally reached the island on our last night there. The first picture on the left is of the hotel, and the second is the bronze dolphin sculpture and fountain at its entrance.

That first afternoon, Betty and I struck out walking near the hotel and discovered an exhibit called the Hilton Hawaiian Village. We didn't go very far into it; I was taken with the bronze statues at its entrance, so we stopped there and I took pictures from various angles.

On our second day, Monday, Martin L. King Day, we were out of the hotel by 9 A.M. We went directly to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. There was a wait of about 45 minutes before the next Navy barge left for the memorial, so we wandered through the various exhibits on display. It was sobering to see various ship models and torpedoes, Japanese and American, and to see parts of the attacking planes of December 7th, 1941 salvaged from their wreckage. As we were disembarking from the barge at the memorial, I was able to see and photograph oil seeping from the Arizona still, after all these years. Also saw USS Missouri (BB-63), which was berthed near the memorial, and the submarine USS Bowfin.

I chanced on a book signing as I was looking around in the Memorial bookstore, so I bought the book being promoted, "War In The Pacific," and had my copy signed by the author, Brig. Gen. Jerome T. Hagen, USMC (Ret.).

We were careful to watch the time, because we had scheduled a luau during the afternoon. Even so, I wasn' hurried, and I was able to see all I wanted at the Memorial. Near 2:15, we left to return to the hotel.

Just after 3:00 P.M., we left the hotel by bus for a luau at Paradise Cove. The fun began going in, with our host, Mark, having us introduce ourselves to the group. The man had an uncanny memory for names, and he would go from the front to the back of the bus recalling people's names. For example, if someone at the back of the bus introduced herself as being from Cleveland, Mark would call out someone's name at the front of the bus who was also from Cleveland and ask if they knew each other. Remarkable! Our Paradise Cove hosts took pictures of us as we entered the compound and made them available for us to buy on the way out.

In spite of the fact that this luau was an experience more designed for extraverts than people like me, I did manage to enjoy myself. I even threw the spear at a bull's eye painted on a bale of hay. And, of course, I took pictures of my own.

Betty rode a short distance in an outrigger canoe (I imagine while I was off photographing, because I missed that), and we watched volunteers being taught the hula; and still later, as the sun was setting, we were able to see our luau hosts cast and retrieve a fishing net in the traditional manner.

The last part of the evening was reserved for eating and for entertainment under a large tent. We had tasty shredded pork, fried chicken and maimai fish marinated in what I understand was macadamia nut sauce (that I didn't like). Food was plentiful, and the entertainment was first class. We were treated to hula dancers, both male and female, Hawaiian music and a Samoan fire dancer twirling batons with fire on both ends.

The next day (and for virtually every day afterwards until we left), we went back and forth to the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base, since that was where we had work to do. On Thursday, 23Jan03, we went to that part of the island for the last time. The last photo on the left shows one of the fascinating and picturesque hillsides that lines the route to Kaneohe. I've never seen anything quite like them, with their crevasses that climb straight up into the mist. The foliage is so lush, I'm told, because this so-called windward side of the island receives considerably more rainfall than the other side. We had a couple of very cloudy days and a few showers during the times we were at Kaneohe.

On Friday, the day before we were to leave Oahu, it began to shower on and off toward the afternoon and into the evening as a cold front passed through. Primarily because of the rain, Betty and I decided to eat at Tanaka's of Tokyo, a restaurant inside the hotel. The chef there comes over and cooks your meal on a grill in front of you. It was wonderful. We ate with a group of seven middle aged Japanese ladies who spoke little English. Betty and I were particularly amused by the mix-up the chef had trying to get the ladies' orders straight. They were all having steak, but our chef, who admitted he was woefully lacking in his Japanese language skills ("I only had a couple of semesters of Japanese," he told Betty and me) had considerable difficulty trying to determine how the ladies' wanted their steaks cooked. It required the services of the waiter who took the order and the Maitre d' to get it straight. The ladies took it all in stride, however, and were very good-natured throughout the ordeal.

By the time Betty and I awoke on Saturday, our last day in Hawaii, the rain had cleared out, the temperature was back up to what we expected, and for the first time since we arrived, the wind had decreased to a gentle breeze. We walked leisurely around the hotel, looking at items to buy to take home. I bought a couple of cigarette lighters, a dress shirt and a ballpoint pen from hotel shops, while Betty bought some T-shirts from shops in the environs of the hotel.

We checked out of the hotel just before noon on Saturday and caught a shuttle from the hotel to the airport. An uneventful flight brought an end to a most enjoyable working vacation.

All material on this site copyright 2011 by Mason Johnson
Last Reviewed: 28Dec11

mason.johnson@cox.net