Hawaii alive oh!
Sit on a beach? No, I’ve got islands to explore
HAVE you ever wondered what it’s like to be tumbled around inside a washing machine? After trying out a challenging exhausting new sport in Hawaii I now intimately know the feeling. But when you’ve come to Hawaii, home of surfing it’s irresistible to try living out youthful fantasies of ‘riding the curl’ of waves that accompanied that theme music of one of our TV favourites back in the day (and now remade for a modern audience) – Hawaii Five-O.
A companion now remarks: ‘If Agatha Christie could surf, so can you’. He neglects to mention that the queen of crime-writing was at least half my age when she donned her green wool bathing dress to be one of the first in Britain to learn how to surf in waves rolling into the beach where we now stand.
In letters to her mother in the 1920s Agatha Christie wrote: ‘It was occasionally painful as you took a nosedive into the sand but on the whole it was an easy sport and great fun.’
After managing to stand upright on her surf board in Hawaii she wrote in her memoirs: ‘Oh, it was
heaven, nothing like it, nothing like that rushing through the water at what seemed to be the speed of about 200 miles an hour.’
Just steps away from the glamorous Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach resort where we stay is hallowed ground, birthplace of Duke Kahanamoku, a true Hawaiian hero who won numerous Olympic swimming medals.
Known as the father of modern surfing, Duke pioneered the Waikiki ‘beach boys’, teaching visitors how to surf.
On Hawaii’s best-known surfing beach Waikiki you could simply do nothing but blissfully stretch out on a beach bed under the palms, serenaded by the ukulele, admiring your lei (Hawaiian garland of tropical flowers that welcomes visitors).
As the sun sets, we later join the lazy brigade sipping Mai Tais, watch a hula dancing show, soaking up the traditional ‘aloha’ vibe with the best of them!
But we haven’t come 7,000 miles just to lie on our elbows and sunbathe.
Hawaii excels in outdoor adventures from snorkelling and diving to surfing, hiking, off-road driving and zipline safaris.
We aim to cram much of that into our short visit to two of the six islands open to tourism, Oahu home to Pearl Harbor and Honolulu the capital of the 50th state of US and Kauai the northernmost and oldest of the main islands.
Barely awake due to the 11-hour time difference with Europe I flop on to a 10ft long surf board on the beach after our earlymorning hike to catch the best views overlooking Honolulu from Diamond Head. Reaching the look-out point at the top has involved a steep hour-long climb and 90 steps. Fitness freaks enjoy running up to the edge of this 300,000-year-old crater for their morning work-out.
Our surf instructor Alex from Waikiki Beach Activities (www.waikikibeachactivities.com) now gets us to crawl up and down the surfboard balancing our weight, going from horizontal to stand-up position, first on one knee, then up on two legs.
A cinch on dry land! Ten minutes into the lesson he points to a distant surf break. ‘That’s the reef where we’re going, we’ll paddle out through a calm channel to go catch those waves.’
In a nervous trance I try to remember the drill on flipping over. Two large green sea turtles swim elegantly by and a sightseeing boat passes with waving passengers, some no doubt chuckling at my snail like paddling progress.
‘Paddle with your arms not like T-Rex with your hands” advises Alex who speeds me up with a surfer’s version of a piggyback, reaching out a tanned foot to tow my board behind his one.
BY turns the instructors take us to where the waves – ‘gentle slow rollers’ – break and we try riding them. I don’t dare stand up, crouching on one knee in what’s known as a ‘Hunchback’ (of Notre Dame!) pose. But at least I am staying with the board for now.
The scary washing machine tumbling comes on the next couple of rides after I’ve gathered enough confidence to try standing up.
Each time the surfboard nosedives and flips over rolling me around in the wave. The feeling is of being sucked into a funnel. Remember, these are gentle waves compared with those gigantic breakers we see on TV.
At this point I decide to give surfing a long rest. Scrambling astride my board it turns into a gentle reliable horse carrying the rider safely shore wards.
The exertions of surfing creates big appetites and we wolf down enormous plates of Hawaiian lunch specialities at one of Honolulu’s favourites, Liliha bakery, including a local favourite Lico Moco (rice, fried egg and hamburger patty covered in rich gravy) finishing off with a selection of the bakery’s famous choux pastry puffs.
On the food front a flashback to Hawaii’s long links with the US military – there are naval bases and military families aplenty on the archipelago of volcanic islands, notably Pearl Harbor, an hour’s drive from Honolulu – is the islanders’ enduring love affair with Spam.
The heavily processed canned meat throwback to an age of austerity was introduced by the military here during wartime and is so popular that every April a Spam festival takes place during which top chefs compete for the best Spam-based creation.
Formed over six million years ago, Kauai rates at the top of most travellers wish-lists to the volcanic archipelago of Polynesian islands in the middle of the Pacific, five hours by air from the nearest point on the US mainland.
We admire Kauai’s spectacular pristine landscapes on a roller coaster off road 4x4 ATV tour (alternative terrain vehicle) driving into dense forests and wilderness with Kipu Ranch adventures (www.kiputours.com).
Before we’re let loose in our Kawaskai Jeeps fast braking reaction and circumnavigating a hole the size of a bomb crater without keeling over is put to the test. Tree stumps, mucky swamps, rocky mountainsides, roaming wild pigs and wandering
Two turtles swim by elegantly as I paddle out on my board
feral chickens are among the obstacles ahead. A helicopter tour of the entire island, looking down on extraterrestrial gorges, valleys and cliffs, swooping above the Grand Canyon of the Pacific (www.islandhelicoptters.com) is expensive but worth it. We land at a spot immored talised in the Jurassic Park 1 waterfall scene inside Waimea Canyon and follow the spectacularly rugged Na Pali coastline of isolated beaches. Then it’s time to explore Kauai from the sea, searching for aqua, tic wonders including humpback whales and green sea turtles stopping to snorkel from Captain and\y’s Northern Star catamaran www.napali.com). Our action grand finale involves harnnessing up to zip across val- leys and gullies from a forested mountain side of amazing landscapes. Numerous movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Lost were shot on location here.
Our back country zipline adventure (www.kauaibackcountry.com) is my first stab at this scary looking activity. But as we bump up steep tracks through remote plantation lands I reason: what can possibly go wrong, compared to ending up in that washing machine of surf waves?
Plenty, apparently if you happen to grab the overhead zipline cable in panic and risk losing your pinkie or travel too slowly and get marooned far from the finish platform. And it’s not advisable for novices to practise somersaults or a Spider-Man impersonation.
We transcend a mountainside over a couple of miles via seven separate ziplines, making our way to the valley floor below. ‘Trust your equipment (the super strong harness strapped around our thighs, waist and chest attached to the pulley) and us to keep you safe’ said Drake (22) helping us get all strapped up, promising he will catch me before I hit the bushes..
Participants first practise on a ‘bunny’ zipline to feel comfortable with heights. Then, clutching the tethers-straps attached to the pulley above – our zig-zag trip at the height of a 23-storey building gets underway. The goal is to have a relaxed sitting position enjoying superb views of valleys, rainforest and waterfalls.
By the end we feel like Cirque du Soleil acrobats, or at least aspiring ones by now landing gracefully on our feet, with adrenaline-fuelled satisfaction after the joys of flight.