Day 38: Kailua, HI

The last full day in Hawaii! AK is travelling back to St. Louis today, but I've got one more day here.
This morning, I finally got the chance to get on the internet and read all my email that has been neglected since mid May. I had 154 messages and many of them were thoughtful emails from fans of the ride, the journal and the FFB. Sorry it took me so long to receive those notes, but I really do apprerciate them.

I also had the chance the breeze through the journal and read over the comments (since we don't have internet access, we don't often get the oppurtunity to read them). Thank you all for posting comments; it is really fun and encouraging to read over them.

After getting through my messages as fast as I could, Mac, Rochelle, Grayson, Beth and I all jumped in the car and headed for the north shore. As you might expect, the drive was very scenic and beautiful. We stopped in at Banzai Beach to check on the site of the famous Banzai Pipeline. Today, the surf was relatively calm, but from the texture of the sand and the slope of the beach one can tell that this is a place that can often get pounded by powerful mountains of water.

Next, we arrived in Hailewa (I'm guessing on the spelling) and met up with Nic, Rebus, Victor, Peter and Lynn-Wood. Nic and Rebus took us all to this fantastic lunch spot where I had a grilled mahi sandwich with ortega chillies on it. It was awesome, and the addition of ortega was brilliant. I love that stuff, and I declared that I think it could even improve a PB&J sandwich.

After we had our fill of sandwiches and a quick stop for Hawaiian shaved ice, all 10 of us headed for another beach known for its giant waves. Today however, Waimeha (again I'm guessing the spelling) Bay was calm and nearly perfectly flat.

Grayson, Beth and I headed out to do some snorkeling. Visibiliy was much better than last Friday, although I think there was more to see at that reef than here in the Bay. After being out for about 20 minutes, Grayson and Beth spotted a sea turtle ("honu" in Hawaiian). While inspecting that one, we spotted two more.

These creatures are absolutely amazing. They glide effortlessly through the water with slow gentle motions that can propel them much faster than we can swim (even with fins on). I was amazed at how little they seemed to care about the three of us in their habitat. Trying to give them plenty of room, they just seemed to swim closer to us. Perhaps they were checking us out as much as we were checking them out?

On the way back to the beach, we also stumbled upon another sea turtle within feet of the beach graizing on sea weed. Four turtles in one day makes for a great day at the beach.

Later in the evening, we all ended up on the patio back at the rental house. We sat for hours just chatting at having a good time sharing our last evening together as a group in Hawaii.

Laughter spread like the plauge after Victor tried to walk through the sliding screen door and bounced right off. The laughter amplified after I walked competely through it 10 minutes later. And we hit a point of pure hysterics after Beth tried her hand at walking through the screen as well. We obviously learn fast.

Since Grayson, Beth and I all are flying out early tomorrow, the night ended with saying goodbye to Rebus and Nic. It looks as though Rebus is going to do his best to get to the mainland in time to ride the last week of our ride with us. Both AK and I realy hope that will work out. It would be a lot of fun to have our good friend and motivation finish this epic with us.

Jeff