Hawaii trip - day 3

Tuesday, April 10 - Aloha, Honolulu; Aloha, Big Island...

On Tuesday morning, it was time for us to leave Waikiki. We packed up and checked out of our hotel and met Susan & Greg and their family for breakfast at Sam Choy's - Breakfast Lunch & Crab. Unfortunately, the only crab I saw offered on their breakfast menu was some kind of crab salad omelet. Their menu did feature several variations of the Hawaiian loco-moko platters -- usually some kind of combination of rice and meat topped with a fried egg -- but in the end I went with what I viewed to be the "safest" choice -- fried eggs with toast, sausage, and Spam. I wasn't disappointed.

K and Susan at Sam Choy's

After breakfast, we had plenty of time to get to the airport to return our rental car and catch our flight. It didn't even occur to me that we probably could have snuck in a visit to the Hawaiian Railway Society's museum over near Ewa. Oh well, maybe next time. Meanwhile, I got my transportation jollies by photographing this Matson container passing Sam Choy's on its way to the Honolulu port complex...

This Matson truck helped me get my transportation "fix"...

A Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 717 taxis toward the runway, about to leave Honolulu

The business of moving people between the various islands is an interesting one. Most of the islands are too far apart from one another for surface transportation (i.e. passenger and autmotive ferries) to be very feasible, although I've heard that some sort of "super ferry" might be starting up soon. Basically, if you want to get to another island, you're stuck flying the friendly skies (unless you own your own boat!) Three different airlines -- Aloha, Go!, and Hawaiian -- offer several daily flights between the islands. Think of them as Hawaiian equivalents to Southwest, serving a smaller and more captive market. The flights are all quite short... I remember two years ago, our flight from Honolulu to Maui was just over 30 minutes. On this trip, our flights between Honolulu and Kona Airport on the Big Island were just over 45 minutes. Amazingly, the flight attendants still have time to roll the beverage cart down the aisle, serving passengers soft drinks and juice. You have about 5 minutes to finish your drink before they have to come back through the cabin to collect the empties!

Just after takeoff - an aerial view of Honolulu

Above Kaho'olawe, the small uninhabited island just off the south coast of Maui.

We arrived in Kona as scheduled, picked up our baggage and rental car, and headed north 20 miles or so to our hotel. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing at our hotel, enjoying some time on the beach, and having dinner.

Stay tuned for more...

WSC

nr: Ruby El Hult - Northwest Disaster

np: John Prine - "Let's talk dirty in Hawaiian", a song that I meant to install on K's Ipod before we left, but I never got around to it...