OT Trip Report - I'm back!

[Melena]

Hi y'all!    [smiley=vrolijk_26.gif]   I had a great time in Maui!   [smiley=clap.gif]   I'm nice and relaxed now.  Too bad I have to get ready to go to work on Monday now though.   [smiley=cry.gif]  I know.  Poor me.  

The condo we had was right on the beach with a fantastic ocean view and the sound of the waves constantly there and a warm breeze blowing through all the time.  We never closed the windows - it would have gotten too warm real fast.   We could look out at the channel across to Molokai and we'd see whales blowing and sometimes whale tales every day.  

The ocean there is so warm.  It was great - kind of like a big bath tub.   [smiley=bath.gif]  (Ha!  finally found a way to use that smiley).  I'd never done any snorkeling before but found I absolutely loved it.  It was the highlight of my whole trip.  I guess I probably went out 5 days total.  The fish are absolutely amazing.  It was like being in a really huge tropical aquarium.....................ummm, I guess I was in a really huge tropical aquarium - the original one.    What I really loved were the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles.  They are the neatest creatures.  I saw them a couple of times and one hung out with me once just floating there looking around before taking another breath and heading back down to the rocks.  That was soooooo cool.

I took lots of pictures!   [smiley=camera_sm.jpg]  Well, it seemed like lots.  I wish I could have taken pictures underwater.  But there were too many clouds around and the sun wasn't bright enough in the water to get good pictures when we were out there in the morning.  But that's okay.  We went to the big aquarium there and I tried to take some pictures but I couldn't figure out how to keep the flash from reflecting back off the glass.  My niece was with us and she took some pictures with here camera.  I'll try to get them from her.  I did download some pictures into my Yahoo Pictures.  Now I just have to remember how to post the link to it.

Oh yeah!  How could I forget this part.  We did the whale watching trip and saw a whole bunch of whales.  They said there might have been 20 in that pod.  They were a bunch of males courting a female.  She gets to pick which male she wants and they are all trying to show her they are the best.    They were butting each other and breaching and flapping their tails and their flippers.  One even went under the boat.  It was quite a show.  It was fantastic because lots of times they may find only one or two.  My brother got some great videos of the whole thing but it was impossible to try to take pictures because by the time your finger pushes the button there is nothing there any more or you are looking in the wrong direction.  

I'm glad to be back home though.  It got really hot there when the trade winds stopped blowing and the humidity went up during the last 2 days I was there.  Ugh.  And I missed my Little Bee R65.  I guess the weather was good here at home while I was gone, at least for the most part.  But I'm home now and the weather was great today, so I spent the day cleaning up the bike.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Glad you had fun, and especially glad you got back safely!  Did your mom go snorkeling?

[SCJJR65]

Welcome back, Melena!  Glad you had a great time, too!

Hope you get your photos set up soon so we call take a peek at them!  (It might be as close as I'll get to the islands for a long time!)  

[Melena]

Okay.  Here's the link to the Hawaii photos.  I hope it works right.  

They are in Yahoo photos and says it is for owl2up.  That's another e-mail address I have - a Yahoo account I've had for awhile.  

I'll try to get some more pictures posted later.  

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/owl2up/album/576460762395980427

If this doesn't work, Rob maybe can help me put the right thing in here.  He's helped me before on the old original forum.  I've got a bunch of albums in there.  This one is titled Hawaii Trip.  But then I guess you could have figured out which one.  

[Melena]

Oh yeah, one more thing.

Did you know there is no helmet law in Hawaii?  I figured that one out right away.  I saw only a couple of people wearing helmets and one of them was on a sport bike.  None of the Harley riders were wearing one (duh).   But Harleys are about the only bike they rent over there.  At least on Maui.  

Not only that but the only guy that looked like he was wearing any kind of gear at all was the guy on the sport bike.  Everyone seemed to be wearing shorts, t-shirts or tank tops and flip flops.    Aaarrrggghhhhh!  It is hot and humid there, but gheez!  There is a lot of hot weather riding gear out there now.  I guess it's not "cool" to wear it though (pun intended, sort of)

Oh yeah, and also there were lots of little scooters.  Probably 125 cc or less - maybe some 250 cc.  Those would be great for running around on.  But still I wouldn't wear flip flops.   :-?  Gheez!  

Okay.  Rant off.

[Ed Miller]

Melena wrote " We could look out at the channel across to Molokai and we'd see whales blowing and sometimes whale tales every day. "

You could see the whale tales?  Do they use sign language?  

Sounds like a fun trip.  Hope work isn't too big of a come down!

[Melena]

Yes, whale tales!  You have to be really good at reading their sign language though.   [smiley=Oscar.gif] [smiley=Oscar.gif]

Oops.       Tails.   I guess I forgot how to spell.    

[Bob_Roller]

By chance, did you notice if they used crushed sea shells in the asphalt in Hawaii? I've had relatives live in the Tampa/ St. Petersburg area of Florida, and I really didn't notice this until I started riding motorcycles, but a large amount of streets were paved in an asphalt mix of crushed rock and crushed shells. Without proper protection, you were in real danger of getting sliced and diced, if you went down in a mishap!

[Justin B.]

Ouch!  I remember when I was stationed in Fairbanks, AK, (years ago) the University of Alaska experimenting with shredded/ground up rubber (from old tires) added to the asphault mix.  They had a couple test roads done with it to test whether it would make any difference on pavement icing.  If I had to fall I think I would rather fall on that!  

Welcome back Melena!  [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]

[Joan]

Ooooo! Pretty pics!

Oh man... sun and sand, blue water and tradewinds. Can one ever get too much of it? No!

So glad you decided to come home after all.  8-)

[SCJJR65]

Whoa, that sunset photo is simply divine....... What I wouldn't give to be sitting there watching it myself!  8-)

[msbuck]

WOW!  Amazing photos, Melena!!  Welcome home from a marvelous trip!



(ok, I don't know what the sign says, but I like the smiley!)

I got to experience some up close whale watching on a ferry ride between NewFoundland and Labrador many years ago.  There were several whales that swam along beside the ferry.      It was AMAZING!!!  Nothing like it.  I actually squealed with pleasure and I'll never forget it!  

[Justin B.]

Hmmm. I hereby proclaim that anyone whose predominate hormone is testosterone shall not even think about saying, "...that sunset photo is simply divine..."  They will be summarily executed...   [smiley=behead.gif]

[SCJJR65]

Well, Justin, what I meant by "divine" was beauty that only God could inspire, not "divine" like in "smooth-boy" talk (you foul-minded pervert!   )

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

They made me squeel with delight!  


Pretty pictures, Melena!