I can't put into words the level of relaxation I experience when I wake up at first light, grab a coffee or other beverage, and sit outside on the lanai (patio) to greet the new day.🧘🏼♀️ As if at the touch of a button, the birdsong I love to listen to begins, while a gentle breeze caresses my skin. First, the day awakens, then the birds. Then the neighborhood follows, and finally, at 8:00 a.m., the morning roll call at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay begins. 🎺
Yes, you read that right. There's also a military base located here on Kane'ohe Bay, and from time to time you can see large transport aircraft taking off and landing, military helicopters flying over the bay, and sometimes even training flights, where Marines jump from the helicopters into the water in full gear, or even fly in for a landing and take off again like the large transport aircraft. My personal eye-catcher is always the military aircraft, which can also take off vertically. I think those are Bell-Boeing V-22s. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to photograph one yet. I do have a little anecdote about this incident - in case I didn't mention it last year. In the first sequence of the TV series Hawaii Five-0, in which the protagonist Steve McGarrett returns to the island, he is in the cockpit of one of these transport planes, the kind that often circle over the bay here before they land. For a moment, the view of the bay faded in, and this view fascinated me the first time I watched the series. The fact that we ended up exactly here last year was a coincidence, or rather, not directly related to the series.
Anyway, after a leisurely breakfast, we took advantage of Sunday to take our first trip. I saw a video on Instagram of a very beautiful and not too crowded beach, and we had to find it. For those who didn't know by now: O'ahu is home to many military installations, so it's no big surprise that this beach borders Bellows Air Force Station in Waimanalo. And now comes a little peculiarity that I find amusing: the beach actually has "opening hours." Fridays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. – because the Marines hold training exercises there on the other days. In any case, it's a beautiful beach and certainly won't be the last time we visit. Since we were taking it easy with the sun the first few days, we didn't linger too long, even though the turquoise water was very tempting. 💙
As expected, the new week started off quite well. On Monday, we drove a bit north and visited a macadamia nut farm to stock up on delicious local snacks. The "queen of nuts," as it's also called, is truly delicious and is offered here in a wide variety of forms. They even offer coffee flavored with macadamia nuts. So, it's pretty ubiquitous.
But of course, not everything is always a bed of roses. In the farm's parking lot, we missed a really deep pothole, the car bottomed out, and then a piece of the underbody protection hung off and scraped across the road. It was clear that we couldn't let it go. We cut our trip short and drove carefully back to Kane'ohe. With Thom's help, we were able to temporarily secure the cover, called the rental car company, and reported the incident. While this is the first time something like this has happened to us, we were incredibly grateful that we always get comprehensive insurance for our rental cars. The lady on the phone at the rental car company also left us with a good feeling; she first asked us in detail whether WE were okay. In any case, we drove back to Honolulu on Monday evening and swapped the car for another one without any problems. 🙏🏼
Yes, that's how it can happen. This was definitely a new experience, an adventure, so to speak, and you can only experience an adventure if you leave the beaten path of everyday life and embrace something new.
Aloha! 🤙🏼
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