Rainbows Are Squishy: A Mane of Aloha and a Kayak

I have had 2 weeks now since quitting my job at the marina. They have been 2 splendid weeks for sure. An abundance of errands and chores to get done, not to mention trying to get myself into the sub system and additionally into the Hawai'i Department of Ed. On those fronts, I have everything all set to be a substitute for the Windward District. That is, I have been cleared of TB (phew!), was finger printed, dropped off copies of transcripts, basically gave them a record of my everything and am all set to go.

That being said. I would have a job as a full-time teacher (at least for the rest of the year) if I could get an intake interview done for the Hawai'i Department of Education. That is in the works (i.e. Principal of the school is looking for a principal who can do an intake interview, etc). Worst case scenario, I have to wait until March to complete the interview.

Anyway, for anyone who cares, that's been going on.

Got a new old car. One week into owning said car, ran over a nail and needed a new tire. PRETTY MUCH PAR FOR THE COURSE. Every.Damn.Time.

I've had some time to work on my surfing (still sucks) and my tan (getting nice) and even have had time to clean up around the apartment and straighten up some of the outside mess we had going for a bit.

So, basically, that's a boring synopsis of some things I did.

There is something to be said for living in a place where it can rain all day and be super gloomy (Saturday morning for instance) and it can end up looking like this in the evening. This past Saturday, Deanna had a parade for the Chinese New Year in Chinatown (in Honolulu). She was half expecting to be told the parade was to be cancelled. To say we had a blustery morning and previous night puts it mildly. Then there was a deluge of rain, which Deanna got caught in walking home from her karate class (she got soaked through, basically, in case you are wondering). However, it cleared up. They marched the parade. Later that evening we

decided to take a nice little walk on the beach (because we can). So, yes, I know, I'm kind of rubbing it in. No, I'm not really sorry. It just is what it is. Trying to enjoy it for everybody else (especially those of you who are getting smashed with foot after foot of snowfall. YIKES!

So, as you may have figured out, that Saturday that Deanna had to march the parade was Valentine's Day. Now, we haven't really ever been much for doing things on V-Day, but she mentioned that she would like to at least go out to dinner maybe somewhere. Or at least celebrate it a little. Well, we didn't really celebrate it that day, but we each bought each other a card, and I bought her a few chocolates from a local chocolate boutique in Kailua (they have some delish chocolates!). It was a Valentine's Day success. Still, we decided to plan something a little more exciting and went with a kayak rental to paddle ourselves out to Na Mokulua aka the "Twin Islands" or "The Mokes." I had heard there were lots of turtles and potentially some decent snorkeling. More on that in a second.

First, however, there was Sunday.

Deanna was lucky enough to catch the fact that the Director of Bands at the University of North Texas (Eugene Corporon) was going to be in town to rehearse and conduct the OBDA (O'ahu Band Directors Association) High School Select Honor Band. She got super excited at the opportunity to see her former conductor and we planned to take a trip into town to watch the dress rehearsal and then the concert in the evening. Mr. Corporon was excited to see Deanna and they talked for a bit before the dress rehearsal. Then he of course, rehearsed the group. He let us know that they had some food planned for him, so we went off and had some sushi later to return for the concert. Sadly, it turned out, they did not have food, or anything for him. He expressed his regret that he hadn't been able to grab a bite out with us. Oh well. It happens, I guess.

Anyway, after the concert, Deanna waited for the throngs of high school students to finish giving Mr. Corporon copious amounts of Leis and pictures and hugs, etc.

Deanna and Mr. Corporon with a mane of aloha.

Monday, (President's Day!) we rented a kayak from the Marine Base strapped it on our car and headed off for Kailua Beach Park. Loaded up with gear and ready to go, our kayak weighed quite a lot more than it had intially, but we muscled up and set off from the beach to the Mokes.

Setting off, with the Mokes in sight

We made it!

Gotta get that snack of trail mix!

It was about a half hour of medium to light paddling to get out to the islands. We saw two fairly large turtles on our way! Sadly, I had secured my camera away and was not able to take a picture of either honu =( So that was kind of sad, however, the sun was out in its full glory and water was beautiful.

Pretty amazing!

Admittedly, the surf was a little bigger than I think Deanna (or myself) was expecting. We definitely had a few "uh-oh, is this wave going to capsize us?" moments. Ultimately, we were able to navigate the bumpy waters and reach the shore of the island without too much difficulty.

Deanna about to get hit by a wave (not as bad as it looks)

We explored around the island a little bit (there are a few trails, one of the trails, I believe leads to a cliff that you may be able to jump off. However, with no foot wear, our feet had no chance of surviving the jagged rocks to get all the way over there) and decided we would try our hand at some snorkeling.

Some guys SUP/Surfing the waves

A view of the mountain/crater on the Marine Corps base. Ulupau
Crater on the Mokapu Peninsula with Mokomanu Island to the right

Just some fishies

So, at first there were pretty much no fish. Additionally, the currents and waves were more than we bargained for. Actually, for the entirety of the time we were in the water, it was pretty rough. We headed to the other island, only to find out that there is a reason no one was over there. The other island has no beach and is extremely rocky leading up to its shore. So... we turned around and headed back for the island we had departed. We decided to take a path that avoided most of the bigger surf that was happening between the islands and luckily, saw a couple of cool sights!

This eel was menacing looking. I'm pretty convinced
that he was extremely not happy to see us.

This is a second eel we saw, he was hiding in some rocks very close
to the previous eel. So, basically, double eel!

Humuhumu trying to hide and run away from me
before I eat him!

And we saw a turtle while in the water as well! Yasssszz!

Above is a short video I took while swimming with the turtle. It's always a super treat to get to see honu and every time I get excited!

We came back to the beach and ate the snack packs we had bought from Starbucks. We were super beat from the swimming/kayaking(mostly the swimming). We then took some selfies on the beach and went for a small hike in the opposite direction we had traveled last.

Kissy selfie

Fantastic. With a little tidal pool to boot.

Posing on some rocks

Waves crashing into the rocks

If you look closely, great derp face going on.

We then launched the kayak to head back to Kailua Beach Park and end our adventure. However, I did not feel fulfilled with the snorkeling I had done thus far and insisted on jumping off (ok, sliding off carefully as to not tip the kayak) the kayak into the water as soon as we reach some reef. Didn't see much but saw a cool shell!