After checking out and a last minute stop in Kmart for a couple of t shirts, Al finally decided to brave it and bare it by buying a pair of swimming shorts and some goggles. We went back to one of the beach parks we had seen before for an afternoon on the beach, .....
The sun must have been getting to us. It's not something either of us would normally do at all, most of our holidays have been non stop sightseeing for as long as I can remember. Dunc had the sort of skin that burned really easily and didn't really do sunbathing or beaches, a day at some race or other and he would come home with a face and neck red from the sun, while Al had sunblushed cheeks.
So, we changed into our swimming things , adjusted the goggles and toddled into the water.
Just feet from the shore and a couple of feet down the sea is teeming with life, fish in small shoals, striped fish, a yellow and black angel fish looking thing, blue and red edged fish, corals growing, sea urchins, black and spiky waving about in the water. Not having the full snorkel gear mask and flippers it was a bit more difficult but if you hold your breath and hang in the water you can see quite a lot, albeit in 30 second bursts.
As I said there are black spiny sea urchins, the same ones that some TV chef reporter was eating a couple of days earlier on America's freakiest foods, an episode which by coincidence featured Hawaii . The chef guy was saying that the tastiest bit of these little spiny creatures was the gonads, something the urchins seem to have taken exception to because when I put my hand down to steady myself, I pulled it back out of the water with a barbed black stinger in it, I was just biting the stinger out of my finger when I heard Al calling me, he had smacked into another of the attitude filled urchins and they had decided to get their full revenge on the food network by leaving half a dozen stings in one of his fingers. After asking a local he was directed to the lifeguard who reassured him that they weren't poisonous and that all would be well in a couple of days. The immediate cure for sea urchin stings is either vinegar or pee on it apparently!
Al was a little put off exploring near to the rocks but I had a bit more of a float about. Seeing life under the sea is something you can't imagine if you have never experienced it, all so close to the shore, like an aquarium visit with your clothes off! A whole display before your eyes, I have always been a bit cautious of snorkeling because I did the want to be drinking seawater down the tube but having had a whole new world opened up to me, I am determined to get the hang of it now..........who knows it could become a new hobby
Having checked out, we had no towels, so we laid on ţhe sand in the Xmas sunshine to dry out, or rather Al laid, I dozed off. Having been out in the Hawaiian sun fairly recently I wasn't at risk of burning but I don't think Alistairs legs or arms have seen the light of day for a while, sunscreen is not really popular in Hawaii if you are swimming because it washes off and upsets the sea life, clothing is how they protect themselves like the Australians do.
Finally dried off and some of the sand removed we headed back to town, stopped at Dennys to eat because it was easy and we could sit in the car park afterwards and hijack their Wifi .
Kona airport is a quaint collection of sheds and gazebos, no masses crowding with their surfboards like Maui, no business lounge with Japanese toilet like Honolulu, it is pretty much all open to the elements, the seating is on the concrete and stone walls around the planted areas, you can stand in the waiting area and watch the planes manoevre on the tarmac..... and hear them, a 737 is fairly loud at close range, a blast from the past, Hawaiian airlines fly 727s out of here, it was before I developed my fear of flying that I last flew a 727, Dan Air no less!
Back across the tarmac and up the ramp to the plane, sophisticated for this airport, Alaska Airlines have a set of steps!
The theory of "flying the 18 hour day" is that you sleep when it is dark and stay awake when it is light to try and get back into some sort of recognisable timezone, I had forgotten how noisy it is flying with a cold, every cavity in your head has its own set of squeaks and pops, and the pain in the ears woke me up a couple of times but by and large I got some sleep on the flight.
Mindful of the walk of shame last time I connected in LAX we made the lounge visit a brief one. With all the flying I have done I had forgotten that Al had never done a cross country flight. The plane was a new 737 with seatback screens and interactive maps which told you where you were flying over, it even had "cockpit" view in 3d.
Early everywhere
The tail winds were very strong West to East and all the flights were shorter than usual, nevertheless, I dont think I have ever been in a 737 flying at nearly 700 MPH before!
Boston doesn't even feel that cold for 4C.
Finally after a relaxing flight upstairs on a 747 we were back in Heathrow, it was "see your breath" type cold- Down to earth with a bit of a shock!
