Aloha

By Wilfred Bereswill

Yes, you guessed it by the title.  I'm in Hawaii.

You're probably thinking, "That lucky Son Of A Gun!"

Well, you'd be wrong.  I'm here on business.  In fact, this portion of the blog is being written from my living room in St. Louis, where it's nearing 0 degrees tonight.  I've been using the analogy of taking a really fat man to a buffet line, handing him a plate and saying you can't have any utensils.  Yes I'm in Hawaii, but every day I'm here will be spent a mile or two from airports on every island.

As you read this I'll be...  Well with the time change, I'll be sound asleep due to the time change.  BUT, I'll be spending the day at OGG - Kahului Airport on Maui.  Tonight I leave for Honolulu.  Tuesday, the Big Island, Hilo Airport, then a drive to Kona Airport and then fly back to Honolulu.  Wednesday is Honolulu Airport and maybe a quick trip to Molokai, then back to Honolulu.  Thursday, Kauai, then back to Honolulu for wrap up meetings and I board a redeye at 6 PM to fly to Chicago, where I arrive at 5:30 AM Friday.  Then a quick trip to St. Louis and spend the rest of the day at the office.

So, for those of you who think traveling for a day job is sexy, well, it can be grueling.

Alright, so I have to confess one little detail.  I did leave on Saturday and I'll be spending Sunday whale watching and snorkeling.  Maybe I'll catch a few rays on the beach.  IF things work out and I have good internet access at the Makena Golf and Beach Resort, I'll post a video of the my whale watching or snorkeling.  I'm taking my Flip HD Video camera and waterproof case.

I plan on using Blue Water Rafting Adventures and take a morning Humpback Whale Watch trip and then an afternoon snorkeling trip to Molokini.  Blue Water Rafting uses 28 foot Zodiac type rigid inflatable rafts paired with about 500 HP of engines.  Imagine being at water level in a boat 1/2 the size of the whale that's less than 100 yards from you.  Here is a video from Blue Water's Website.



In 2009 my wife and I took a raft tour and had a bull male put himself right alongside our raft to protect the female he was guarding.  It was amazing having this huge mammal stare us down.

Hopefully I'll have videos posted below.  By the way, I will probably not be checking in on Monday as I'll have a full day of work.

UPDATE:

This will be quick. I am staying at the Makena Golf & Beach Resort.  Don't be impressed, the place is nice, but it's on its last legs. Went on a whale watch and had a very close encounter.  If I can't post it here, it's on my Facebook Videos.

Also went snorkeling.  There is a southern swell and waves between 20 and 40 foot are hitting certain parts of the island.

The snorkeling trip was exciting.  Like being in a giant washing machine.  Sometimes the waves were so big, they would crash into the reef and create so many tiny bubbles, you felt like you were in an avalanche.  It felt weird to be pushed around by the water like that.

Aloha.