First of all, I am delighted that you found the
fabulous view of the lava on the Big Island;
that sounds like a once in a lifetime experience
and I know you experienced great satisfaction in pleasing Mrs. Bart.
Yes, I did.
Regarding the rest of your trip: I am mystified!
After giving it some thought, my only conclusion
is that you just don’t “get” Hawaii.
So far, you are two for two.
Some specifics: The time issue; yes Bart,
there is such a thing as Hawaiian time. One has a much more enjoyable
time by,
as soon as you step off the plane, adjusting
yourself to the fact that you are on a Hawaii Island now and for the most
part,
time as we know it, becomes irrelevant.
I know of some regular visitors who take off their watch for their entire
Hawaiian visit.
I understand that, and in most cases, I even applaud that.
You sound a bit Republican-greed-like when you
express concern over how the locals could increase there earnings
substantially be doing business as we know it
in the continental US.
Actually, I was being greedy, thinking only about
myself and Mrs. Bart.
We missed a lot of Hawaii, because it seemed
there was no incentive for locals to take our money.
The Hawaiians are more interested in the current
fishing conditions, the surfing conditions and kicking back
and enjoying the beauty of their land.
Speaking of the beauty of their land, I don’t know if you were being
facetious in the billboard thing (your waste
management observation was amusing), but again we have what
is most important to native Hawaiian’s; preservation
of the beauty of the land.
I'm down with that, but information for out-of-towners also has value.
A 2X4 foot sign that says, "Submarines rides next right" would harly
ruin a trip to the islands.
I think you could have greatly increased your
visit to Hawaii by perusing a guide book (perhaps reading it
on the plane) before your visit. The good
ones have sections where you can find items specific to your needs.
You certainly could have found the best company
to contact for a submarine ride without having to depend
on the missing billboards. Myself, I find
these absences of commercial advertising exhilarating.
We had several books, put together by an expert with current information,
but she had no idea she was dealing with a 51 year-old man with the
mind of a 12 year-old.
Since my days seem 4 hours long, there was no time to convey my peculiararities
to her.
We found submarine rides, but they failed to answer their phones, which
I can accept.
I just figured subs were damn expensive, and paying them off might
be a priority.
Also, I didn't take offense to your Republican-greed-like
phrase.
Without greed, there wouldn't be a country called America.
It's that excessive BFEE, gotta-have-it-all greed that poses
a problem.
I am bewildered why you visited Hawaii without
really doing any of the marvelous tours and,
as far as I could tell, not really exploring
the two islands you visited. Every hotel has a visitor center
that is there specifically to help you plan your
vacation and help you with any specific attractions you
may wish to see; they often have a courtesy morning
presentation with a light breakfast, where they will
make the reservations for you. Also, on
practically every street corner in the business districts of Maui,
you will find booths set up for selling tours,
etc. How could you have missed these, as I am sure you
could have easily found a submarine tour?
- We explored both islands intensively by car. That might not
be the best way to explore,
but that's the camel we chose, and we had a fun eight
days and that's what matters most.
- Those "light breakfast orientations?"
I'd rather be kidnapped by Abu-Arbys-Ishmael-Zarqawi than
sit thru one of those.
- I found the tours to be ...non-convenient.
They had a sunset cruise that started at 2 PM.
They had a sunrise van ride that started at 2 AM.
That's 2 AM in the damn morning.
We talked to snorklers - they said there were more snorklers
than fish.
But again, any complaints I registered were for comedic
effect only.
We were given
a trip to Hawaii, like we hit the damn secret square on The Price
is Right.
Also, you mention Mrs. Bart as being a “nature
girl”, but from your trip report it sounds
like Mrs. Bart missed out on a lot of nature
that you could have been discovered with a
good guide book and a little planning ahead.
The islands hold more nature than two old folks can absorb in 8 days.
You mentioned not going on any boat or helicopter
tours: why in the hell not?
The helicopter tours, though pricey, are a once
in a lifetime experience, with
unparalleled beauty, especially the aerial view
of some truly majestic waterfalls.
There is one or more that go over the volcano
in Maui that is spectacular.
Two thoughts:
Last week, two New York helicopters fell in the Hudson ...and I'm agnostic.
Also, the choppers we saw in Hawaii flew at about 5000-7000 feet.
I fail to see the advantage of flight if you're two miles away from
the attraction.
Sidebar:
The e-mailer, Penny, is a long-time pillar.
We are not arguing.
We are merely having a frank discussion about that which we are both
passionate.
Did I detect a note of not going on a boat because there were not any boats available?
ha ha
Yes!
In Hilo, where you asked about a boat, my understanding
is that the cliffs leading up to the beach area
on that side of the Island are too steep for
boats to anchor. However, when you were on Maui there
was a plethora of boats and boat tours available
(there are three harbors for boat docking that I know of,
but probably more). You could have taken
any type of tour imaginable. Some that I have done and enjoyed immensely:
Like a nut, I assumed all Hawaiian coastal tourist towns would have
tourist boat stuff to do.
That fact that Hilo did not might seem to bolster my opinion that they
weren't about the money.
Had we known that our last two days were in "no boats" Hilo, we might've
made a boat move earlier.
1. Snorkeling. I took the morning
tour and they give you a nice breakfast, a fabulous lunch and take you
out
to snorkel for a couple of hours (with instruction
if you need it). All snorkel gear is provided.
I might have liked snorkeling, but then again, when I came home and
wrote about it,
I would've gotten a lot of mail bitching about why I'm busy with that
when Bush is raping America.
(This was written late Wednesday, it's the chillable red talking...)
2. Parasailing. What a thrill.
Maybe not for the faint of heart as you are way up high alone
with only a thick cord holding you up, but it
is unbelievable beautiful and you will experience
a quiet like you have never known.
That's sounds great, but there's nobody I could trust at the wheel of
the boat.
Whoever was driving would say, "Let's give
Ol' Bart a super ride so he can
have somethng extra-exciting to write about
in the next bartcop.com ."
The only person I trust that much is Mrs. Bart, ...and have you seen
her drive a speed boat?
3. Day trips to either Lanai or Molokai.
Won’t go into details, but these trips are superb in every way.
Again, an experience of a lifetime.
What we lacked was a wealthy, sailboat-owning local who grows his own
pakalolo.
By the way, there's a pakalulu story there that I can't
tell, ...
I guess it'll make the Bart Autobiography, due in March 2006.
I gather that you and Mrs. Bart are romantics
and perhaps you might have enjoyed one of the sunset cruises
that are plentiful in Maui. These are lovely
cruises around the island, and spirits are provided.
..a sunset cruise...
While we were on the islands, we were notified that we sold BartCop
manor.
We had hundreds of dollars in our checking account, so we were
semi-kinda looking for
a place to spend a little money and have that extra-good time - we
were ready to party!
But we just couldn't find anyone who was willing to take our money.
In Las Vagas, it's not like that.
And speaking of sunsets, to most Hawaiian visitors
viewing the sunset is a big deal. Your tone seemed to express
less than enthusiasm for sunset viewing.
I have a lovely sunset view from my patio every night, but I live in the
Southern California desert, and it is not quite
the same as watching the sunset over the ocean on a Hawaiian Island.
One of the reasons (there are many) that I state
for you perhaps not “getting” Hawaii is the room with a sunset view issue.
Yes, it is nice to sit on the lanai of your room
and view a sunset, but I ask you why it wouldn’t have been much better
to take your shoes off, walk down to the beach
with your favorite beverage in hand and sit on the beach, toes in the sand,
arm around Mrs. Bart, and experience the beauty?
I agree, but I have failed to paint a proper picture.
We had three 'monster sunsets from our room' nights.
The night about which I tried to be funny, we were at The Sheraton
Morgue, and we couldn't see
the sunset from our everyman room even tho there were maybe 100
empty rooms facing the sunset.
Same thing with the hotel water/cabana issue.
It is much more satisfying to pick up a picnic lunch and beverages,
get in your rental car and really explore the
island. There are so many unbelievable little beach coves where you
can lunch, as well as some great beaches that
are not in front of a hotel; so much more beautiful and romantic.
For your first trip the aforementioned guidebook
would have helped in this regard.
My trip report failed to convey the fun we had in our rental cars.
(I should compile a list of rental car complaint stories I've had over
the years.
Remember in 2001 when the Jersey rental slug tried to charge
me $1200 for
some Buick for a week? I told him, "I don't want to buy
it, I just rented it for a week."
And last, but not least there is the food issue.
The fish and rice buffet, in my opinion, could
only have happened in Hana
(you were not specific). As I have read
(guidebook again) that it is impossible
to get a decent meal in Hana. Trust me;
if you had gone on one of the luau buffets,
you would have had an entirely different experience
(although the luau food
was less than pleasing for me, as apparently
the Hawaiians are not into spices).
I gotta be honest, I lied about the fish and rice breakfast buffet.
They had other stuff, too, like "Portugese
sausage" and
"Romanian Bacon."
I'm sorry, I don't know what those meats are.
I get light-headed when I think about eating "animals."
I only eat what comes from Safeway and Kroger.
I have to watch what I order in a normal-looking resturant in f-ing
Central Colorodo.
If you order #3 when you meant #4, you might have two giant Buffalo
balls on your plate
when you were looking forward to some good, old-fashioned griddled
honey-ham & eggs.
I remain aghast as to why a sophisticated gentleman
as Mr. Bartcop would go to
Hawaii to eat McDonalds and Dominos pizza.
Did you try any of the local restaurants,
for the aesthetics as well as the native food?
Yes.
It sounds to me that you and Mrs. Bart spent a
lot of time in your hotel rooms. Some of the things
that you might have enjoyed on Maui, in addition
to the things mentioned above would have been:
1. a trip upcountry to the volcano. On your way
upcountry you run into real Hawaiian villages and
you will find such things as a little flower
stand with gorgeous flowers for sale on the honor system
(put your money in the pot). Or you
could get up a 3:00 in the morning to drive up to see the sunrise
over the volcano. Or take a tour to get
there (Don’t laugh, many many people do this).
So far we've run Trip Report One (Maui-Haleokala)
on the page
and Trip Report Two (Big Island with live-ass
lava) was in the last radio show, maybe BCR 76.
I'm guessing you missed Trip Report One.
Trip report Three on the page, is immiment.
2. A day of shopping or window shopping
in Lahaina, full of souvenirs for the folks back home,
a great variety of restaurants and some historical
buildings.
3. A tour of the Marine or Whale museums.
The Marine museum is one of the finest in the
country.
4. A beachfront walk in Wahlia, the rodeo drive of Maui, with beautiful ocean views.
Again, I remain mystified as to the things you apparently missed on your Hawaiian vacation.
Can you believe I didn't find a single Texas Hold 'Em table in Maui?
Since Hawaii is surrounded by water, they might qualify to be an Indian
casinoe*
For the record, I have not yet visited the Big
Island, because I love Maui so much I can’t
believe there is anything to compare. My
son took me to Maui four years ago because he knew
how much I would love it and because he knew
I would not go unless he took me. Since that trip
I have been back five times (last trip in April
I stayed on Moloki for a week with two days in Maui)
and have reservations for my next trip in October.
My interests probably vary considerably from
yours and the general population however, as
my favorite activities are morning and evening long
beach walks, sunset viewing and exploring the
beach areas of the Island.
Sorry for the negativity Bart, but thought you might appreciate a somewhat different view.
Our differences is what makes us (as Captain Kirk might say) "yuman."
I remain loving you always (although probably
would not vacation with you) LOL.
Penny the Pillar
Penny, that's cool!
I enjoy your sense of spirit, and I thank you for the feedback.