Bart had warned us about the neighbors dogs across the street barking early and possibly waking us up. He even pointed to ear plugs in the medicine cabinet with a "wink wink, you might need these" look. However, I don't think the dogs are going to be a problem. Tommy wakes up while the dogs are still in dreamland. If anything, its the chirp chirp and cock-a-doodle-doooo that gets him out of bed. And I'm happy to be right behind him. I actually WANT to get out of bed here. As much as I am a night person, I can be a total morning person here. I'm happy to get up every day at 6am and go to bed by 9. The weather is uplifting. And the beaches are calling.
Because there is a lot to keep us happy on the North Shore, we decide to spend our second day locally again. We head a half mile down the road to Waimea Botanical Gardens and take our own leisurely walk through the lush trees and plants. Passing a few birds along the way (ie, chickens and peacocks).
It ends with a waterfall, equipped with lifeguards and boogie boards. We get a quick verbal instructional on what to do and what not to do, and even what the temperature of the water is-- 68 degrees. Hmm, okay. That's a lot warmer than I expected.....I'm game! However, my pinky toe hits the water and it's shockingly cold. Tommy and I finally brave up and jump in, paddling frantically to the waterfall and back, and we're done and out as quick as you can blink. I've never seen Tommy so out of breath. We later find out that the water is actually 55 degrees. I'm not sure where that screwball lifeguard got his info. We were totally fooled, but I'm glad. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even considered jumping in. :)
After we hike back to the car, we decide we've earned a hearty lunch. It's time for the Shrimp Truck! We drive to Macky's at the far end of Haleiw'a and are greeted with a big "Welcome to Macky's!" from the Asian man working inside the window. I go for the coconut shrimp and Tommy decides on Spicy shrimp. It was really good and one huge plate was enough shrimp for us for the week.
After lunch we drove to Turtle Beach and checked out the sun bathing turtles on the beach. How cute?
These turtles are protected and recognized by the community. This turtle's name is "Brutus". I took a picture of his name plate, because it described Tommy! I'm going to start calling him "Nalukai". Ha....
After our turtle gazing, we headed to Waimea Bay. This is one of the best known beaches in the world, and it's easy to understand why. This beach is amazing. This is the where the famous surfer, Eddie Aikau once lifeguarded and saved several lives. Sadly, in the late 70's Eddie went missing during a boating accident in the rough waters off Oahu. His body was never recovered, but today Waimea holds a big wave surfing competition in Waimea that requires 30 foot waves, and they've named it "the Eddie" after the surfing legend.
During mid-March, which is the end of their big wave season, the waves seem to be pretty unpredictable. One day will be moderate enough to swim in, the next day they are terrifying. I'm not sure what to make of it today, but Tommy and I decided no way in hell were we getting in.
That's Bart's patio below
This evening we had a dinner invitation at Bart's house (which is connected to the apartment we are staying in). So we washed the summer sun and sand off of us and arrived at Bart's at 6:30pm for a local vegetarian dinner. There were 2 other guests at our dinner party as well, John and Bata. Bata, is living in a bungalow on Bart's property and is referred to as a "Woofer". From what Tommy and I understand, a Woofer exchanges room and board for agricultural work. So Bata does everything from arranging beautiful fresh flowers in our apartment to watering the vegetation in the expansive yard. John is a friend of Bart's that moved to the island a little over a year ago, and rented housing from Bart and his friends, but now seems to be a regular in Bart's circle of friends.
Bart's vegetarian cooking was amazing, and the company was even better. We sat around the dinner table for 3 hours and listened and laughed to each other's stories, Bata's, in particular. He left Serbia around 20 years of age, when the war broke out, and settled in our sweet little village called New York City. He married a woman 20 years his senior and got a Visa to stay in the US. Then he became a makeup artist and Ford model, and hob-nobbed with the rich and famous, aka the rich and crazy. After 20 years of life in the fast lane of NYC and LA, he finally said that he'd had enough and 3 and 1/2 months ago he left it all and moved to the Big Island of Hawaii for some R&R in the jungle. Then, he took up camp in Bart's house on the North Shore of Oahu, and is planning to settle down somewhere on the island and live a more peaceful life.
By 10pm, Tommy and I were yawning, still not adjusted to the 6 hour time difference. After a lovely evening, we crawled up the stairs to our apartment and crashed.
What a fantastic day in Hawaii. :)
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