The number of things that lined up to make this trip work out is quite staggering, but we're oh so glad it did.
Mai tai's, appetizers, sunset and hula music on our first evening, at the House Without A Key bar in Waikiki.
Morning hike of Dimond Head. You start from inside the crater and make your way up to the top where there are bunkers and military installations left from O'ahu's coastal defense system.
You can tell we're not used to this climate - between the sun and the 80 degree temp, we were dripping with sweat. Thank goodness a shower rolled in shortly after so we blended in with the crowd.
An afternoon at Lanikai Beach
And we even pulled off the surprise of the century by rendezvous-ing with my parents during their vacation to Hawaii. Working secretly with my Dad, I managed to sneak up behind Mom in the ABC store and oh my, was she caught off guard :)
Sunset at Waikiki Beach, and our getaway. Until next time, Hawaii...
We did it. Our first overnight boating adventure. And while it did not go entirely smoothly, the quiet family time together is something I'll remember and treasure.
We set out midway through the afternoon with a plan to leisurely make our way as close to Hoonah as we could that day, looking for a quite cove to anchor for the night. There's something mesmerizing to me about just looking out at the beautiful views and watching our wake roll out into the waters beyond.
We are so incredibly spoiled by the wildlife here in Southeast Alaska that we've gotten to the point where we expect to see at least one humpback whale when we head out on the boat. It's never less of a thrill, though. On this particular trip, we saw orcas, which immediately brings excitement to both the kids and grown-ups. To see nearly a dozen traveling together was just absolutely stunning. Graham brought us up ahead of the whales, turned off the engine and just let them swim toward and around us.
Sunset
And a quiet cove
We went into this not knowing how the girls would do being on the boat overnight. A 20' C-dory only has so much space. And you only have what you brought on board with you. But in talking about our trip afterward, the evening and overnight were the girls favorite part of the whole trip. Specifically, being in their pajamas and doing some evening fishing under the supervision of a curious seal.
We can gladly report that the girls slept soundly though the night. The same cannot be said of the grown-ups but we'll chalk it up to learning some good lessons about picking a spot to anchor that isn't subject to winds or waves from the incoming/receding tides.
The next morning, we set out to Hoonah, a small Tlingit village. Our first stop, the hardware store for oil for the boat engine. No first extended boat trip is complete without engine trouble, right? At least that's what I'm telling myself. There was no better way to illustrate just how small the village of Hoonah is then through having engine trouble. The only hardware store gave a recommendation of a boat mechanic, who happened to be at the only dock in town parked in the boat ahead of us, who happened to know about three people we know in Juneau...and so on and so on.
Girls were jealous that Dad got to walk up the huge ramp to the hardware store so they had to do it themselves. Found some pallets from the latest soft drink delivery :)
We spent our day wandering around Hoonah. Small enough to walk pretty much the entire town portion of the village. Girls played with a group of about 8 kids who claimed to be the entire 6th grade class.
And then headed very slowly home.
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Totally unrelated to our trip, but our first visual of Hoonah came from this youtube video, which propelled this local fisherman to Southeast Alaska fame as his dance video went viral last winter. Going back and watching the video, we could see the exact spot where we docked our boat on this trip. If you watch the video, make sure you see around minute 3 where he totally wipes out in the slushy snow :)
