Banzai Pipeline..2008 Backdoor Shootout

Saturday night, I put Ms Darlene on a plane in Honolulu headed for New Orleans. She's been with me from the get-go since flying in here on Christmas day so I'll miss having her around. She's been a jewel at finding deals on hotel rooms and reasonably priced joints to eat in. Were it not for some chain restaurants, the best food here would be the after-taste you had in your mouth from the last meal on the mainland.

She usually spent the day out on the beach and parks watching people and shopping (not much buying) while I fought traffic sometimes for an hour and a half each day to and from work. To us, the attitude, culture and ambiance of Honolulu and Oahu are entirely different from Maui.

Yesterday, we went out on the North Shore to the Banzai Pipeline and watched the 2008 Backdoor Shootout . The sand was very loose so I dug my tripod in and squeezed off a hundred or more shots. Here I was with a pretty decent camera but felt oh so small when the pros came out with those big nasty Canon lens that made mine look like a dime store cheapy.







The waves were thundering, the sun was bright and there was a modest crowd there on the beach to watch as jet skis / wave runners waited to tow the surfers if necessary.

( You can click on the pictures for a larger view )

Although the waves were not the legendary 30 footers, many were at least 20 feet.

Just when we decided to leave, Darlene looked over at the BodyGlove tent and lo and behold, David Hasselhoff was there getting his beauty struck with the local girls and they were all over him like flies a dead fish on the beach. He's the guy who was on Knight Rider and Bay Watch .

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hasselhoff - you remember the red bathing suits).







After some of the commotion eased a bit and the girls stopped accosting the man, and the Hoff sauntered down the beach to where the news and camera people were hanging out.

We left shortly after and was headed out when we ran face to face with him and Darlene thought it would be a wonderful idea to get a picture taken with him, so she hit him up as he came out the gate. He mumbled "yes" and so fired off a couple of shots of him and Ms Darlene.

The whole encounter probably lasted no more than 10 seconds and realizing Mr. Hasselhoff had more pressing things on his mind, we thanked him and dismissed ourselves as he went his way and we went ours.

That's it from this rock in the Pacific.

Happy New Year!!!.....Honolulu style

I love this time of the year, especially when you get a weekend off, work one day then get another day off (New Year's day) then work 3 more for a weekend again. Super!

Ms Darlene and I originally had 8:30 p.m. reservations at Buca Di Beppo but the more we thought about it, we decided that was a bit late to be eating so we waited for an hour (groan) at the Cheesecake Factory for a really surprisingly great meal.


After dinner, we took a stroll and sat in rocking chairs on hotel patios on the beach.

A Honolulu fireworks display was scheduled for 9:15 but we were in no mood to get into a car/traffic so we went back to the hotel room. Although we were at least a half mile from Diamond Head, we were able to see a really neat fireworks show from our window in the 15th floor.



Ooooooh.......ahhhhhhhh.........wow.


We had hoped that New Years Day would have more spectacular waves out at Banzai Pipeline but we arrived to find hardly any surfers in the water. Perhaps next week.

Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)!

Darlene & C R Albritton

Finally out of Grand Rapids, Louisiana looked absolutely wonderful while we fretted over schedules of where, who, when and how we would all get through family days together. It was great that my Mom could come down with Darren, Donna and the kids and get together with Jared, Jaime and Henry along with Blaise and Laurie. While some had in-law family functions needing attention, others went in many directions over the weekend. Mom and I got a chance to get out and drive down to Gramercy & Lutcher on the River Road and saw the old plantations and countryside. My real intent was to show her the bonfires on the levee. Each Christmas, people on the rivers build huge bonfires to light the way for Papa Noel to find his way to the good girls and boys on Christmas Eve.Decades ago, these bonfires also helped families find their way up and down bayous and rivers as they found their way to and from midnight mass.

Most of the levee bonfires are seen near Gramercy and Lutcher, LA. While most are conical bonfires cut from local willows down behind the levee, some are more elaborate in various shapes. I've seen them shaped like the state capitol, airplanes, trucks, houses and this year, a motor home.

Adding to the confusion, I got a call from the office asking me to be in Honolulu for a while soon after Christmas. Without hesitation, Darlene asserted her desire to go too, so we booked both our flights and flew out on Christmas day, thinking it might be less hassle and crowds then. This was true to a point.

I took Darlene to the New Orleans airport early then turned back to Baton Rouge where I caught out 3 hours later. The different schedules and airlines were to put us into Honolulu within 30 minutes of each other but snow and delays in Denver let Darlene sit in a plane on the tarmac for 4 hours and making her 6 hours late.

Oh well, we're here. During the weekdays, Darlene spends time walking around downtown Honolulu and Waikiki, getting shin splints from wearing sandals.

Saturday, we took somewhat of a tour around the northshore through the towns of Mokuleia, Haleiwa the beaches of Banzai Pipeline.
Although the big waves were not here yet, there were several in the 15 foot range. Locals tell us we should be able to see the "big ones within the month if I'm still here.

Beautiful seascapes included things like Chinaman's Hat near mountains where scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed.


This is Sunday, so we'll be out and hopefully tonight I can edit a few surfer pictures.
Sometime in the next two weeks, we plan to visit the USS Arizona/Pearl Harbor Memorial.


Here's the link for all the photos on the Hawaii blog. (Click for the photo link)

We made an attempt a snorkeling at Hanauma Bay but arrived an hour prior to low tide and by the time we got through the lines the water was so low, it made for miserable swimming over the dead coral in the extinct (we hope it's extinct) volcano cone.
We decided to cash it in and gladly pay the buck apiece for a ride up on the trolley.