Whale of a Weekend on Maui !

What a weekend! Friday afternoon, I changed into shorts and Crocs at the office and headed for the airport for a quick flight to Maui.

After a night on my friends, Don & Rachel's couch, we boarded their boat, the Maui Diamond II and headed out for Molokini Crater. It was a slow ride, watching out for and seeing whale spouts at a distance.

Arriving and mooring at the extinct volcano, we did a couple of dives with divemaster Kat and a Canadian man and his two teenage sons. Kat knows her stuff and was the first to spot things like octopus, white tip reef sharks, eels and many indigenous species of fish. Just two weeks before, Darlene had been with me out here and am sorry she was not able to witness this with me.

On the way back, we stopped a few times hoping to spot a whale up close. On the third stop, we found a mother whale, her escort and a two ton bouncing bundle of joy calf. We were all just blown away as the trio came closer and closer to the 40 foot boat. I'm sure they could have flipped us if they had wanted to but swam under us then circled the boat several times driving us all wild with our cameras. After entertaining us for probably 20 minutes, they moved on. We had been out quite a while so Captain Don brought us back in to Maalaea Harbor.

That afternoon, a few of us went on for the third dive of the day out near mile marker 14 west bound toward Lahaina. We dropped anchor into 40 foot water and soon found Manta rays all over us. At one point someone said they counted 10 in sight swimming around and over us, banking like stealth fighter planes. The largest had to have had a wing span of 10 to 12 feet across. The were almost as amazing as the whales.

I believe this had to be the most memorable dive day I've ever been on. I spent Sunday relaxing and watching people in the middle of enjoying their 3 day weekend.

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.

Grand Rapids.......Outta there!!!!!!!!

A body can only take so much cold......well, that's my take on it and probably there's a million MichiGANDERS who might take issue with me on that but I for one, can't see why someone in their right mind would live in a place where snow is on the ground for 5 months of the year ....on purpose.

Anyway, I busted out of there this past Friday morning and flew to O'Hare in Chicago where we let American Airlines delay us for an hour for our flight to Baton Rouge.

Saturday promised us rain but it pretty much stayed dry so I took advantage of the warm morning and mounted the marvelous contraption for a few miles before the clouds formed and the thunderstorms swept in.

As I was leaving, the home office called and scheduled me for a few days in Abbeville, LA. Monday morning found me on I-10 headed west to Abbeville in a rented Impala to where I had not visited in 10 years, way back in my optical sales life. Not much had changed.

After settling into my hotel in Lafayette, I met up with Toni, the rep I'm working with temporarily, and had dinner at Mulate's in Breaux Bridge. Great food and tons of atmosphere.
Too bad we were both ready to leave just as the band was pulling out the fiddle and the accordion.

Tuesday afternoon, I headed back home again, admiring the Atchafalaya swamp on I-10. Darlene had forgotten that Rebecca and Jacqueline was to be in a Gonzales community play
(That's Rebecca in the blue)
so we changed clothes and made our way into town.

Probably wasn't an Academy Award production but it's family. That's what it's all about, isn't it?

Relief From the Cold

Friday, December 7: Wearing a wool cap and a leather jacket over a wool sweater, I hopped on a plane out of Grand Rapids for home and just didn't feel bad about it at all. On arriving in Baton Rouge, I had already shed the jacket, rolled up the sleeves of my sweater and stuffed the wool cap into one of my bags.

Darlene had been sick with the crud and missed 3 work days so she wasn't into eating out or visiting friends and relatives so we went directly home. Both of us were a little hungry so I fired up Boudreau and ran up to DeAngelo’s Pizzeria for her and picked up a calzone and a shrimp poboy at Gulfnet for me.

Saturday morning, Darlene was still feeling badly and the last thing she wanted was me hanging around while she continued to sleep. Even though I felt a little guilty for enjoying myself while she stayed home, I overcame my reluctance and rode the motorcycle into Baton Rouge to see my grandson, Henry (yes, Jared and Jaime too). Pretty spooky in that much fog.

By 11 AM, the fog had begun to burn off and the road was dry so I called Louis, a friend of 25+ years and agreed on meeting in St Francisville. Arriving there, I found the streets crowded with people enjoying "Christmas In The Country", and annual event that draws people from Mississippi to Baton Rouge. After making a few passes through the middle of town and dodging jaywalking pedestrians I managed to find Louis taking aim at a jambalaya stand. I parked the Harley, talked a bit with Jan and some of their relatives and wandered back into the center of town to check out a black gospel band. The smell of barbecue and the smoke of open grills permeated the warmness of the day. I think I had missed the parade.

Before long, Louis and I cranked our bikes up and headed east on Hwy 10 through Jackson, turned north on 19 and drove through towns I'd never been in like Wilson and Norwood before getting to Centerville, MS.,where we then turned back west toward Woodville and eventually back south to St Francisville. I have to admit, that was some pretty country up in the northern part of the Felicianas and southern Mississippi. As we cruised in 80 degree weather, I couldn't help but think of the cold and snowy conditions in Grand Rapids.

Arriving home, Darlene was feeling a bit better but wasn't into going out so we concocted a batch of red beans & rice and apple pie before both nodding off while watching a boring movie on TV.

Sunday was equally beautiful but Darlene was still in no mood for getting out so I went up for a short visit with Jared, Jaime and Henry and met Blaise & Laurie before having to come back, repack and catch a plane for Grand Rapids. I'll note that there was a fifty degree difference between home and the 28 degrees I arrived at in Michigan.

Again, it was a wonderful weekend.

Winter......redux

Last winter (2006) started with me seeing a light dusting of snow in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas then on to White Bear Lake(MN), St Paul (MN), Navarre (OH), Ada(MI) and eventually finishing out in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

What do these all have in common, you might ask. Answer: I froze my rear end off at all these places and saw more snow that year than I have in my life.

I have the sneaking suspicion this might be a repeat of sorts. This weekend, it started snowing and according to the forecasts, the Grand Rapids area will get snow every day this week. My feet may never thaw.

On the optimistic side, I'll be out of Michigan within the next two weeks but the pessimist side of me says this is just the preamble for a really long, cold and white winter. I really miss ole Boudreau and those warm winter days on River Road in Ascension Parish.

Merry Tossmas