... а, точнее остров Оаху (Oahu) в конце декабря.

Идея поехать на Гаваи возникла не вдруг. "Вдруг" мы туда собрались. Серым ноябрьским днем вдруг вспомнилось, что на работе как обычно дадут погулять неделю, и, как обычно, будет жалко просидеть эти дни в дождливом, или еще лучше, заснеженном Ванкувере. В прошлом году мы поехали на каньоны. Казалось бы, на юг, но там оказалось еще холоднее. Вообщем, вспоминая удачный опыт палаточного отдыха на острове Кувай, решили повторить.

Первое, что выяснилось сразу - билеты на последнюю неделю декабря стоят в разы дороже. Пришлось идти на компромиссы, но все равно заплатили двойную цену. Ничего, думаю, на жилье сэкономим, и забронировал билеты.

Потом все оказалось еще интереснее. Машина не неделю стоила 900 долларов минимум. И что на острове Оаху всего два кэмпа у моря (есть еще два где-то в горах), и что оба закрыты на уборку два дня в неделю. Причем, ровно посередине недели. Вообщем, махнул рукой на все это и решил поступить так же, как любит поступать один коллега с работы. Он уже пять раз ездил на Оаху, и каждый раз жил в гостинице около известного пляжа Вайкики (Waikiki). Я обычно глумился над ним, но тут задумался. Всяко лучше лежать под солнышком на Вайкики, чем в бассейне с хлоркой в Ванкувере!

Вообщем, забукал я гостиницу в 10 минутах ходьбы от пляжа. Машину букать не стал - в городе, помимо 900 долларов, еще и за парковку 20 долларов в день платить надо!

Съездили чудесно!

Наша гостница (Амбассадор):

Далее - из писем Ксюши.

Hi mom! This is Ksenya. We are now in the airport waiting for the plane.On our way to Sandstone parking, we ate subway. Me and Dmitry shared a footlong while dad ate another footlong. Once Dmitry was done, dad gave him a piece of his. When we got to the parking, the driver was 10 minutes late, but we have an hour until the flight now. In the plane, I am going to be by the window, dad is going to be in the middle, and Dmitry at the end. The plane's tail seems to have Hawaiian flowers on it.

Вот что порадовало, что в аэропортах стали делать розетки у кресел.

Hi mom! This is Ksenya again. We had an amazing day today. For breackfast, we went to Denny's. They had a menu that had food named something from The Hobbit. When we walked all the way to the beach, Dmitry was the first one to go in the water. Turns out that there were very sharp corals in the sand and Dmitry stepped on one accidentally and now he has a cut on his foot. Dad and I were swimming and the water was not that cold. It is amazing that in December we can swim in the ocean. Once all of us were just relaxing, it started raining so we ran to the hotel as fast as possible. At the hotel we relaxed a bit and then walked to a ice cream shop. When we got our ice cream, we went to another beach where there were bigger waves. It was really fun though.  Once we were done with swimming, we walked over to this restaurant that had Hawaiian food. When we got there, turns out that it was closed. We walked so long for nothing! So we went back and took some subway. I'm actually lying beside a piece right now. We were really tired by then so we went straight to the hotel. Well, that brings us to now. Anyway, today was a very good day, even if it was only the first.

Hi mom! Today was a super-fun day. So, we were starting to walk to the beach that we went on the second time yesterday and dad saw this place where you could rent a car for 24 hours for $130.00 dollars. Dad bought it and I liked it because it was blue and inside there was a lot of space. Then of course we drove to the beach. It was such a relief to ride a car after all that walking yesterday. There was a little floating oval-shaped floating box that looked like it had a geocache on it when you look at the map. Dad and I put our masks on and swam to it. Dad dove down to look at the chain that was holding it 3 times. On the third time, dad accidentally hit it and it floated to the surface where I was swimming. When dad came up, I showed him the geocache. Then we went back to shore and tried to find something to put in it for 100 Japan money. So we were just siting around when dad saw this lens from some kind of sunglasses of something. When he looked into it, it acted like a magnifying glass. We thought that we could put it in the geocache. After we were done, we went to buy some food from Costco. We also got some to eat then. Once we were done, we drove to the other side of the island to a beach. The beach had big waves. First we were scared, but then Dmitry saw that there was a part with smaller ones. While we were swimming, Dmitry saw a double rainbow. It was so pretty! When we were done, we went back to our car and drove all the way to the other side of the island. We dropped off our food from Costco and Dmitry and I went into our room. Dad gave the car back. I really liked the waves today. They were not gigantic, but not tiny waves. Just perfect.

Today when we woke up, we ate the cereal that we bought yesterday at Costco. Dmitry found out that we could go on the bus to the beach that we first went on yesterday, so we did. The bus costed 5 dollars all together, for me and Dmitry it cost 1.25 each, and for dad 2.50. At the beach we just swam around and stuff. You also probably got a picture of us there. Once we were done, we took the bus back here and bought some smoothies from Denny's. After that we went to a army museum and were there for an hour or so. Close to the end, there was a tank covered in red and blue paint. How could it camouflage like that? When we were done, we rented a paddle board and went to the beach that was closest to us. First dad and I tried it. Dad couldn't get his balance and kept falling. Then I tried it and I never fell. It was probably because I am so light. When Dmitry tried, he only fell a couple times, but mostly he was standing. When we were done, we gave back the paddle board and went back to our hotel. Everyone took a shower and rested a bit. Then we found a bus and rode it to the restaurant that we tried to get to the day before yesterday. Luckily it was open this time! All the food was pretty great. Also Dmitry ate all the poi that he had. Once we were full, we found a bus and drove back here. Well, I guess it's time that I have to say............ Bye!

Today, as always, for breakfast we ate cereal that we bought from Costco the other day. Then we boarded the bus and rode it for almost an hour to Hanauma bay. Every 5 minutes, someone on the bus needed to get off. When we finaly got there, we snorkeled a lot. First Dmitry and I went since dad and him shared a set. We saw a bunch of fish that were silver with a yellow stripe on the middle of their body. Also ones that were really big, had a black with a yellow tail and between them, some light blue. There were also really long and skinny ones that were all gray. When we got back, we took a break while dad went by himself. When he got back, I joined him and we went in search of the little snack bar that was suppost to be there. We kept looking for it but we did not find it. So we ate our apples and chips. By the way, Hanauma bay is actually in a crater of a volcano, but of course, instead of lava there is water. Then dad and I went to snorkel a little more. We saw corals shaped like brains, giant blue fish, a fish that was like a zebra but instead of black, it had brown. Also dad touched a sea urchin that was pink. It was kind of cute, but not as cute as our cat. Once we got back, Dmitry quikly went again, and we went for te bus. When we got back to our hotel, we rested a little and then went to Red Lobster. The food was great. Then we walked back to our hotel but on the way there, we walked in the ocean. Since it was late, the ocean was pretty much black. Also we were walking without shoes on smooth rock and it was exactly tge temperature of my body. Then we just walked back to our hotel, rested a bit, and really, that just brings us to right now.

Today was a good day since we are trying to do as much as possible these days. Tomorrow is the last day in Hawaii, how sad, but then I get to see you! First, dad rented a car that can put it's roof back. We drove to Kailua. The water there was really warm and the sand was soft without rocks or corals. Dad and I went a little off the beach to find a geocache. We found it since it was only 2 out of 5 stars. Way too easy for us! This was our 129th geocache. When everyone was ready, we drove to the beach with kind of big waves. We drove all around the island to find a beach with waves. We ended up at this one. It was really, really fun. Some waves were big, so I had to dive under it, and some were little but sandy so I had to clear my swimsuit from sand. At the end, there was a gigantic wave so dad helped me dive in, but even under it, the water swirled me and dad all around. Luckily, we got out of it and ran to our things. I thought it was enought for today. Then dad drove us to this chicken restaurant. We took a whole chicken to share.

We also had raspberry ice teas. Then, when we got back, we gave the car back and headed for the hotel. I was first to take a shower. Doesn't it fell good when first your hair is almost all covered in sand and every time you touch it you end up picking some sand, and then, you take a nice hot shower, and you walk out all sparkly and clean.

As I said before, we boarded the bus and headed for Diamond Head that is a crater of a giant volcano. We had to walk a little higher to the volcano because the bus could only get us to the closest road. Then, once got to the top, there was a tunnel that lead inside the crater. It was really hot so we were happy to be in the shade. When we got out, dad had to pay for the entrance and Dmitry had to fill up the water bottle. When everyone was ready, we started the hike. The first part was just smooth rocks lay out, but then there was a tunnel and after 2 staircases. One of them had 75 steps, but was steeper, and the other had 99 or 100 but was less steep. We went on the one with 75. When we got up the stairs, there was another tunnel leading to this spiral staircase. We went up it and came to where the other route comes and both turn into one. There were just like 30 steps left and there was the top. We got up and did some of our dancing. Then, dad saw that there was a geocache close by so we looked for it. The hint was to tie your shoes and look down. I looked but I didn't see it. It was supposed to be under a step on the staircase but I couldn't find it. Then dad saw it on the right side of the step. Since we bought our travel bug, dad tried too squeeze it in, and he did it. Now we don't need to worry about it! Then we walked down the 99 or 100 steps staircase. It was not that bad since we were walking down. When we got down, we took the bus back, got ready, and went to the beach that is closest to us. The water was warm because it was warming up all day. We just swam around and did flips with dad. When we were ready, we went to our hotel. Then we walked to this sushi place where different kinds of sushi move around and you can take them. Each kind of sushi had a coloured plate. You tell by the plate colour how much it costs. You can also just order them. Then we walked to the beach and swam there in the dark. Once we were done, we went to our hotel, everyone took a shower, and went to sleep.

Ксения как бы показывает место, откуда были сняты предыдущие фотографии.

So far today, we woke up early, quikly changed, and headed to the same beach to swim for the last time. Then we changed and went to our hotel to take showers, and I started writing this. Then we went to Denny's and ordered some lunch. Well, they should get us food soon or we will be late. Anyways, I am waiting right now for it.