Time to find snorkel equipment. Larry and golf had decided just to buy it instead of renting it, as when they have rented for a week in the past, the cost had been about $100 (including the prescription mask for Larry, the extra long fins, and a boogie board for golf, who can’t swim). However, golf now has her little air mattress, so she didn’t need the boogie board anymore; Larry said he was fine without the prescription mask, and the free snorkel equipment they had used in St. Thomas with the regular size fins had been fine, so they figured they didn’t really need the special fins.
They had seen relatively inexpensive masks and snorkels at Long’s Drugs, running from $9.99 up to about $19.99, so they checked there first. Larry found a set for $10 and golf got the $12 set. Long’s didn’t have fins. In driving around downtown Kailua, they spotted a dive shop that advertised it was going out of business, so that was worth checking out. The store had fins in the sizes they needed, so for $20 each pair, they bought fins -- a little more than they had wanted to pay, but . . . .
Since we were in Kailua (I was, of course, with them in case any photo opportunities arose), and there is a Kailua Beach, they drove around trying to find it. We found many little “beach access” paths among all the residences, but any space along the residential streets where one could park already had a car/cars in place, and they certainly couldn't block driveways or fire plugs. So we never got to Kailua Beach, but we spent a lot of time exploring.
Since Larry and golf now had their snorkel equipment but didn’t wnt to try Hanauma Bay this late in the day and decided they’d hit there early the next morning, what to do with the rest of the day?
GOLF, of course! Golf called the Pali Golf Course and found out this municipal course was allowing play only on nine holes. Well, it was late enough in the afternoon and beginning to be cloudy, so they figured nine holes would be enough for this afternoon.
So they loaded up the clubs and the beer (for Larry) and headed back up the Pali Highway to a turn west onto Kamehameha Highway, and the first turn to the left was the entrance to the golf course. It’s really silly, I think, because golf is so lousy at the game, but she’s told me that she gets a real thrill just driving up the road approaching a golf course. Every time, she thinks she’s going to shoot brilliantly. Of course, she never does, well, she might get a few pars, but for every one of her good shots, there’s a disastrous one to follow. Never fails. Oh, well, according to her, that’s the lure of the game. One always thinks if one can hit one good shot, he/she can hit another. Larry and golf tend to void this theory resoundingly.
It was actually starting to get pretty cloudy and looked like rain, but it never rained, so they couldn’t use that as an excuse for their play. But, as usual, they had a good time hacking around, enjoying the scenery, checking out the local critters, and generally just having a high old time with their “big sticks, swinging in the dirt.”
Of course, they’re used to viewing slightly different critters back home – e.g., deer and rabbits instead of mongooses (mongeese?) and pigs (never got a picture of a mongoose, they’re just too fast).
Back at the ranch for the evening. Oh, yes, I need to point this out. A mildly interesting MPI tie-in of sorts to the ranch. Remember in “Did You See the Sunrise,” when Nuzo is at TC’s house and TC tells him how his (TC's house) is on the flight line for the military helicopters flying down the Ko’olau Valley (or something similar to that)? And, of course, from rubberchicken (of Magnum-Mania fame)’s finding via Google Earth the actual location of the house used in this episode as TC’s house, we know that house is actually not anywhere NEAR the Ko'olau Valley. But, at the ranch, we ARE at the southeast end of the valley so we DO have the helis flying over us quite frequently! golf just delights in this. Of course, we’re gone most of the day, but our first afternoon/evening here, we had three helis fly over us, and golf notes everyone that goes over.
And speaking of helicopters, while golf was slogging around at the tidal pool, a helicopter flew over. It wasn’t, of course, TC’s or even an MD500D (she thought it was a EuroStar EC130), just a tourist helicopter. But you just KNOW that the pilot was pointing out the estate.
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