Up at 5 am to catch 6 am shuttle to airport. Back into the plushy 777 and left on time. Goodbye, Hawaii.

On the flight back, we were deprived of a view of the ocean, since the young man in the window seat in our row kept the shade down the entire five hours. He had nothing to read or listen to, either.

I had a couple of “alternative” newspapers I had picked up somewhere to read. I read all about how the wind turbines were being built too close to people’s houses, contrary to what the regs specify. How the native Hawaiians who are still living on their ancestral plots of land are being forced to sell because of high land taxes driven by development. About the blight of food trucks. About years of needing to fix dangerous roads that always, always gets postponed. About not enough money from Honolulu to keep up the bike path in Sunset Beach even though it’s their responsibility.

Not very happy reading, and after a while I gave it up. It’s been slightly more than 200 years since outsiders (“settlers” in the language being used today) came to Hawaii, and the impact is ongoing. It’s similar to what we have in Canada, but compressed into such a small area (Oahu is slightly less than twice as big as the city of Calgary) that there’s no escape.

So then I read P.D. James. Before I knew it, we were landing in San Francisco.

A chilly three-hour layover (we’d packed our down jackets in the checked bags), two hours to Calgary, and we were home.

Woke up and spent some time in my passenger seat reading spot while Mike slept. We had to return the van by 3 pm. Before then we would have to clean it up and pack everything too. But no hurry . . .

I went for a last swim, washed off in fresh water, and then we left, since checkout time was 11 am. Drove back to the Wiamea Valley parking lot and had breakfast, finished off packing, and cleaned. Then went up to the visitor center again for bathroom.

It was raining quite hard at that point, so we lingered for a while. An older man was playing ukulele, and older woman was singing a Hawaiian song, and a beautiful young girl was hula dancing in the lobby, projecting such serenity. Such a nice send off.

We were back at Hawaii Surf Campers in no time and were greeted by Luke. They unlocked the safe, hurray! So we had our passports to go home with.

Luke drove us to the Honolulu Airport Hotel, through an absolute maze of flyovers and construction and freeways everywhere. So very glad I didn’t have to be navigator for that.

Our room was up on the third floor, with thrashing palm trees blocking the sight of freeways and construction. Sad to be leaving.

We ordered food, had showers, and reconnected to the internet. Did we miss anything??

Last full day in this lovely place. After breakfast, we decided to play tourist in Haleiwa town. We navigated there, remembering which exits to take from both traffic circles, and found a parking spot in front of an art gallery on the verge/walking path. Hey, everybody does it!

We wandered around in various stores, not finding anything we wanted to buy until we found t-shirt and sox in a surf shop.

Walked down to the far end of town, stopping by Teddy’s Burger Bar to get Coke and Dr. Pepper.

At the far end of main street is the marina. We walked up onto the stone breakwater to see what was on the other side. There is a big surf place somewhere here that is part of the Van’s Triple Crown, but we didn’t see anything that big right around there.

Some people fishing off the breakwater, and more garbage than is usual.

This town has been a surfer mecca for a long time. The first food truck on the North Shore was here, back in the 1970s. I wonder what it was like then?

Back to camp, and we were visited by a guy and his father-in-law, who were interested in the van. We gave them a tour. The guy and his wife have four children and they were travelling with her parents, so a bit of a squeeze! They were staying in one of the canvas tent houses (“hales”) you can rent here.

He is a bureaucrat with the US Department of Agriculture, based in Honolulu, with responsibilities in American territories, so American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, etc. so he was often flying out to them.

I was surprised to hear that he’d be based in Hawaii, but maybe it makes sense, as it’s so much closer to those places than DC is. He said Oahu runs on military and federal government, with tourism on top. Population about a million, about 2/3 of the population of the entire state. What a strange place this is.

Went for a swim and a beach walk. Got a text from Tom saying take a walk on the beach for me, so here is your beach walk, Tom.

Went for first and last swim at Malaekahana Beach. The weather hasn’t been great the last couple of days. Lots of waves, can’t see anything underwater because of swirling sand.

Going back to Mokule’ia is a bit of an anti-climax because we already know what it’s like. But that’s also a good thing, because there’s much to like there! But it feels like the end of the adventure is approaching.

We decided to take a detour into the interior of the island to Wahiawa and Hawaii Surf Campers so they could unlock the safe. The way led us past two tourist attractions: the Dole plantation and a coffee plantation. Soon we were climbing up from sea level to the higher plateau between the two mountain ranges, and actual farmed land appeared. It was pineapples, many, many pineapples.

The planting and some of the harvesting is still done by hand. We saw ladies in conical straw hats bending and doing something in the dirt. At harvest time, the workers have to wear heavy protective gear as they twist the pineapples off so they don’t get clawed to pieces by the edges of the leaves. It looks like hard, hard work under the hot sun, but apparently some people are still willing to do it.

It looked like enough pineapples to be a commercial operation, but the tourist Dole Plantation is a vast gift shop, lots of fancy flowerbeds, the world’s biggest maze, and a small train that takes visitors on a loop tour of the plantation (but not those large fields where the pineapples really are).

We parked and walked around, read about pineapple growing (22 months to fruition), watched the koi fish, wandered around in the gift shop, and left. Too many people!

On the way into Wahiawa, we crossed over a small river on a bridge that had a homeless encampment beside it. It seems that lots of people who are here can’t actually afford to live here.

The van guys took the day off, so we left again.

Back at Mokule’ia, Mike conversed with a chatty guy who had parked right next to the bathrooms. Learned a few things: AirBnbs aren’t allowed up here on the North Shore. How is that possible to enforce? This van camping is the coming thing, and so the guy, Daniel, was fixing up his van to use it for that. Part of his fixing was to put a coating on the outside that made it look like a popcorn ceiling, which he figured was an authentic Hawaiian look. He also said he thinks this beach is “sharky.”  Later we asked Luke about sharks and he said in the eight years he’s been living and surfing Oahu, he’s seen three sharks, but there is about one attack per year. So we don’t know what to think about Daniel.

We walked and swam and ate supper. And so to bed.

It rained quite hard a couple of times in the night and was cooler and windy in the morning with grey clouds. No turquoise and teal blue ocean 😥 

I have not washed my hair since we were in our Airbnb and I’m not sure my surfer locks are working out, so I opted for a shower. The way that happens here is you put on your swim suit and stand under the open air public shower and soap up. It felt good.

On the way back I saw a long little creature that had a pointy nose and a pointy tail both glide across from one bush thicket to another. Consulting with Mike, he said he saw one too last night. We decided they are mongooses, which I never would have guessed except I read that they are here.

So there is a happy little ecosystem of feral cats, jungle fowl, and mongooses, at least. Who eats who? The cats and the chickens seem perfectly happy with each other. The black hen who had 9 chicks when we arrived still had 9 today. The cats seem very content. Maybe the campers feed them all?

This is our last night at Malaekahana camp and we have no reservations for the 28 and 29 so our job today is to find some place to stay for those two days. Our plan was to go down the south east coast where we have not been so we make breakfast based on having neither too much nor too little food at the end of our stay. Sadly, that time is getting close. I can’t believe it.

We went south on the coastal road which is only two lanes with very narrow shoulders and lots of traffic. Through a town called Lai’i, which seemed a little more organized in terms of parking lots (non-existent mostly, you park on the side of the road) and big stores. And no wonder: Brigham Young University has a campus here and a big temple similar to the one in Cardston was visible at the end of a grand palm tree lined boulevard. Those Mormons know how to get stuff lined up.

After that came the Polynesian Culture Center, a Disney theme park scale endeavour that covered 42 acres and cost $70 per each to enter. We passed on that but walked through the marketplace where you could buy lots of tourist junk made in China as most of it seems to be. I have a new pink sun hat and Mike is giving flip flops a try.

The guy in the ticket booth gave us some advice on where we might  be able to camp so we headed south again but it looked to us like the place he suggested did not allow camping so we went on through areas of road construction and poorly maintained houses. One “house” right on the shore was an unmodified shipping container with a whirly vent on the roof. It all looked rather third-world ish. 

Ahead of us was the urbanized east coast which we thought would have insane traffic like Honolulu. We turned in at Kualoa Ranch which had a large parking lot to consider our options. The parking is kind of an issue because this van we are driving is bigger than the average car.

Kualoa Ranch is where movies that need a jungle backdrop have been filmed: Jurassic Park and King Kong for eg. The mountains are just like they appear in the movies, ha ha. Today, all misty and remote and green. King Kong could be in there.

Anyway, we decided to go back to Mokule’ia camp on the North Shore where we were pretty sure we could get a reservation and it was peaceful. So we got that arranged, investigated the visitor center and left.

Quick stop at a store to get ice and food for the next couple of days (I bought a pineapple! It turned out to be the old kind that blisters your lips if you eat enough of it) on to home base. Saw another mongoose slinking along in the ditch.

We had thought of trying to get into the conservation area just up the road, but by then it was past 3 pm and there really is nothing wrong with just sitting on the beach, is there?
We were glad to be back in our spot. The sun had come out and it was warm. We were greeted by the two regular cats and a rooster or two. 

Went for a wade in new water shoes bought at Kualoa Ranch. Unlike the North Shore beaches, this one has a fair amount of plastic debris. Apparently this corner of the island is where it collects. I picked up a couple of handfuls but it was hopeless so I  gave up. We saw a turtle bobbing by, and later the guy who we think is a turtle poacher showed up.

A bit of a frustrating day because a lot of it was logistics and traffic. But we still enjoyed ourselves. 

A rainy, windy night. Woke up before Mike and settled into the front passenger seat, with the blackout curtains between me and the sleeping body behind. The view out the front was of the early morning sun on the waves. I had my book and my phone, on which I pecked out a report of yesterday. And I read a bit of P.D. James, which has engaged me.

I have to confess that some time in the last couple of days, I put our laptop and all our important papers in the van’s safe, apparently typed in the wrong sequence of numbers, hit the #, and closed the door, thus locking it with an unknown passcode. This is why I am typing on my phone.

The chickens are growing on us. I think lots of the campers must feed them, because they come running when we come out. The chicks are a hoot. One of them took a tiny experimental peck at my leg when I wasn’t forthcoming with something tastier.

Later in the morning, we left to explore the North Shore big surf. Still not sure how to get out of this maze-like campground.

Somewhere, we picked up a freebie promo magazine for something called “The Van’s Triple Crown of Surfing.” It is a series of three events where surfers can win money, but also points toward being a sponsored pro surfer. It is a little over the top in talking about the “relationship with the wave,” and the like. But maybe I Just Don’t Understand because I haven’t done it. I liked having a peek into that world, however.

The three wave breaks for the TC of S are: Ali’i at Haleiwa, near where we first camped, the Banzai Pipeline, and Sunset Beach. All within about a 15-mile stretch along the north shore of the island. The mag had profiles of various surfers and lists of who had won what. The vast majority of them are Hawaiian, USA, or Australian. Which tells me that to be good at surfing, you have to grow up with it.

(Interesting also that they differentiate between Hawaiian and USA. More evidence that at least some Hawaiians don’t consider themselves to be Americans.)

We found a parking spot alongside the road and walked until we came to the access to Sunset Beach.

The. Most. Beautiful. Waves! A wide, steep, sandy expanse of white sand and then huge, roaring blue and turquoise waves crowned with foamy white. The biggest break quite far out, but even in close, it was kind of a maelstrom of waves going every which way. Must be complex underwater topography. Swimming prohibited because of rip tides and steep shore breaks.

It is impossible to capture it in a photo. (Unless you are out in the water with the surfers. There are photographers who do that, and it’s their photos that make it into the magazines.)

An event was happening down the beach, so we went back to the bike path and down to Pipeline Beach where a surfing competition was happening on the Banzai Pipeline, a big, powerful but more regular wave than what was happening at Sunset Beach. It curls over beautifully.

On the way we passed several makeshift memorials to surfers who have died in these waves. One was to an Australian who had been “living the life he wanted, filming and surfing. Forever 18.” Later we read that the Banzai Pipeline kills an average of 1 person per year.

We sat with the other spectators on the sand and watched for a while. Lots of surfers out in the lineup. There weren’t that many great long rides, but maybe that’s par for the course?

When we got too hot and sunburny, we drove the few miles back down to the big shady parking lot at Waimea Valley and had fried egg sandwiches. The jungle fowl did not know we were eating their relatives.

By then it was mid-afternoon, so we went back east to the camp. Stopped at a roadside tourist mecca to see what was on offer. It was mostly made-in-China stuff, except for some carved turtles and whales, etc. made by the family of the statuesque Polynesian-looking woman behind the counter, and an art gallery with some interesting but pricey encaustic paintings and sea glass jewelry. https://www.fullfathomfivehawaii.com/

The old white guy in that shop told us the resin petroglyphs they sell (impressions of rock carvings cast in positive relief, if I’ve said that correctly) are very old and have only been seen a couple of times in recent history because normally they are buried under 30 or 40 feet of sand. It takes a monster storm to uncover them, and then they get reburied after the storm passes. Last time they were visible was 45 years ago, and the waves that uncovered them were 70 feet high.

That was the story, anyway!

Ordered shrimp from a food truck and got Styrofoam container with 2 scoops of rice, a scoop of canned corn kernels, and 8 shrimp in garlic and butter sauce. Not butter, though, some kind of oil. $14

Back at camp, we vegged, watched the livestock, and read. While I made supper, Mike went to look at the water and saw two turtles.

Beautiful dark night sky with so many brilliant stars and Venus with a perceptible diameter.

Time to move on from Mokule’ia Camp. We said goodbye to an English couple who we were friendly with who are also in a Hawaii Surf Camper van, but theirs is a VW. They were leaving the next day for “Blighty” as the guy called it, and his wife was glued to her phone trying to find out what is happening with the coronavirus. She was unable to sleep last night for worrying about it. We have had no news about anything, so are not worried!

Our next camp, Malaekahana, is over on the east, windward side of the island but is only about 20 miles away so we are going to take our time getting there.

First stop was the Wiamea valley, a narrow notch between cliff-like walls.

We turned off the busy Kamehameha highway into a shady green entrance road overhung by towering trees. A small “river” was beside us, and across it, a wide manicured green lawn with three resident big white geese.

Digression on fresh water here: none of the rivers we have seen are bigger than Pothole Creek on a good day. The map shows these little streams in every valley, but up in the wide central valley between the two mountain ranges they use drip irrigation and black plastic mulch on the pineapples. So, hot, humid . . . and dry? But the water is plentiful and non-regulated in the campgrounds. There aren’t even aerators on the taps. And it’s very tasty!

We proceeded to a large, shady parking lot, where a security guard in a golf cart was keeping watch. Lots of cars, so I guess it is a target-rich environment.

The Wiamea Valley is an important place in Hawaiian history, and the visitor center reflected that. It was well-kept, had good parking, security, and turnarounds for tour buses. Lots of people visit here.

It is also a botanic garden, started by and cared for by a Harvard botanist for many years. There are lots of plants from other Polynesian locations growing here. Hybridizing the hibiscus was a thing Victorian Hawaiians did, and there were many varieties here.

Pre-contact, this watershed (which is how the ancestral Hawaiians divided up the land) was the home of a bunch of related families who lived as a tribe. Historians think that a high shaman almost always lived here, so maybe it was sort of like Vatican City?

Anyway, there are a bunch of large lava rock remains of their buildings, animal pens, storage facilities, etc, still in place here. The branch/vine/thatch buildings have been reconstructed over the important ones, and there are crafts people demonstrating how to make cloth out of bark and the like.

There were lots of informative signs about what was “kaput” ie sacred and thus taboo. Women and men were forbidden to eat together, women would be killed if they ate bananas. The watershed was used from top to bottom: planted crops up high on a plateau out of the notch, living quarters halfway down, and fishermen and fish pens at the shore.

Quite a long way up the valley is a waterfall. We again were given many, many reminders that this was all sacred ground and we should be respectful at all times and behave accordingly. Thus it was a bit of a shock to arrive at the waterfall and discover a concession stand selling Coke and potato chips, a booth selling swimsuits and flip flops, and a thatch tiki hut of “lifeguards” who would rent you a life jacket and then you could swim in the pool at the base of the waterfall.

There were about 15 tourists bobbing around in the pool, but the real action was on the rocks around. One young woman hurried up to the pool with her friend, stripped down to a thong bikini, and then spent about five minutes doing Kim Kardashian butt shots in front of the sacred waterfall. You know that was going on Instagram as soon as she got back to cell phone coverage. I can’t imagine what any native Hawaiians who are sad about their history must think.

It was a long walk up and back the Wiamea Valley but we really enjoyed it. I drank a Coke, the first one in years, Mike had Gatorade, so I guess we needed the electrolytes. We left without buying anything, but did read all about Eddie Aikua.

Our tour guide Tall Tom told us there is a saying in Hawaii that you will see on bumper stickers, t-shirts, and hats: “Eddie Would Go.” It’s kind of a challenge to put the well-being of others first, even at great risk to yourself.

It arose from his career as a life guard at Wiamea Bay, where he charged into sometimes very dangerous water on his board and saved 500 people from drowning. And also from his tragic death, which you can read about here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Aikau

We continued onto Malaekahana Beach Campground. The lady at the check in desk gave us a map of how to find our spot, looked at the van, and said we’d have to go a special way because we were too tall to fit through “the tunnel of trees.” And that if we had any problems at night, to call the security guard. Ok . . .

We got lost. So lost. Backtracked numerous times, turned around on “roads” that were little more than tracks through the trees, but finally we found #5 in the vehicle camping. There was no one else there, but there were lots of feral cats and “jungle fowl,” aka chickens.

We walked down to look at the water and saw a few surfers way down the beach where the tent camping was. And two guys skulking about the other way, over toward where there was a fence with a big no trespassing sign. On the other side was the conservation area.

These guys were carrying what looked like grocery bags stuffed with something, like they were homeless. They were very furtive, and tried to move out of our sight, but couldn’t without going over the fence. Peering, peering into the water, casting many glances at us. One of them pulled something out of his bag, something long and kind of shiny. A fishing net? We decided they were turtle poachers!

We saw them later, on the wrong side of the fence, disappearing over the headland. Don’t know if they got turtles or not.

By then it was getting dark, and we were happy to see other vans arriving. Duh, it’s car camping; they have to take everything when they go out for the day.

So despite our misgivings, we set up camp and had a peaceful night.

Mike: Up at 8. Yes, 12 hours in bed, Fitbit says 10:40 sleeping so another tired night amid pounding surf just outside the tent. Heard several planes taking off next door; turns out they are each loaded with 6 skydivers, most are the double person first timers. Plane goes up, circles for altitude, drops the 6-12 people out the door and lands while the parachutist/paragliders who circle and perfonrm pukifying stunts on the way to land on our end of the air strip.  They were basically taking off and returning steadily until about 2pm.

We on the other hand relaxed on the beach, watching whales and fisherpersons catch nothing, and even a bit of snoozing… like we needed that!

After a quick brunch, we went for a drive to charge up the batteries and look at the surf further toward the point land called Kaena Point. Surf was lovely at quite a few places along the way but we drove to the end of the road – except for off road vehicles (no quads, just Jeeps and Toyota 4-Runners, etc.) 

There’s also a hiking trail which we took for a couple of miles toward the point of land. Rough country but a small island. 13,000 steps for us today.

Susan: Past the end of the road, it is a protected area because of rare birds nesting and rare monk seals who come ashore here. It is pretty remote, maybe the remotest place on the island? (Except for the mountain tops, where we wondered if anybody actually goes.) Some interesting plants and some mud holes created by people driving in jeeps.

There used to be a little rail road around this point but it got wiped out in a tsunami in 1946 and they didn’t bother to rebuild. It was used to haul pineapples down to Honolulu from the Dole Plantation and also by the military after the Pearl Harbor attack.

It was very hot and dry along this trail, so it was nice to come across a little forest of conifer-like small trees or big bushes. Very thick carpet of dead needles underfoot and much cooler than out in the open.

Back to the campground. Susan went swimming with her new goggles which amazingly for the price, actually worked.  Saw some little exotic fish while I inadvertently had a Pacific Ocean bath when the waves sucked all the sand out from under my feet. Very fine sand here but lots of rocks and rock coral. Good to have a waterproof phone. Susan had a good swim and lots of exercise.

Susan: a weird thing is that there doesn’t seem to be many sea creatures under the water. No urchins, anenomes, sea pens, starfish, kelp. All I saw was sand, eroded coral, plant debris from the land, and those few fish. Maybe the water is too warm??

Oh no, surf and turf and noodles and veggies for supper again! 

Pitch dark at 7pm.  A ways away from the Equator but think we are like Baja California latitude.  Surprise for me as I mostly thought this was further North but that the climate was affected by being mid-Pacific.  Nope.

Susan: I didn’t sleep all that well. Woke up a bunch when the surf crashed loudly, as at high tide the water was maybe 30 feet away (downhill somewhat). I heard the camp cats walk past making that meerooow sound they do when prowling at night. Anyway, another day awaited!

Ate bacon and eggs, cleaned up the dishes, and then got dressed for beach time! We walked a way along the shore and found a place where the bottom was sand instead of rocks and I went for a swim. I didn’t do anything but bob around, since I did not remember to bring goggles, and I’m too out of shape to do much swimming. The water was perfect temperature.

Mike watched whales and surfers with binos. Fun surprise, a big sea turtle, maybe 2 ½ feet in diameter was slowly making its way along right next to shore. We tried to take some pics when stuck his head out of water, but he was in very shallow water all along so we followed without disturbing it.

Back at the van, we strategized about food and plans for the next couple of days, and then went and had a nap on the beach. The first bit of sunburn (on my inner arms, ouch!) happened while I was sleeping.

Later, we drove down the road to the west as far as you can to toward Kaena Point. Beautiful beaches with close-in surf waves, so we may go up there tomorrow for a while.

Then another trip into Haleiwa to get stuff we didn’t know we needed until we needed it. Traffic was still crazy, but not as crazy as it was yesterday on Saturday.

Got lost coming home, again, but made it in the end. Similar easy driving as there are few roads. The volcanic hills/mountains are basically impenetrable hereabouts. No roads whatsoever up and over them and makes perfect sense when you see them. The wedding party has left, so there aren’t a lot of people here now. Saw some sky divers across the road landing after some dipsy doodles at Billingham air strip.  A small plane airport originally military and still has the military no trespass signs.

Mike: Great supper of grass fed local hamburger, smoked salmon and stir fry veggies from the locals as well. Met the neighbors from UK. They are happy to have left the cold rain behind and we commiserated  Saw whales spouting and looking like depth charges going off. Best was a couple of breaches and then jumping and turning over with their tails looking just like the Prudential insurance adverts on TV.

Stars are quite amazing even though we are at sea level, I suppose due to the darkness here.  Susan saw the big dipper with the handle straight down and later in the night saw the handle straight up. Went to bed in our tiny tent at 8:05 tired and very dark for some time. 

Spent the morning packing for 11 pm checkout. I had to return the key to our AirBnB to the mail box in the lobby and discovered a free library shelf that I hadn’t noticed before. So I took C.J Box The Disappearance and P.D. James A Certain Justice. Not too excited about either of them, but oh well.

Mike: A very nice stay. Couple blocks to the super hotels and thru to the beach. Nice walks in both directions and high-end shopping everywhere.  Streets were again thick with people, walking, window shopping, seeing and being seen. Very polite mostly Asian people having a nice time, often with children, often with parents and sometimes grandparents.  Packed up and rearranged for camping dropped the KIA Soul and found a decent place to wait for our pickup. Coordination via cells working great and soon Lucas was here.

Susan: The Nuvi took us back to the airport, where we were going to be picked up by Luke, from Hawaii Surf Campers. As we drove back along the Nimitz highway, we passed numerous homeless encampments right along the freeway. We didn’t see them when we arrived because it was so dark and rainy. Sad to think of living under a tarp by a freeway, but I guess home is home.

He drove us up island to their home base in Wahiawa, which is in the center of the island, an old town that used to be where the plantation workers lived. Kind of a poor place with shabby buildings. Really wonder if agriculture is happening here now, or is it all tourism?

Mike: Chose the Ford Van because it’s a 2017 rather than an elderly VW rebuild by an unknown local guy. Had a nice chat with Lucas on the way to the shop which made me think perhaps the VW would be reliable but then we talked about the constant need for maintenance and many roadside repairs they have had to do on the VWs so it confirmed for Ford was the right choice. Not that I shirk a good challenge but this trip is for “forget about it all” and “get back to the Island.”

Susan: After a short tour of their workshop and filling out of paperwork, we were off to our first camping place with a short detour into Haleiwa to get groceries.

Haleiwa is a one-road town of food trucks, coffee shops, an Ace Hardware, a big drug store, and a grocery store. We bought a paper bag full of stuff and a Styrofoam cooler with more stuff in it as well as ice to supplement the tiny fridge. They do not allow plastic grocery bags here so we have been tripped up by that a couple of times. Mike: as in 9 bucks for a medium paper bag at an ABC store. Never going back but they have no reason to care making 8.95 off my bag purchase…. grrrr

After groceries, we drove to the camp, which is further down the coast right on Mokule’ia Beach. Nobody in the office, but we found our spot, requested the people who had moved into it to vacate, which they did right away and voluntarily, and set up our tiny tent, blew up the tiny air mattresses and prepped for sleep. Three and half pound tent is mostly mosquito netting with an allegedly great fly to keep the rain off. We thought it would provide better sleeping than in the van.

To end the day, we sat at our picnic table and ate grapes, Brie, and sushi, and watched the surf and the whales spouting offshore. Was pleasantly cool and breezy.

Mike: Van has a nice bed though small and the air flow is high in the roof like in a VW. We cooked in the van and moved into the backpacking tent right on the sand above a crashing surf beach under sky spangled with very bright stars. North star right out the door. The first time I’ve been sure which way was north since we got here! No rain of course, but a delightful breeze with the fly open at the doors. Even needed the thin blanket provided by the van folks in the middle of the night.

Mike: The surf here is Amazing! Had slept surfside in California  on the beach and surf was soothing and regular.  Here the surf is huge and continuous in its roar because of the various locations where it breaks and the height of the waves. Slept like a comforted baby.  Probably the most sleep I’ve had since…. Well, I don’t know when, without being sick, I slept for 10 hours!

All in all a great day, but no one has been home at the campground office all day so we don’t have any wifi to send our travelogue.