Aloha, family and friends. It’s now early March, and my Airbnb in Waikiki ended on March 1. I was sad to say goodbye to the place that had become home for the past month and a half. Especially with having some visitors, the time seriously flew by. If you ask me, it went by a little too quickly…which is why I’ve decided to extend my stay out here! In the two weeks after getting home from Kauai when my parents visited, I inquired about dozens of apartments, looking for places with short term rental options (since I still don’t know when I’ll have to be back in the office for work). The process of finding a new place to stay was hectic as I was scrambling to find a place and rearrange flights. In late February, just days before I had to move out of my Airbnb, I still didn’t have a place locked up. My two most promising options at the time were studios in Waikiki. I was excited about both options because they were in the same neighborhood I’d been living in, which is the center of action for going to the beach and commercial/resort activity. They were both tiny places, but I figured since I don’t spend much time in the apartment outside of working and sleeping that it wasn’t a big deal. On Sunday February 27, just two days before I had to move, I heard back from and visited an apartment in a neighborhood a bit farther from the beach called Kaimuki. It’s a 3-bedroom place in a quieter, more residential part of town, and the price was unbeatable. This is the street I’m on, facing in the direction of the mountains. The ocean and Diamond Head Crater are in the opposite direction.
Since I’d been living in an Airbnb for the past month and a half, this was a great option to live more affordably while still being close enough to the beach and good restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and more. The one drawback is that the room came unfurnished so I’ve had to dash around town running errands and picking up used furniture to bring the room to life. The first couple of days were rough, though, and my living situation was bleak.
On the first day I moved in, I rented a car and went with a couple friends, one of who is also moving into a new place, to Costco to buy a bunch of food and furniture for the new apartment. Between walking to the rental car place, picking up my friends, getting out to Costco, shopping, and then dropping my friends and the car off, it took the whole afternoon even though I wasn’t able to find much of the furniture I was looking for. After the Costco expedition, I went to DeRussy Beach to play volleyball. I could walk to that beach from my Airbnb in ten minutes, but it would take 45 minutes to get there from my new place so I biked instead. There’s a city bike app called Biki with stations all around the city, so I got a membership and went to the nearest station to bike over. The ride isn’t too bad until getting to Waikiki, which is very crowded and touristy, so it’s illegal to bike on the sidewalks and many of the big streets are one ways. It took me a long time to get to the beach this first bike ride over, and I constantly had to check Google Maps to figure out where I should be biking. I was disheartened that it took so long to get to the beach and stressed about having to furnish my new room, and I was wondering whether I should’ve went with one of the studio rentals in Waikiki, which would’ve been a lot easier and more convenient. But then I remembered feeling the same way when I moved up to Maine in July, and my roommate Nico and I had to furnish the place and deal with the annoying tasks of moving into a new place. Though it was stressful at first, it was short lived and so much fun to live up in Portland thereafter. It was a comforting thought, and I think that my new apartment will play out the same way. The first few days and weeks might be tough, but I’m excited to explore a new part of the city and have roommates.
In the days since March 1, when I moved in, I’ve made some headway on the room. I’m still trying to get some items like a dresser and a rug or two, but I have a mattress, desk, chair, toiletries, and a towel, so I can at least work and sleep relatively comfortably in the meantime. I’m also considering buying a bike or moped and getting a surfboard rack attachment so I could get to the beach for surfing more easily. There are rental surfboard options right by the water, but I go often enough that I’d prefer to save money using my own board if possible. I also think it would just be convenient to have my own bike or moped for getting around town more easily. I’m leaning towards the bike option at the moment, but I might try renting a moped to see what it’s like.
Despite living a little farther from the beach now, I’ve been continuing to do my normal activities: going to the beach to surf and play volleyball. I typically get off work around 12:30 or 1, and when I was living in Waikiki I’d walk along the main road called Kalakaua Ave to the Royal Hawaiian Beach, where the immensely popular Canoes surf break is located. The break is called Canoes because it’s straight out from where the big Hawaiian canoes launch. The spot is great for beginners because the wave is very wide and breaks in a few different places. When I was just starting, I’d catch the wave closer to the beach, where it breaks for a second time. My first couple of times, I’d let the wave crash behind me and I’d try to get pushed forward by the white foamy water after the break. This was a nice way to practice because there’s not a time crunch to stand up on the board quickly; once you’re in the white foam, you can take a bit of time to stand up while maintaining your balance. As I got better, I started catching some of the waves before they broke, which is what you imagine when you think of surfing: the person inside the barrel of a wave that’s about to crash down. Obviously, I’m not doing anything so advanced yet, but it’s been fun to get up on some waves and ride them in as they’re crashing, rather than catching them after they’ve already crashed. Since it was about a 25-minute walk from my Airbnb to the section of beach I surfed at, I’d typically stay out in the water for 2-4 hours to make it worth my time. All the time in the water and repetitions definitely help, and by my third or fourth time out there I was able to get out to the break farther from the shore and ride some of the bigger waves. The far break is probably about 500 feet out from shore but there’s always a ton of people there so it’s easy to know where to go. On good days, the waves will carry you in almost all the way to the shore, so for some of my best rides I’ve been standing up on the board for probably 20-30 seconds. There are plenty of regulars out there and also tons of tourists, so I can usually find someone to talk to if I want to while waiting for the waves. I’ve made a couple friends out on the water and ran into several people I’ve met through volleyball out there too.
On typical workdays I’d surf for a few hours and then head in around 4 or 5 to go play volleyball. I have a couple different groups I play with; on Wednesdays (and possibly Mondays, although I haven’t been to a Monday session yet) I play with a group at Ala Moana Beach and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I play with a group at Fort DeRussy Beach. The Ala Moana scene is very social and casual with less of a focus on volleyball and more of a party/hangout vibe. The DeRussy scene is also very social, but a bit more low-key in terms of drinking/partying on the side and more like people sitting in circles on blankets and talking. I’ve become friends with a girl named Sanjeevi, who sets up her net on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and there are always several other nets set up too. The past few sessions have been really popular, with six nets going up and a bunch of different groups playing. I’ve become acquainted with the group that plays on Sanjeevi’s net and I usually play with them, but I’ve played on a few other nets too. I mostly play 6 vs. 6 volleyball, which is the most social because there are more people and the easiest because you have tons of people to cover the court. I’ve got in some games of 4 vs. 4, which I enjoy a ton because I get more touches in and get to work on my passing and hitting. With 6 vs. 6, I can get away with passing the ball to someone by hitting it way up in the air, but with fewer players my passes have to be more directed, so that one of my teammates will actually be able to get the ball. The games typically run from 4:30 to 7 when it’s too dark to see the ball, but sometimes people bring lights that attach to the net so we can play past dark. I’ve been playing a ton and I’m happy with my improvement. When I started, I really couldn’t bump or spike very well, but I’ve gained a lot of control on both types of hits by playing games and peppering, which is passing/hitting a ball around and keeping it in the air with 2+ people. This past Wednesday I was feeling pretty good after playing some of my best games at Ala Moana, and then on Thursday a bunch of new players showed up to DeRussy and they were absolute ringers. There was a guy my height who actually knew how to play and dominated our team in a 4 vs. 4 match and a couple of guys who were probably 5’6” that had some ferocious spikes and blocks. While seeing how talented they were knocked me down a few notches, it also inspired me to keep playing and improving. I’ve caught volleyball fever and I don’t think it’s going away soon.
I’m in a great routine during the work week and I really enjoy getting to spend so much time surfing and playing volleyball. I love being in the ocean and playing games, so even if I’ve had a bad day at work or I’m stressed about something, I almost always feel better right away once I get outside. I’m also synced up with daylight much better than I would be on the East Coast. I wake up around 5 to get onto work, so I’m up for a couple hours before the sun rises and then I go home to sleep once the sun sets (unless I’m playing volleyball, in which case I don’t always get enough sleep because it’s usually past my bedtime by the time I’ve got home, cleaned up, and made something to eat). Despite being active and not always getting a full eight hours of sleep, I feel energized and ready to go almost every day. I think it must be the sunshine because even if I’m dragging during the workday, I’ll feel great once I’m outside. Despite living in Kaimuki, which is a bit farther from the ocean, I’m still trying to get to the beach every day. I’ve been swimming in the ocean every day since I got here on January 15, except for the day I flew to Kauai with my parents. That fact makes me really happy, but my hair not so much (saltwater is tough for curly hair).
The weekends are usually quieter since I’m not working and there’s not as much organized volleyball. I’ve had some more casual beach days where I’ll lay out in the sun and read a book and swim, but the few days where I’ve been in the sun from 10am-2pm I end up pretty red at the end of the day even after putting on sunscreen multiple times. I think Mother Nature is telling me that my complexion is too fair to be out in the sun for all of the peak sun strength hours. Besides beach days, I’ve gone on a couple rental car adventures with some friends I’ve made here. I went up to the North Shore in early February with my friend Melissa to watch surfers at the Billabong Pipeline professional competition. The way surfing competitions work is the organizers set a range of dates for the competition with the expectation that the surfers won’t go out every day because the waves aren’t always going to be good. I was so proud of myself for remembering to check the status of the competition of the night before, and the update was that they were likely to surf the next day. Sadly, I forgot to check status the next morning and didn’t see that the competition had been postponed to Saturday, instead of Friday. Neither Melissa nor I realized that and we actually thought we were watching the pro surfers for an hour on ‘Ehukai Beach, where Pipeline is, before somebody told us they weren’t professionals. The surfers out there were still remarkably good, and we saw several drones capturing amazing footage of people getting barreled and surfing crazy waves.
Driving along the northern part of the island is also really cool.
I’ve also used the weekends to do some more hikes, since there are so many in the area. One of my favorites thus far has been Koko Crater Trail. I hiked up an abandoned tram track that’s fallen into disrepair and goes straight up Koko Crater. The track is very steep and I had to stop several times to catch my breath. The views from the top are great and I could see Diamond Head and all the skyline of Honolulu. I’ve heard it’s an even better hike to do at sunrise. The cool thing about the trail is that there are two paths to the top, so I went down a different trail that ran along the ridge of the crater, rather than straight up the side.
Another cool hike was the pink pillbox hike, which I did with my friend Abe. I’ve now done the three pillbox hikes on the island and all of them have been great. They each have great views of the mountains and ocean and aren’t too difficult to do in an hour or two.
The hike is on the west side of the island, which is also where Mermaid Caves are located. They’re these caves that are underwater at high tide, but become exposed when the water recedes. It’s too jagged and precarious for swimming, but it’s a cool sight.
I still try to enjoy the sunset when I’m not playing volleyball. There are so many great spots around the island to catch it. These are from Tantalus Lookout, a park high up in the valley that looks out to Diamond Head and the city.
And, of course, the simplest way of all to enjoy a sunset, watching from the beach, is always a treat too.
That’s the update for now. Mahalo for reading!
Love the blog, so happy you're continuing your Hawaii adventure.