Oahu

At some point during the 10 hours and 51 minutes in the sky between NYC and Honolulu, I realized I was on the longest flight I'd ever taken. Hawai'i is far. Located in the Polynesian Triangle region of Oceania, the archipelago is 2,000 miles from the west coast of the continental USA. Hawai'i has been a US state as long as my dad, who joined us on Oahu with my mom, has been alive. The tension around the status of Hawai'i as a state vs. sovereign nation vs. territory (Hawai'i was an independent unified kingdom before being annexed as a US territory and eventually joining the union as a state) holds particular intrigue for my mom, who is half Puerto Rican and spent her early childhood in San Juan. Our time on Oahu with my parents was made richer by the connections they each felt to Hawai'i. There was a lot of spontaneous "wow - that reminds me of Puerto Rico" from my mom as we took in the tropical sights, sounds, and culture of the island. She had a lot of questions about politics and cultural identity for Matt's friend Kim from Honolulu who showed us around. In my dad's case, Hawai'i brought up stories from his childhood I'd never heard before -- the time in middle school when he was just learning to play guitar and chose the theme song to Hawaii 5-0 for the school talent show; the teacher in his elementary school who had a particular interest in Central America, the Caribbean, and the Hawaiian islands and whose talk of these places made an indelible impression on him.

Kim gave us the kind of tour you can only get from a native of a place who has lived elsewhere but chosen to return home. We sampled her favorite foods from beloved spots along the east side of the island (Portuguese malasadas, Liliha bakery mochi goodies, Hawaiian plate lunch from the Poi Factory, garlic sautéed shrimp). As we took in vistas of beaches with enormous breakers, she brought to life the history of how local organizers took it upon themselves to demonstrate that Polynesian sailors indeed could have navigated the Pacific Ocean to and from Hawai'i using traditional methods. Kim's story culminated in the retelling of the tragic heroism of lifeguard and surfer Eddie Aikau, whose death during a rescue effort of a Polynesian voyaging canoe resulted in the commemorative Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surfing competition.

The final full day on Oahu started with an 8am surf lesson in Waikiki. Matt and I connected with our instructor, Kayson, at the Stoke surf school, where we got our rashguards and stashed all of our stuff. Kayson is a "waterman," which we had learned from Kim is a title of prestige for lifeguards and water sport athletes in Hawai'i; we were in good hands. There was a brief introduction to the mechanics of surfing while we were still on the shore that admittedly left me less than confident in my ability to do anything other than just survive for the hour lesson. I'm a river and lake person, not much of an ocean swimmer, and information like "there's structured reef below us" (meaning, Kayson explained, there are sections of reef that come high up and could cut you if you don't stay on the surface of the sea when you get tossed off your board) and "always point your board perpendicular to the waves so you don't flip over" didn't increase my confidence. In the end, though, it really wasn't so hard to embrace the challenge and actually surf. Like any good teacher, Kayson scaffolded the instruction for us, making it possible for us to access this new skill by eliminating one HUGE variable: timing. For this surf lesson, Kayson told us when to start paddling with a wave and when to start the upwards motion of your body -- popping up on your knees behind your braced, planted palms, and then working your way into a low standing crouch -- that results in actually riding a wave all the way in. "Paddle, paddle...UP!" And Matt and I both got it!

The middle of the day was spent on a hike on the Mānoa Falls Trail to the waterfall. What stood out to me was the incredible size of the vegetation. Ferns, leaves, tree trunks bigger than any I'd ever seen. Jurassic Park was filmed on Oahu and it's no surprise -- plants that big really work next to dinosaurs.

The last hurrah on Oahu was going to Sandy Beach so Matt could see about body surfing in waves that had caught everyone's eye and fascination on our tour with Kim. How to describe these waves? If you've been to an aquarium and stood before one of those walls of glass to observe the marine life within and the water is translucent blue and if they have lights on in the back you see the outlines of the animals perfectly illuminated, all dispersed across this great glass wall -- that's what these waves looked like for the brief moment before they smashed to shore and all was obliterated in brown sand and white surf -- for a moment there was a translucent blue, blue, I-can't believe-that-color-exists-outside-of-a-crayon-box-blue wall of frozen surfers, boarders, swimmers -- all their limbs perfectly illuminated there in that 10 - 15 foot wave. Here's how it sounded: "Attention, attention Sandy Beach. As a reminder, this beach has more broken backs and necks than any other beach on Oahu. This is not a beach for children or inexperienced swimmers. If you don't know what you're doing, stay well out of the water. There is a calmer beach ten minutes up the coast." Of course Matt went in.