Today we get our wings (not Buffalo Wings). We had to get up at 3:45 am to make the drive to the North Shore. We were heading out to Paradise Air for our lesson on how to fly an ultra-light aircraft, called a trike. We really wanted an aerial tour of the North Shore, but to get a chance to actually fly would be cool. We met our flight instructor Denise. She put us at ease very quickly. Originally, we were going to fly together, but they had one plane that needed maintenance and we could only go one at a time. Kim wanted to go first. Although she wanted a 45 minute lesson, Denise had her up in the air for almost an hour. I wanted the 1 hour lesson. Kim was lucky to pick the first flight. The winds had not picked up yet and she had a relatively smooth flight. By the time I started, the winds had started to blow across the island. Once the winds hit the mountains, it created a big turbulent region for miles behind the mountains. After we were airborne, Denise gave control of the plane to me. I expected to have control for a few minutes. In fact, I flew for the rest of the time we were in the air. She instructed me to go higher. As soon as we hit the turbulence, the plane started to move around. I was extremely uncomfortable with the movement. I tried like crazy to keep the plane straight, but it seemed like we were out of control. I was almost ready to give control of the plane to her. Denise said the turbulence would go away as we got above the clouds. It did. Occasionally she would remind me to loosen my grip. She must have sensed that I was getting tense.
We flew around the clouds for a while then we went out to the east corner of the North Shore. Denise wanted a good shot for the video camera and took the control and made a steep turn to the left. We headed out to the other end of the North Shore. About this time, I was paying more attention to the ground below. Denise pointed out a school of dolphins and pineapple fields. She even showed where they filmed the opening sequence for Lost. She talked about how they littered the beach with an airplane. She said it looked funny to see a crashed plane at the end of an airport.
Both Kim and I thought it was an amazing experience. I knew I would love the chance to fly, but it was better than I could have imagined. We got some video and pictures, but we cannot see them until we get home. This computer does not have a CD player.
We went into Haleiwa for brunch. I was looking forward to the stop in Haleiwa. Two of the best shaved ice companies are located here, Aoki’s and Matsumoto's. I really didn’t want to try both, but Kim insisted that I have one from each. I liked the flavor of aoki’s a little better, but they were both good.
On the way back, we stopped to snorkel in a small beach that has been nicknamed Turtle Beach. There are supposed to be dozens of sea turtles in the water and they will swim up to you. We were told that there are turtle Nazis guarding any turtles on the beach. Sure enough, there was a turtle on the beach and there was a red rope that was kept people several feet from it. I got in and snorkeled around a bit before I saw the first one. It was a little intimidating to get so close. It came in close and checked me out then swam off. I got some pictures. The next encounter was with two. Apparently the male was getting a little frisky with the female. She opened her mouth wide and tried to bite the male. He was shot down. As he swam away from her, he made a bee-line to me. The turtle nazi yelled at me that I was too close.
We were told about a macadamia nut outlet and Kim wanted to see it. There wasn’t much there and we started to leave when we noticed a wood carving place next to the macadamia farm. Kim had been jonesing for a wood bowl to take home. I wanted a tiki for the office. He had some partially finished items and said he would finish a tiki for me. He did all of the finishing work in from of us. He used a angle grinder to sand and shape the tiki’s features. He then took out some chisels to put in the details. He was very good.
Kim was set on a bowl until she saw a partially finished sea turtle. It actually looked good the way it was. He offered to sell it at a reduced rate because it was partially finished and then said he would clean-up some of the details. He spent another hour to clean it up. He said he put too much work into it for the cost we paid, but his pride would not let it go out of the shop partially completed.
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