Honeymoon Part 2

Day 3 Friday, July 25th, 2008
The North Shore

Following the excitement of the luau was going to be tough to beat, but climbing in Hawaii was definitely up for the challenge. We had arranged well before our trip out to Hawaii to have a guide (through Climb Aloha!) take us to a climbing area on Oahu. The area, known as Mokuleia, is just about the only place to climb in Hawaii. For the non-climbers out there, most of the volcanic rock that makes up the islands isn’t exactly the safest thing to climb on, not to mention painful. Luckily, there was this area that had some basalt faces that we would be able to climb on. “The Moke” is on the north shore of Oahu, which is about the polar opposite of Honolulu in both geography and lifestyle. We met some others who would be joining us in the parking lot of a summer camp that was right on the water (Talk about a sweet camp to spend time at!). It was a short drive to the trail that lead up to the cliffs. I am glad we got a guide because the trail wasn’t well marked. The approach was fairly strenuous by east coast standards; it was about 25-30 minutes of steep hiking. We stopped about half way up for a water break and enjoyed our view of the North Shore. Somewhere off to the right looking out was the famous Pipeline surfing area. Unfortunately for us, it only gets the waves its known for during the winter. Regardless, it was some of best aesthetics you could get in a climbing area.
When we got the top, we had a short break and got a description of the area and the types of climbs we were in for. It was an unusual set up at the crag compared to what most climbers are used to. On each climb, they had a string running up through the bolted anchors with a stick tied at the bottom with the name and grade of the climb. If you wanted to set up a top rope, all you had to do is tie the string around your rope and pull it through. There was no other way to access the anchors without leading the climbs. The guide started us off with some warm ups on easier climbs. We had thought about doing some leading (it’s bolted for sport leading), but with the craziness leading up to the wedding, we hadn’t done a whole lot of climbing and were relatively out of shape. There were a couple of 5.8’s (Chunky Monkey and Pig Tree) that were pretty fun for the grade, even on top rope. We kicked it up a notch after that and hit up some really fun 5.10’s. Eureka! (5.10a) and Spice of Life (5.10b) were two of the highlights. Considering there was four of us with the guide and we were on our honeymoon, we didn’t get a whole lot of climbing accomplished. We fittingly finished our climbing on Beat the Burn, a spectacular 5.10a that truly burnt us both out.
The hike down was, needless to say, a whole lot easier. Which was good, because we were just about out of water. The guide got us back to the hotel a little before dinner, which gave us just enough time to have a quick shower and head out for dinner. Unfortunately, we were both so tired and relaxed after the shower that we didn’t want to go out. I called down to the Shore Bird and order up some seafood and just walked downstairs to pick it up. We had dinner in our room that night and it was great.

Day 4 Saturday, July 26th, 2008
Disaster and Disembarkation

Today would be the day we leave on the Pride of America to head to the beautiful island of Maui. But first, we had some things to do. We spent the earlier part of the day lounging about on the beach and at the pool until it was time for what something that we agreed to do so as to save ourselves $100. In hindsight, it wasn’t worth $1000. We had agreed to go look at the new building right next to the Outrigger Reef hotel that was selling timeshare “opportunities”. For those of you who have done this, you know how painful it can be. For those of you who haven’t, take our word for it and never do it! By the end of it, the sales rep realized he was not going to sell anything to us and became a little rude. They had asked each of us to provide 10 names and phone numbers of people to contact and I said absolutely not. That was not part of the deal. He made some comment about how he was going to lose his job over it and I thought to myself, “Tough $%^@. We just spent the last 3 hours with you and you didn’t convince me to buy anything so either you’re a bad salesman or there’s something wrong with your product. Either way, a guilt trip is DEFINITELY not working on us now. I have the patience of a saint, and I had lost all of it.
We spent the rest of the afternoon unwinding by wandering around this area called Beach Walk, which is a high-end shopping district just off of the water. A little gelato put us back in better spirits. We went back to the hotel, gathered our things, and had the hotel call us a cab. The cab came, loaded all of our bags into the back (despite my trying to help, I am still not used to that kind of service), and we were off to the cruise ship. Getting on the ship was a new experience for me, but old hat for Rachel. All the security checks, etc. seemed excessive but made me feel safe at least. We got on the ship and took a self-guided tour of the ship to try to figure out where everything was, sticking to our “no elevators” rule. It’s a good rule to stick to on a cruise if you don’t want to gain 20 pounds. This way, you’ll only gain 10-15. The room was tiny, as is normal for any room on a cruise ship, but it seemed even smaller considering the huge room we had at the hotel. We went all out and got a balcony room, which was well worth it! It gave me a chance to have a cup of coffee in the morning while Rachel got some extra beauty sleep. That night we had our first amazing meal on the ship (at the Skyline Restaurant) as we set sail for Maui. It was a little rocky heading out that night, but nothing too bad. Later, we saw a show that highlighted all of the acts that we would see throughout the week. The comedian was definitely our favorite. Stay tuned for more! I think I am going to try to keep the rest of these a little more brief.