Mike in the Wild

A cruise from Seattle to Honolulu sounded like a great idea.  I liked the line, Princess; the ship, the Royal, had the best running track at sea; and the price was cheap.  Plus with five days at sea, I was bound to encounter some pelagic birds like albatrosses and shearwaters.  But rain showers while boarding should have reminded me that good weather wasn't a guarantee. In Puget Sound shortly after our sail away, I witnessed a tight flock of birds flying close to the water's surface.  Unfortunately they were so distant it was hard to identify them as surf scoters or harlequin ducks or any specific coastal bird.  The only seabird I could clearly make out in the area was a type of gull, most likely a glaucous-winged.  I wasn't prepared for the next day at sea when high swells and constant, unpredictable motion caused me seasickness.  It was difficult to focus on the shipboard naturalist's lectures, let alone indulge in the 24-hour dining options.  For safety, the outside

I've been to crowded Honolulu several times, even staying a night near the airport on my very first visit to Hawaii over thirty years ago when I connected through on my way to the neighboring island of Kauai.  I later took a couple of vacations to Waikiki, Honolulu's most famous beach.  On one of those visits I rented a car for a few hours and drove around the entire island, witnessing the quieter and more rugged North Shore along with the picturesque East Shore with its exclusive coastal communities.   I stayed for exactly 36 hours on my recent return to Oahu.  While I overnighted in a hotel at the quieter east end of Waikiki, it was the North Shore that was the main subject of my itinerary.  I planned two days of snorkeling the coastline's most popular reefs, from Kulima Cove adjacent to the Turtle Bay Resort near the far northern tip of the island, south to ‘Aweoweo Beach Park near Haliewa.  Shark's Cove, Three Tables, Waimea Bay, and Laniakea Beach were stops in bet