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Hou’oli Makahiki Ho Means Happy New Year in Hawaiian
View of Diamond Head from Mauna Surfrider club floor room, December 2014.
Later on today, I am flying from Kona to Honolulu for a Hou’oli Makahiki Ho celebration with my friend, Hella Rothwell. Every year, Hella comes to Oahu to visit her daughter and grandchildren at Christmas time. It seems like the last 3 years we have met up in Hawaii so I suppose it’s becoming a tradition. I wish I had known Hella when I spent time in Honolulu in 2014, when I shot the photo above of Diamond Head from the club floor at Moana Surfrider. But c’est la vie. What matters is we’re doing it again.
We met up last year around this time when I spent a few weeks in Ka’anapali (so I never have to do that again) and grabbed the Maui Ferry to Lanai. I tried to talk Hella into spending more time on Lanai this year, but somehow that backfired and she talked me into going to Honolulu instead. She lured me with free tickets to the annual Bill Maher show, and then we’re dancing the night away at the Party of the Year at the Aloha Towers. Hella probably wouldn’t like it if I told you how old we are, but let’s just say I’m 65 and she is older. Ha! At our age, we’re lucky to be vertical at midnight. And hopefully we won’t land in jail.
New Year’s Day we have reservations at the Halekulani for brunch. We tried to get into La Mer but of course it was booked solid. Unlike the my 2014 Waikiki trip when the restaurant was fairly empty. Of course that night was December 18th, far cry from Hou’oli Makahiki Ho celebrations on December 31st. We hope to lie around on the beach, what’s left of it, and catch up on work. It will be interesting to see how all of this pans out.
You see, Hella also sells real estate. She sells real estate in Hawaii, in Carmel and in Northern California, just not in Sacramento. Nope, Sacramento real estate is my territory. I met up with Hella in 2015 when she helped us to buy a house in Hawaii. We’ve been friends ever since. Sometimes, with certain people, you just click.
I’ll post a few photos and let you know what happened when I get back to Big Island. Until then, I’ve set up a couple blogs for your reading enjoyment in my absence, which I hope you will enjoy. Hou’oli Makihiki Hou. It is pronounced:
“how-oh-lee”
“mah-kah-hee-kee”
“ho.”
Go ahead and try it.
Maui Ferry to Lanai is an Escape to Paradise from Ka’anapali
Elizabeth Weintraub and Hella Rothwell at Four Seasons Golf Course on Lanai
Taking the Maui Ferry to Lanai sounded on the surface like a good plan and a way to get back to the island of Lanai without having to spend a fortune to stay at the Four Seasons in Manele Bay. Rates have gone up a bit since the remodel, which was after my stay in December of 2014. But there is a limit to how much I will spend for a vacation from my vacation on Big Island, and 11 days at the Four Seasons wasn’t it.
The rates at this resort are comparable to the luxury hotels in Bora Bora. And the Spa at the Four Seasons Lanai was not really on par with what I had come to expect regarding spas, but I imagine all of that has improved since my last visit.
The Maui Ferry to Lanai leaves early AM and 9:15 AM from Lahaina.
It seemed more practical to stay on Maui and grab the Maui Ferry to Lanai for $60 round trip. It’s only a 45-minute trip from Lahaina, and just driving to OGG is more exhausting and longer than that. There is also a bus for $2 that leaves from Whaler’s Village in Ka’anapali and delivers a person to the Lahaina Wharf. Leaves plenty of opportunity to splurge on more important things like lunch at the Four Seasons.
When I got off the Maui Ferry to Lanai, there was my friend, Hella Rothwell, standing there with a cab driver. She surprised me. I thought we would meet at the hotel. We could have walked the back way, along the beach to the Four Seasons and been there in 10 minutes or so, but hey, the cab was available and ready. If you have Ingress on your cellphone, you can follow the portals to the beach walk, which is how I found the harbor on Lanai in the first place and discovered the Maui Ferry service.
Hella Rothwell on phone to client on path to beach from Four Seasons, Manele Bay.
We were on a mission. A mission for me to recoup my very own portal key, which I had discarded by accident. I don’t know why I keep it really, since I rarely play the game anymore, but it’s one of two portals awarded to me by Ingress. You can capture a portal or you can own a portal, and it’s very rare to own a portal, to have it named after you. I own a Realtorsrock Ingress portal on Lanai and another Realtorsrock portal on Molokai, too.
Hella Rottwell, Manele Bay, with Sweetheart Rock behind her.
One of the places in Lanai I wanted to share with Hella was the view of Sweetheart Rock from Hulopo’e Beach, which is a public park next to the Four Seasons. The guests from the Four Seasons don’t seem to wander down this direction, so it’s isolated and quiet and one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth. I’m tickled pink to no end that I got to show it to Hella.
New pool at Four Seasons, Manele Bay, in Lanai.
Hella and I wandered about the Four Seasons , marveling at the orchids and lush vegetation. The new design consists of umbrella-covered chairs nestled about on the grounds, creating a myriad of private spaces to enjoy the ocean views and pool areas. I had heard there would be 3 pools at Lanai when the remodel was completed, but we found only one pool. Some of the crushed volcanic walks were replaced with stamped concrete and flagstone paths.
The bird sanctuary seems to have relocated elsewhere. I found orange fences but few birds, not like there used to be. All the flooring in the hotel has been recovered with wood, and the floor in the lobby has places where the flooring has dipped and caved in a bit. I’m not sure wood was a good choice, especially so susceptible to the elements, but I’m not Larry Ellison.
Vegetable Summer Roll and Makai Salad, margarita for lunch at Views at Manele Golf.
All of that strolling about the Four Seasons in Manele Bay made us hungry. Hella Rothwell had flown over from Honolulu and was a bit miffed that the Four Seasons would not let her take the shuttle to the hotel for lunch. Because she wasn’t a guest, they forced her to call a cab. I can see where maybe they don’t want to transport homeless people to Manele Bay who might want to set up camp on the beach, but a paying customer for lunch is a different story.
We hopped the shuttle up to the Views at Manele Golf for lunch. It’s secluded, quiet and except for the guys from Tesla, there were not many people having lunch. There are only a handful of tables, maybe a half dozen. You can see all the way to Sweetheart Rock from this spot.
Ed Totten oil paintings at Mike Carroll Gallery in Lanai City.
After lunch, Hella and I decided to go into Lanai City. The shuttle doesn’t run anymore like it used to. There were once shuttles that ran every hour or so up to Lanai City and then further on to the Lodge, also operated by the Four Seasons. But the Lodge is still under renovation, so we could not visit the Orchid Greenhouse at the Lodge in Lanai. We also could not catch the shuttle whenever we wanted and had to take a cab to Lanai City.
We went directly to the Mike Carroll Gallery in Lanai. Met up with Mike and his wife and although the huge oil painting from Ed Totten, an amazing artist from Montana who paints strictly from memory, had been sold a while back, smaller pieces took their honored spots on the wall. If I could afford it, I would buy all of his work. We also enjoyed original art by guest artists Billyo O’Donnell, Ron Gingerich, Randy Sexton and, of course, Mike Carroll himself.
Since Hellla just received a grant to support the Carmel Art Festival, she spent a lot of time talking with Mike Carroll and his wife about that event, and hoping to invite more artists. There was some chatter about the unveiling of a new statue in Carmel of Clint Eastwood, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was too busy wondering how much I could get if I hocked everything I owned to buy an Ed Totten painting.
Elizabeth Weintraub sips a Tropical Itch at Four Seasons lounge, Manele Bay Lanai.
All good things eventually come to a close, and it was nearing time for Hella and me to leave Lanai. She to the airport back to Honolulu and me to the harbor. We toured a few shops in Lanai City and returned to the Four Seasons in Manele Bay, catching the last shuttle that stops in front of the Lanai Hotel at 4:30. I think there are only 2 shuttles that run daily to Lanai City now. Eventually that will change when The Lodge reopens.
I had planned to walk back to Manele Harbor but sitting on the sofa with Hella, laughing and talking, changed those plans, and I decided to stretch out the last possible moment before jumping aboard the ferry to return to Maui at 6:45 PM. Hella’s cab dropped me off, and after hailing a cab myself in Lanai (I was so proud of myself, I just raised my arm, waved my hand and a cab stopped), I was back in Ka’anapali Beach at my hotel by 8 PM.
Two Syllables I Thought I Would Never Say is Costco
The Kailua-Kona Costco is an extremely popular place in Hawaii.
How I managed to reach the ripe age of almost 65 without getting a membership in Costco is beyond me. I mean, everybody and their mother has a Costco membership card. But since I have things to buy and am working on Sacramento real estate from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, this month, it seems like Costco is the place to go. Besides, I needed a toaster.
At first, I wondered if Saturday was the right day to go to Costco in Kona. Figured it might be mobbed, like Safeway was on Friday. Safeway was a zoo. Carts lined up down the aisles. But one thing I have noticed here is the people are super friendly and really polite. They don’t cut you off in traffic like in Sacramento, in fact, they wave for you to go in front of them. Patience is abundant. It is joyful to speak with them. And I found a parking spot not far from the front door.
Near the entrance I noticed a sign that read membership. I approached a friendly looking fellow and announced the obvious in the most confidential manner I could muster: I do not have a Costco membership. His eyes brightened, and sporting a wide grin, he shook my hand: “Let’s fix that.” He guided me inside the store to a counter where a lot of people milled about and stood there with me the entire time until an available clerk was ready to assist.
“I keep telling them to put the new membership desk over there,” he said, shaking his head, pointing to the opposite wall, “and have a separate place for people updating their photos and cards.” They should promote you, I suggested. He likes his job the way it is, thank you very much; they own you when you’re promoted. I can relate. I’ve heard that same sentiment applied to the military as to why some don’t want to rank above a sergeant.
The woman next to us showed me her card. “See, it has your photo on the back.” This prompted my fellow to admit he’s used his Costco card to get on a plane. Whoa. There is a benefit to a photo ID, and to think I threw away my photo ID from Crystal Cruiselines.
Katy gave me a $10 gift card and a box of chocolate macadamia nuts, along with my executive membership card. That level of membership lets you buy stuff online too. Although, I am a person who likes to keep her money local and support the communities where I live, even if it’s only for a month. Katy also asked if I have a friend who is a Costco member. Hell yes. I am not a loser without any friends whatsoever. Hella Rothwell. She’s been pushing me to shop at Costco, actually. Hella helped us buy a house in Hawaii last year. She gets $10, too.
I also learned that Costco is managed by a liberal mentality, and in this day and age, that is important. They seem to pay Costco employees well with benefits. In fact, Costco might be considered the anti-Trump store. Although the room with the produce was really cold. I mean shivering cold. Like they pump in iced air at number 11. It’s not a place to take a cart because everybody stops to feel the cucumbers, and you can’t ram into them with your cart and yell speed it up.
I cruised every Costco aisle. Almost bought a box of 200 macaroons but that was unreasonable. Common sense started to whisper to me. Just like the 40 breaded shrimp and the minimum gallon of olive oil, no that’s too much. Fresh poke, though, yes! Plus, a bakery is on the premises. There is an entire department devoted to hearing aids. Aisles of men’s underwear. Giant bags of Hershey’s kisses. Plenty of big screen TVs. Rows upon rows of liquor.
When I reached the check-out, hours later, an older guy who had been observing the wrong way I placed my cart items on the conveyor belt (bottles should be laid on their sides, apparently), pointed out: “That’s a lot of wine for that small amount of food.” Like I said, people are very friendly. Wait. Wine isn’t a food?
Two-Step Beach Snorkeling at Honaunau Bay
Hella Rottwell at Kealakekua Bay
After a hard week of house hunting in Hawaii Island and finding the perfect home in Kailua Kona, Hella and I decided to take off a day to go snorkeling at Honaunau Bay. Hella Rothwell is the remarkable Hawaii broker who snagged the house away from the thieving hands of some other buyer (see how you get when you’re an agent yourself and buying?) and put us into escrow. It was time to celebrate, and Sunday is often a fairly quiet day real estate-wise for us to take off.
First we drove to Kealakekua Bay down a winding road, Napoopoo, that dropped about 1500 feet in elevation. A toothless native offered us canoes to rent to paddle over to the Captain Cook Monument, and we tried to talk him into taking us himself to no avail. I did not want to paddle all that way and neither did Hella, not even for the kama’aina (discount rate offered to native Hawaiians), which is what he then offered us.
Fortunately, we found a group of guys hanging out at the pavilion, strumming a ukulele, enjoying the aloha, who told us how to find Two-Step Beach for snorkeling at Honaunau Bay. It was a perfect day, few clouds, sapphire sky, gentle breeze. We easily found Honaunau Bay, parked on the side of the road, grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed down to the lava rocks.
As Hella put it, we found a group of snorkelers near our, ahem, age group, nestled on the rocks and joined them. The reason the beach is called two-step is because there are two flat surfaces of rock, one below the other, that provide an easy way to slip into the water. Coming back you can wait for a wave to deposit you on the bottom step. One of the snorkelers suggested if we placed our hands flat, sea urchin would not harm us.
We were off and swimming. I saw yellow butterfly fish, a rainbow runner, chubs, yellowtail coris, sturgeon, parrotfish, a bunch of tang. At one point, I became separated from Hella, snorkeling past the reefs into clear waters, through schools of fish so pretty I wanted to pet them, and that’s when I spotted the reef shark. Oh, you can talk to Hella and she’ll tell you it was a spinning dolphin, but we earlier spotted the spinning dolphins leaping and prancing, and those guys are not necessarily long and slender like a reef shark.
He was lying all by himself on the bottom, twisting his little shark body slowly left and right, and all I could think about was why-oh-why do I have blue fins and please don’t eat me. Please, please don’t eat me. Suddenly his little shark buddies showed up and there were 4 or 5 of them hosting a gab fest about which should try to tear off my ankle and run away with it. Let’s just say I swam like a bat outta hell back to the reef where I found Hella.
Kealakekua Bay and ancient Hawaiian lava wall
Touring Homes on Big Island With Hella Rothwell
Elizabeth Weintraub and Hella Rothwell by Hibiscus
What’s most enjoyable about my wor-cation in Hawaii is the non-accountability, I suspect. To do whatever I want whenever I want to do it. Yet with that kind of freedom comes a certain sense of responsibility, to make sure the right thing takes place and not the wrong thing, so maybe it’s not such a sense of non-accountability as you might think.
For example, if I were to consume a dozen angel food cakes, I might gain 50 million pounds, and then I couldn’t fit into my skinny jeans. So I think twice about doing that, and then I might do it anyway. When you have a friend who encourages you, well, Siri, just knock it off, that’s all I have to say. You are NOT my friend, Siri.
I will tell you who is my friend, even if she doesn’t want any new friends because maybe she has all the friends her life can allow at the moment, and that person is broker extraordinare Hella Rothwell. She flew into Big Island yesterday from Oahu to show me homes in south Kona. We missed snorkeling due to time restraints but that is still on the menu for some other day. To look at 3 homes, it took us 5 hours.
Dome house in South Kona
Hella Rothwell could not believe that we Realtors in Sacramento can show 7 homes in two hours in Sacramento. But the Big Island is different. All 3 of these homes were basically in the same neighborhood, too. It was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first home was a dome home which, at first blush, you might say, oh, yeah, like Barbra Streisand and A Star is Born, except this is not Arizona. Nestled in the trees way up a hill, with very small rooms, not much open space and not much of a view except from the deck.
Next was a coffee farm with almost 3 acres, sporting a 2-bedroom cottage with one bath that is, let’s say functional. The view was nice. The gardens lovely. Pineapple to die for. But the road up to the coffee farm was more than a mile, straight up, very bumpy, and at one point we had to get out of the listing agent’s car, because our rental car wouldn’t make it, and walk, and I imagine my calves are thanking me for that today.
The last house had a beautiful view, owned by an architect who designed it 30 years ago. He must have only wanted to sit in the living room and then go to bed because they are the only two rooms that were exceptional, which also offered a panoramic view. I think this house will stick in my mind for a long time. If my husband said, buy it, I would.
Hella Rottwell and Elizabeth Weintraub at Huggos on the Rocks
We capped off our tours with a trip to Huggo on the Rocks where Hella Rothwell treated me to a Mai Tai and a platter of nachos. Watching the waves roll over the rugged rocks. Life doesn’t get any better than that.
