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Culture Shock Moving from Manele Bay to Moana Surfrider
VIEWS Restaurant Manele Bay
My limo driver said the Moana Surfrider is the oldest hotel in Honolulu, built in 1901, but it does not hold a candle to the beauty and tranquility of Four Seasons at Manele Bay. It was an abrupt introduction as he thrust me into Disneyland and split. I could not sit by the water during dinner, even after diners vacated a table that offered a great view; the management could not relocate me, not upon request and not for any incentive. They validate your reservation for dinner, assign a table, and that’s pretty much all she wrote. Mooooooove ’em in and moooooooooe ’em out.
The manager guy was nice enough, he even bought me a glass of Cote du Rhone, but it’s no Four Seasons. It’s nowhere the price, either. So that’s a big difference between spending three times as much for a room. They were also very gracious and moved me from my small cramped room where I had to push the chair in by the desk just to scoot over to the balcony. A pulsating and oscillating toilet doesn’t make up for lack of space. That was a far cry from a 1,000 square foot suite. Goodbye dream world, hello reality.
I’m only in Honolulu for 3 days. Just enough time to go see Pearl Harbor. I haven’t been to Waikiki since my second husband’s honeymoon in 1978, and he’s long dead now. I recall a photo of him that I shot while we were driving past pineapple plantations that no longer exist, and he looked very annoyed. Guess that’s one of the reasons we didn’t stay together. This is just a “rest up” before heading out to Australia and, ultimately, Vanuatu.
It would be kinda cool to visit the North Shore and see the turtles. After Galapagos, any other turtles or tortoises — and there is a difference between the two — well, they just don’t much matter. But the opening scenes of Enlightened with Laura Dern, an HBO series I deeply enjoyed for its hilariously delicious and deadpan writing, featured a green turtle in Hawaii swimming. If for no other reason than that, it would be innaresting, as Neil Young would say, to go see the turtles.
I am thankful tonight for my newly assigned room at the Moana Surfrider, with a quiet AC unit, and a beautiful view of downtown and the shore. I am also thankful that I have sold another home in Elk Grove, although, to be fair, it is my third time selling this waterfront home due to flakey buyers who could not perform, but what the hey. My sellers are happy, they got a better price and, quite frankly, I don’t really care how many times I have to sell a home if it makes the seller happy. I know which side of my bread is buttered.
Like my new catchphrase, which is not exactly sincere, everything is awesome. You say it enough times, it becomes the truth. Every day is a new adventure. And right now, things are looking up.
Above is a photo from the Views Restaurant at the Four Seasons Golf Course at Manele Bay. You can see all the way to Maui, past Sweetheart Rock.
Hulopo’e Beach Park to Manele Harbor in Lanai, Hawaii
Strolling through Hulopo’e Beach Park, my phone rang, sporting a familiar name of a Sacramento real estate agent popping up on the screen. I was just about to shoot a photograph of the tree you see here, the Gardenia Taitensis, which is the flower of Tahiti, when my phone vibrated in my hand. The reason I was carrying my cellphone in my hand — which might strike some of you odd as you say to yourselves, what kind of nut job carries her cell in Lanai, Hawaii? Who wants to stare at a cell when she can stare at the ocean rolling in and sharks jumping about — well, it is because I spotted an uncaptured portal in Ingress.
There are advantages to playing a cellphone game like Ingress. It can lead you to explore and walk to places you might not otherwise walk to. You could be lying on the beach and reading Judgment of Paris, which I haven’t yet cracked the first chapter, but no, you are up on two feet and walking off that filet mignon from the night before. The journey also led me to another spot that I would not have known was there except for Ingress.
Down the road about 350 meters from the beach is the Manele Bay small boat harbor. It looks like this is where the ferry from Maui 
pulls in to disembark / embark passengers. Gray skies rolled in, raindrops sprayed my face, but I shot a few photos of the boats, docks, framed by a large protective hill in the distance. When it rained a little bit harder, enough to put my electronic equipment in danger, I walked up to the vacant harbor house on the hill and shot a photo of the mailbox in the shape of a fish. On the front it read “fan mail only.” I don’t think the post office comes here, but I could be wrong.
And yes, there was a portal at Manele Bay. I upgraded a few resonators for the owner and created a mind control field. Mostly, though, I sat on a bench and admired the mailbox and the view of the harbor while the skies deployed a little mist.
Back at Hulopo’e Beach Park, I dropped a portal key and hacked the portal. Sure enough, I gained another portal key, so I picked up my original key from the ground. Now I had 2 portal keys and I could probably use one of them back at Four Seasons to generate an even larger mind control field. At that point, I pulled out my Nikon from my camera bag to shoot the Gardenia Taitensis when I recognized the name on my Caller ID buzzing in my other hand. It was a long story about the buyer of a condo and whether the seller, who hasn’t lived there for years and resides out-of-state, would know the specifics of litigation filed against the builder.
Isn’t every condo project in litigation these days or coming out of litigation, I asked? This is a cash transaction. I don’t personally have any information about the HOA — as a Sacramento REALTOR who covers four counties I don’t specialize in units in this particular complex — but I let the agent know that I would be happy to call the seller to see what I could find out. I don’t mind. I’m walking barefoot in the sand at Hulopo’e Beach Park. I’m shooting videos of sharks jumping out of the ocean to do backflips. I’ll do whatever I can to help. No problem.
Guess I threw the buyer’s agent for a loop because he didn’t expect cooperation. Especially not when I told him I’m in Hawaii, but just because I’m in Lanai doesn’t mean I don’t care about my transactions. This is when traveling solo pays off because I can do whatever I want. I don’t have a husband or friend tapping toes, rolling eyes because I’m talking to another agent during vacation. I’m not inconveniencing anybody. I’m enjoying the zen of this trip.
