You'll never guess where we saw this beautiful tile artwork - in a bathroom! Okay, not an ordinary bathroom, but one that was sculpted to look and make you feel like you are in a lovely underwater cave! The Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, New Zealand can't even compete with this one, and the really cool thing is that it is in the private home of a friend's on O'ahu! Ray's sister-in-law and sister, Joyce and Shirley, invited us over for a wonderful dinner at the home Ray's brother, Ernie, and Joyce had bought over 40 years ago. While alive, Ernie fostered the love of arts in both his own historically accurate Hawaiian weapons and also in showcasing other artists' work in his home-based gallery. All of the tiles in this bathroom were handmade and installed by one of the artists he worked with. It was truly amazing! The rest of the house was also beautiful and it was interesting to see all of the art on display. I should mention the view outside the house was also incredible - it is up on a hill overlooking the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Joyce and Shirley outdid themselves with a yummy lasagna dinner with all the trimmings. We could barely walk when we left! We sure enjoyed their company and hope to see them again when we get back to O'ahu. Thank you so much, you two! :)

We think we covered just about every major "sight" on O'ahu - from the emotionally charged Arizona Memorial and Punchbowl National Cemetery to a couple of hours wandering around the Aloha Stadium swap meet, and everything in between... Chinatown, Haunauma Bay, North Shore beaches (Pipeline, Sunset Beach, and Waimea), the Dole Plantation, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Waikiki, the Ala Moana Mall (without the guys!:), Diamondhead, Koko Crater, Makaha on the west coast (Glen really wanted to see this great surf spot because it was so popular when he was first learning to surf in San Diego), the Halona Blowhole, a funky little surf museum in Kale'iwa, and so many more! We have been eating like little piggies as well - my favorite so far has been the super garlicky shrimp from the Fumi truck in Kahuku (a true O'ahu experience!), but it's all been good! We have really enjoyed being tourists and are so grateful for all the "spoiling" from Gladys and Dan!

Glen's nephew, Myles, gave us the head's up that the Black Pearl from the "Pirates of the Carib" movies was on the island, so we had a fun time finding it (on the hard in a little harbor called Barber's Point) and checking it out. It was actually brought to Hawaii under its own power (twin screws). Now we're going to have to watch one of the movies again to compare how it looks on film with it's real life look! We hear it is going to be "made over" for the next movie which is going to start filming on both O'ahu and Kaua'i this summer.

The winds didn't cooperate for us to leave O'ahu on Wednesday, but we did make it out on Saturday. True to our "show your guests a great time" form, we anchored in the same place we had spent a fairly calm night on the west side of Moloka'i only to have a very heavy swell start up late at night - it rocked the boat a little too hard for sleeping and by 4:30 in the morning, we were getting a little concerned at how strong it was breaking, so we pulled anchor and headed back out. Mind you, this wasn't as bad as tents being blown down at 2:00 in the morning, but not exactly what we wanted to have happen with guests on board! We are now calmly anchored in the little harbor at Kaunakaka'i on the south side of Moloka'i and are planning to leave in the morning for Maui - fingers crossed for pleasant winds!