My sister bought a t-shirt while she was here that said "Life is Good, Simple as That!" Of course it had a picture of a sailboat on it as an explanation! We are truly feeling it... life is good! Even though Mother Nature may at times throw a kink in our plans, it always seems to turn out well.

Our plans were to leave the Ala Wai harbor right after Gladys and Dan left. We felt we had pretty much "maxed out" on the whole Waikiki area and didn't really want to keep paying to be tied up so closely to so many other boats. The wind, however, had other ideas and continued to blow so heavily we went in and grudgingly paid for a few more days. Arlene laughed when we were chatting during her birthday call and I was whining about being stuck in Waikiki... poor us! :) What we didn't know at the time was the extra few days in the harbor meant we were right smack dab in the middle of all the fun events and entertainment for the Honolulu Festival. We learned this was the 16th annual event held to foster cultural exchange between Hawaii and other Pacific Rim countries/areas. It was wonderful! I know I keep saying we somehow end up in the right place at the right time, but this is another example. We are so happy we didn't miss out on the festivities. We visited both the Ala Moana Mall and the Hawaii Convention Center and were entertained by groups from Japan, China, Korea, Samoa, Tahiti, and even Alaska. The acts included singing, dancing, sword play, drumming, music, theater... you name it and it was there! Most of the groups were non-professionals that did lots of fund raising to earn their way to Honolulu. A group of young ladies from a high school in Tokyo put on a wonderful show with excerpts from the Sound of Music - complete with bell ringing of Edel Weiss. A local girl, Taimane Gardner, played the ukulele like we had never heard it played. She is like the Jimmy Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, and Charlie Daniels of ukuleles! She played so many styles of music so well, it was unbelievable. We're not sure if she arranges her own music or not, but she did a version of Stairway to Heaven that segue way'd in and out of Fur Elise that blew our socks off! Oh yeah, forgot, we haven't had socks on since New Zealand! Guess it blew our flip flops off! The convention center had a craft fair, as well as four performance stages, and it was interesting to check out the quilt section. I can't believe all the hand work that goes into their intricate patterns. Another "small world" story was when we were checking out some carved bone necklaces and I commented that both a fish hook design and a turtle design looked just like ones I had bought while in Tonga. The lady at the booth heard me and asked, "Where did you buy them in Tonga?" When I told her, she said, "Oh, that's my husband's family. He's from Nukualofa!" It turns out her husband learned the carving trade from his father and grandfather and the necklaces I bought had been carved by his sister, who had also learned the trade! Amazing! She was impressed that I had been able to spot the subtle differences in their family's way of carving and all the others, but it was what had drawn me to her sister-in-law's work to begin with - so beautiful and perfect! The culmination of the festival was a Grand Parade down Kalakaua Ave, or mainstreet Waikiki. Most of the groups that had performed throughout the weekend danced or sang their way down the street. It was fun watching so many groups hula while on the go. There were participants from all age groups - a darling little baton twirler that couldn't have been more than 3 to a lovely hula dancer from Japan who was 81! There was a "Macy's" style hot air balloon dragon that made his way down the road, but the winds made him misbehave a bit and give his handlers some grief. We sat through over two hours of the parade, but even with all the cushioning our bottoms have, we just couldn't sit through any more and finally walked back to the boat along the beach - just in time to see another perfect Waikiki sunset! Yeah, we're living the good life!

Staying some extra time in Ala Wai also gave us a chance to visit more with our friends from Relax and Lopto. We kept having farewell Happy Hours thinking we were leaving, just to have to do it all over again a few days later! It was very sad when we finally did have to say good bye for the last time, but we now know how to use babelfish to translate their blogs from German so we can keep up with their adventures. Both boats will be heading toward New Zealand by way of Fanning Island and Fiji. It was also sad to leave our neighbors on the dock. Our next door neighbor, another Glen, was a charming local guy who had recently bought his 26 foot boat and was loving it. We loved to see his enthusiasm and how much he was sharing it with his ohana (family). Even his mom and aunties crawled up and over the anchor to spend time with him. During our last week, we also met Randy, a young man who had just bought his 20 footer to live aboard. He had no experience with sailing, but was ready to learn. Glen was able to teach him a bunch just in the few visits he made to our boat. Its always sad to leave the friends we make in each new place, but we are trying to remember one the Hawaiian rules... there can't be a rainbow without a little rain!

When checking out the "Black Pearl" while on a road trip with Gladys and Dan, we had also checked out a marina nearby called Ko olina. It's one of the few private marinas in Hawaii - most are state owned. When we chatted with the manager, he offered us a two for one deal, so we took him up on it. We finally left Ala Wai on the 15th and headed to the southwest corner of O'ahu for two glorious nights in Ko olina. The area is all resorts, or vacation rentals (new name for time shares?!!!). The picture attached is of one of four of the lagoons we swam in and lounged by for two days! Ko olina is a "real" marina so we didn't have to anchor - just tie up to a dock that had fingers coming out to the side of the boat. No climbing over the anchor... yeah!!!

We wish we could have stayed longer at Ko olina, but even at 2 for 1, it was pricey, so off we left this morning for the west side of the island. We are now anchored in a beautiful little, or I should say tiny, bay called Poka'i. We are the only boat here, but it is spring break and there are a lot of kids and families enjoying the beach surrounding the bay. We have already had lots of visitors.. first two sea turtles that are kind of hanging out around the boat, then two Canadian guys from Edmonton (where Glen lived for 2 years) who were out paddle boarding and were very interested in our trip, then a group of teenage boys that asked if they could come jump off the boat. "Uncle" Glen said of course and they have been having a ball! Although we hate to admit it, we are extremely spoiled, but just can't wait for that next great thing to happen. Life is good, simple as that! :)