Last year when we picked up our rental car at the Honolulu Airport, the agent asked if we'd been to Hawaii before, and when I told him it was our first time, he predicted it would not be our last. For some reason that struck me as improbable when he said it. This was our fiftieth anniversary splurge, a week in Hawaii on Waikiki Beach, but once we'd done it why would we return? Well, as the year went by and we began wondering if we should have another late summer holiday, I thought, maybe we should go back to Hawaii. At first it was more whimsy than an actual plan. We were considering other possibilities, even a return to Rehoboth Beach, where we'd spent so many beach holidays while living in Virginia, or perhaps a Texas beach. But the more I thought about the good time we'd had in Hawaii last September, the more I liked the idea of giving it another go. And as it turned out, what with hurricanes in the Texas Gulf and the Atlantic, I think we made a good choice.
So sometime in early July I went online and booked our flights (First Class again) and hotel (another ocean view room in the Sheraton Waikiki) for the first week of September, just after Labor Day. We did give some thought to trying another island, but Oahu won out, since there were a few things we wanted to do or do again. And there was also the attraction of testing our first experience to see if it was really as good as we remembered it being. We had enjoyed returning to our favorite beach hotel in Rehoboth every year, so why not see what it would be like returning to Hawaii and Waikiki. Not surprisingly, we judged it was pretty good the second time as well.
Having said that, I should point out that our standards are probably rather different from most. Our favorite beach vacation activities involve a lot of walking, people watching, shopping, some sight-seeing, and usually one, if not two, meals in nice restaurants every day. The goal on our return vacation trips is to do the things we liked the last time and add a few new things, or at least slightly different variations on our previous experiences. In addition to spending more days at the beach and the pool, we drove around the north-east windward shore again, but we went all the way to Waimea Bay this year before turning south and driving through the Dole Plantation on our way back to Honolulu. We also drove around the University of Hawaii campus at Manoa, something I'd been curious to see for some time. And, of course, we hit the shops, bought more souvenirs and mementos of the trip, thus doing our bit for the Hawaiian economy.
When you return to the same place a year later, it's always fun to see what has changed and what has remained the same, and we did a lot of that. One of our drives last year took us through Kailua, a little community that struck us as a nice alternative to the glitz and hubbub of Waikiki; so we went back there and had lunch, soaked up some local color, took in the scene, did some shopping at the grocery, and stopped at the Starbucks for coffee, but this time we didn't get lost or stuck in endless traffic. Later in the week we explored some of the side streets and avenues a few blocks away from Waikiki beach and got some idea what a somewhat less ridiculously expensive holiday might be like: no beach views but some very interesting and less expensive restaurants, plus slightly more raucous night life. As usual we returned to our favorite restaurants but had different meals, and we added a new place we'd passed over last year. But mainly we spent time walking on the beach, catching and avoiding the sun by the Sheraton's infinity pool, eating and drinking at the Edge bar and cafe, and watching the swimmers, surfers, sea turtles, catamarans, and sunsets from our ocean view lanai.
I noticed something last year, and again this year, almost as soon as we arrived. The weather, to my thinking at least, is about as close to perfect as it gets. J has more trouble with the humidity, and this year she had some difficulty breathing one day, so moving to paradise is not really an option, but I really enjoy spending time in a climate where you can comfortably live outdoors. We ate every meal either outdoors or sitting by an open window or doorway. I wore my shorts, or swim trunks, and sandals practically the entire week. If J could survive it, I probably could live there year round, although I know some folks can't take the lack of seasons or the distance from the mainland and the familiar rhythms of the mainland's time zones. It was slightly disorienting watching the U.S. Open in the mornings and early afternoon, hearing John McEnroe complaining about the matches stretching into the wee hours of the next morning while we were just turning our attention to what we might do after the match and before going someplace later in the evening for dinner.
Many things, of course, were just as we had remembered; not a lot changes in a year. But there was one disturbing and rather foreboding difference. The elevated beach walk on the ocean front of the Sheraton Waikiki was closed this year because beach erosion had washed away the sand that formed the landing beneath the concrete stairway. There had been some attempts to position bags filled with coconut husks to hold the sand, but apparently this first attempt at sand restoration was completely washed away in just a matter of days, with only a few completely exposed bags remaining beneath the steps. J and I had noticed that the beach there was much smaller, especially on that side of the hotel by the catamaran landing. There were also fewer people, and although the beach wasn't officially closed, only the surfers seemed to be using it as a means of ocean access.
Looking around, we noticed other signs of beach erosion that we might not have been as sensitive to had we not returned again this year. I did some research and discovered that there have been ongoing efforts to restore the sand temporarily since last November, but with no success. Since then they have been experiencing an unusually powerful southwesterly swell, a condition that has washed away a considerable amount of beach sand in the direction of Diamond Head. Moreover, the pounding waves have put greater pressure on the various groins and seawalls that were built to protect the beach, making for a rather worrisome future for one of the most popular and beautiful vacation spots in the world. The State of Hawaii and the beach hotels and commercial interests have been discussing solutions, but the real threat, of course, is global warming and the predicted rise in sea levels, expected to be at least a foot higher by mid-century.
If we decide to return again next year, it could be even more depressing I suppose. But perhaps we should go while there is still something worth visiting. As we stood on what remains of the Sheraton's seawall, feeling the pounding of the waves and the spray from the breakers, we wondered how long the hotel itself would remain safe against such an onslaught. Next time we may want to consider a different beach hotel, one just a little further away from the ocean.
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