Instead of shopping on Black Friday we spent the day sailing Sereno to her new home at Marina Bay Yacht Harbor on the San Francisco Bay.  A gorgeous day in the mid 60’s we couldn’t have asked for a better day in late November.  Gary and I are looking forward to exploring new waters in the bay and getting a different perspective of San Francisco from the water instead of its’ busy streets.

Cindy and I took a few days off last week and flew to Oahu for her birthday. We have been to Kauai and Maui a couple of times but never spent much time on Oahu. With the weather in Northern California starting to turn rainy, colder and not much wind to sail this seemed like a good plan. We would have 5 nights in paradise.

Hawaii is always  a good destination for us we leave about 10am and land just after noon their time so we are just in time for lunch. Not bad anyway it’s paradise! We drove up to North Shore and stayed at Turtle Bay Resort for 3 nights. We had a cottage on the shoreline and could hear the waves hitting the beach all night. A perfect setting. The next morning we got in some hiking and found a World War II bunker on the beach. I can’t imagine the chaos that ensued right here in this bunker on December 7, 1942.  Did some beach time and had lunch at the shrimp trucks.  A must do here at North Shore. Later we drove into Haleiwa a small surfer town nearby and had dinner at a little place called Breakers owned by a professional surfer. It was great to get out of the resort and eat with the locals. This also gave us a chance to check out Banzai Pipeline. Damn I left my board home! Oh well next time.

Friday morning we drove back to Honolulu via the easterly route and hiked Diamond Head. Just to give our body’s a little punishment. Starting from inside the crater, the hike is a pretty steep vertical ascent but the view from the top is worth all the work. Later that morning we checked into the Royal Hawaiian Resort for some well deserved R&R. The Royal Hawaiian opened in 1927 and is a beautiful oasis on the beach of Waikiki. We would definitely return here it is an iconic Hawaiian hotel. The next morning we toured the Honolulu marina. Had to check out the local sailboats and marina accommodations. You never know we may sail back here one day. Took in a little more beach time that afternoon and was surprised to find a sea turtle swimming next to us. It was just like a travel brochure.

Our last evening we had drinks at “Dukes on the Beach” and then dinner at “Roy’s” two of our favorites. The next morning rise and shine with a delicious breakfast on the beach and then back on the plane heading for California. I know Sereno must have missed us.  -G