Hawaii Kai Golf Course

Playing golf in Hawaii is a pretty great experience.  There are not too many course I have played where you have a volcano in the background while overlooking the ocean.  Yes, I know there are gorgeous courses around the world, but I imagine that they are pretty exclusive.  The courses in Hawaii are great because they are, largely, accessible to the public.

That being said, I was not a tremendous fan of the Hawaii Kai golf course.  Located at 8902 Kalanianaole Highway Honolulu, HI 96825-2821 - map here), it is basically across the street from Sandy's Beach Park and the Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail.  From the outside it looks like the perfect place to play.  Koko Head Crater and the pacific ocean are both visible from almost every hole of the Championship Course (there is also a par 3 executive course).  Driving in, though, the parking lot looks like it hasn't been paved in about 30 years.  Some of the fairways and greens look well cared for, but others look like they haven't watered anything in months.  There are lots of patches of dead and brown grass.  The greens were probably the most disappointing part of the entire course.  The greens were in pretty terrible shape.  They had a lot of unrepaired ball marks and there were patches completely missing in certain areas.  One of the tee boxes wasn't even grass.  They had the carpet that you'd see on a driving range.

Those were the negatives.  On the positive side, the course is beautifully laid out, especially the surrounding scenery.  It was also not tremendously difficult.  It was nothing like Luana Hills, for example.  I didn't lose a single golf ball all day (a real feat for me).  Also, at $48/person (Kama'aina rate, including cart), it was a pretty decent deal.  There were a few times we looked around to just enjoy the surrounding views of the ocean and/or mountains.

Getting there is pretty easy, too. Take H1 East which leads to Kalanianaole Highway (Route 72). Continue on, passing Hanauma Bay, Halona Blowhole and Sandy Beach on your right. About a mile past Sandy Beach you will see a two-story building, the Hawaii Kai Club House on your left. A sign indicates the entrance to the golf course.

No Snow Days Here

It has been brought to my attention that the East Coast and Midwest are being absolutely pounded by winter storms.  Weather.com is reporting that 100 million people will be affected.  In Chicago "this may be the biggest snowstorm the city has ever seen." Forecasts call for more than 24 inches of snow, with snow totals possibly surpassing those of the 1967 and 1979 blizzards. A record 23 inches of snow fell during the 1967 blizzard.  An ice storm struck the Dallas metro area, closing schools and snarling traffic.  A foot of snow is expected in St. Louis.

If that weren't enough, reading news reports you'd think it was the end of the world as we know it. According to weather reports, "the system will increasingly target the Midwest through tonight and the Northeast Wednesday bringing more of the same: blizzard conditions, heavy snow, damaging ice and some rain. In the South, blizzard conditions linger in Oklahoma while severe thunderstorms race eastward from the lower Mississippi Valley to Alabama and western Florida today."

CNN.com, the new tabloid of mainstream media, is also claiming armageddon-like conditions: "wind-whipped snow twisted like a frozen dust devil across a vast swath of the nation on Tuesday, blinding motorists, closing airports and even complicating the travel plans of football fans headed to this weekend's Super Bowl."

Not in Hawaii.  We may have earthquakes and oozing volcanoes, but damn it, we don't get blizzards.  However, I am starting to buy into the end of the world theory.  We have gotten some ridiculous weather here, too.  A cold front moved in last night and it's supposed to dip into the low 70s this week!  Last night, I actually had to sleep under my sheets! It was freezing! Close to 64 degrees.  Now, I was explaining this to a law school friend who used to live in Hawaii.  He is currently a public defender in Boston where, I'm told, they have already received 60+ inches of snow this winter.  He sent me this youtube video that pretty much perfectly sums up Hawaiian weather and everyone's feelings about it.  It's pretty hilarious.

Pineapple Express

No, this post is not about the movie celebrating stoners.  Instead, it turns out that there is a weather phenomenon known as the Pineapple Express.  Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a strong and persistent flow of atmospheric moisture and associated heavy rainfall from the waters adjacent to the Hawaiian Islands and extending to any location along the Pacific coast of North America. Have you watched the news at all in the last couple days?  Surely you've seen that California is getting pounded with rain, snow, and mudslides.  Just yesterday I wrote about Hawai'i having issues with rain.  It seems as though this is something someone invented to explain the unexplainable a legit phenomenon.  


According to Wikipedia, "a Pineapple Express is driven by a strong, southern branch of the Polar jetstream and is usually marked by the presence of a surface frontal boundary which is typically either slow or stationary, with waves of low pressure traveling along its axis. Each of these low pressure systems brings enhanced rainfall."  Go figure. I only found this to be cool because it has been raining non-stop here the last couple days and the name of the cause is very closely associated with my blog.  I am pretty sure, in fact, that someone came up with the name only after reading my blog.  They saw my post yesterday, saw the name Pineapple Project, and invented "Pineapple Express."  See, who said blogging was a waste of time?  I am changing names of weather patterns.  Maybe one day I'll even get my own hurricane!  


Okay, not really.  It seems the Pineapple Express has been a thing since the 50s.  In 2006, The Puget Sound region from Olympia, Washington to Vancouver, BC received several inches of rain per day in November 2006 from a series of successive Pineapple Express storms that caused massive flooding in all major regional rivers and mudslides which closed the mountain passes. During the second week of January, 1952, a series of "Hawaiian" storms swept into Northern California, causing widespread flooding around the Bay Area.

Rain Wreaks Havoc

99% of what makes Hawai'i great is the weather.  The average temperature year-round is 82-89 degrees.  It is sunny with a light breeze.  Sure, you'll get the occasional rain shower, but never anything too depressing.  It usually lasts an hour or so and then everyone goes about their business enjoying the sunny skies.  Not this weekend.  I think I've written before that the winter months are Hawaii's rainy season.  All this really means is that instead of 83 and sunny every day, you may see one or two rainy days.  Small price to pay for paradise.  Well, this weekend shit went haywire.  It didn't just rain, it poured.  If you read this Star Advertiser article, you'd think it was doomsday in Hawaii.

Backed up Sewer

Apparently, Hawaiians don't really know what to do in the rain because I had some errands to run yesterday and there was NO ONE around.  It was actually really great.  There were no confused people running into me.  Nobody had trouble figuring out which pedal was the gas and which was the break because there was no one on the road.  I suspect they were all afraid they'd melt.  Fine by me.  I found out another reason people weren't out is that they also might have checked the news.  It was flooding.  A lot.  Roads were closed because they were under water.  Water came up to my tired.  Cars were washed away.  Honolulu is at the base of the mountains so all the water runs downhill.  Anyone who has ever had a house at the base of a hill or mountain knows that when it rains really really hard, you get mudslides and pools of water than form at the bottom.  It wasn't so bad that you couldn't get around, but there was also no real need to wade through everything.  For me, though, it was perfect.  I didn't have to deal with the throngs of idiots that occupy Hawaii's Wal-Mart.

Traffic Caused by a Mudslide

What I thought was particularly crazy was just how unprepared the landscape was for such a beating.  The water just wasn't draining or going anywhere.  The sewers all got backed up so the water just started pooling up in the middle of major roads.  This caused parts of the road to just crumble away.  I've never really seen asphalt just break apart that easily.  All over the island construction crews were working to fix busted roads and clear debris from the streets, and trying to restore power lines that fell.  This morning on my way to work there were still crews working on broken power lines and busted sewers, and it's still a little cloudy, but I think the majority of it is over.

Christmas Bar Crawl - Bar List

I am naturally a shy person; however, I am also a big believer in putting yourself out there, taking risks, and meeting new people.  This is especially important when moving to a new city (which I have done 6 times in the last 8 years).  Consequently, a few weeks ago I joined a homebrewing club.  The group regularly gets together and shares homemade beer and snacks at someone's house or has group outings that are based around beer.  This weekend there was a bar crawl where the plan was to partake in beer specials at a variety of bars in Chinatown.  There were maybe 50 people who showed up, all wearing various Christmas costumes. My friends and I did not get the memo and showed up dressed normally.  Oh well, it was still fun.

We started at Don Ho's at Aloha Tower.  From there, we went to Bar 35 where I got to sample some more beer on the massive 196-beer list.  After that, we went to Murphy's Irish bar.  Finally, we ended the night back at Aloha Tower and the Gordon Biersch brewery.  Overall, it was a fun night.  Aloha Tower is right on the water, so when we were at Don Ho's and Gordon Biersch, we sat outside on the deck, drank beer, and watched the boat parade.  What's a boat parade?  Exactly what it sounds like.  There were more than a dozen sailboats and yachts sailing around the harbor decked out with Christmas lights.

Picture from Don Ho's deck

Since I have never been to some of these places, here is my review.  You'll have to forgive me, but my memory of the bars gets a little hazier as the evening wore on.  Without further ado:

Don Ho's:  This bar and grill opened in 1998 and is located right on the water at Aloha Tower.  There is both an outdoor and indoor bar serving typical bar food.  I ordered the kalua pork sliders, which were decent, but nothing to write home about.  The bar prides itself on its entertainment calendar.  They bring in singers and performers as well as host karaoke weekly.  Don Ho was apparently a big musician here and until his death in 2007, he spent five nights a week, center stage behind his Hammond Organ, singing some of his favorite songs and "talking story" with his audience.  When we were there, there was a chorus/choir of elementary school-age children singing Christmas carols.

Bar 35:  I have previously described this bar as a lounge with an outdoor patio and indoor couches.  Every Wednesday from 6-8pm there is a House of Brews beer tasting event with delicious pizza.  On Saturday, everyone hung around outside and drank beer on what was a gorgeous 76-degree night in Honolulu.  It is a really chill environment.  I think some nights they have live music, but when we showed up at 8:30pm on Saturday night, it was dead inside.  The beers can be expensive ($9), but they have happy hour Saturday night where you can find 130 beers that cost only $4.  They also have $3 vodka martinis.  One other fun fact: if you watched Hawaii Five-0 on Monday night (12/13), Bar 35 was actually a scene in the show.  If you are interested, you can watch it online at CBS.com.


Murphy's:  I had been here once before for happy hour and was not overly impressed.  When I went on Saturday night, though, I thought it was a great bar.  The bartenders were friendly and talkative, despite the fact that it was busy.  The service was phenomenal, despite it being crowded.  The beer prices were nothing special, but the environment was worth it.  If you like Irish pubs, you have basically two options.  They are actually across the street from each other: O'Tool's and Murphy's.  O'Tool's allows people to smoke inside.  Murphy's does not.  Murphy's is also much more well-lit inside and has less of a "dive bar" atmosphere.  The only downside to Murphy's is that the bartenders did not know how to properly pour a Guinness.  Yes, at an Irish pub they didn't know to pour halfway, let sit, finish pour.  What can I say, it's Hawaii.

Inside Murphy's

Gordon Biersch: This brewery originated in Palo Alto, CA, but currently operates 29 restaurants in the U.S., including Honolulu. Additionally, two Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants operate in Taiwan.  The idea behind the brewery is to serve traditional German beer.  They admit they don't do fruit-infused wheat beers or 100 varieties from around the world.  The brewery here is also at Aloha Tower and has both indoor and outdoor seating.  It is right next to Don Ho's, but I would recommend Gordon Biersch.  The service was a little better, it is much bigger so it is less crowded, and the prices are slightly better.  The menu options at Gordon Biersch is also much better.

Inside Gordon Biersch

Overall, the Saturday bar crawl was a lot of fun.  The best part was that you can walk between all of the bars without a problem at all.  All of Chinatown is also covered with Christmas lights this time of year and while it was weird to see Christmas lights in shorts, it was really pretty to see the city all lit up.  If you're in the mood for a Chinatown adventure, I recommend doing this lineup of bars and sampling the cuisine as well as the brews. 

Heavy Rain

Thursday night through Friday afternoon saw a major thunderstorm for the first time since I've been in Hawaii.  It made for a very wet furlough Friday.  Thunderstorms are pretty typical in the midwest so I wasn't all that surprised when I saw lightning and heard thunder.  However, in Hawaii those things are apparently rare.  The winter is Hawaii's rainy season, and it has rained a few times in the last month or two, but nothing unusual in my opinion.  The last two days, though, have been pretty crazy.  There has been a constant, heavy rain.  So much so, in fact, that the Department of Heath actually issued an advisory to Kaua'i, O'ahu, Maui and Moloka'i to stay out of any water that is brown.

The Department warning says, "The public is advised to stay out of flood waters and storm water runoff due to possible overflowing cesspools, pesticides, animal fecal matter, dead animals, chemicals, and associated flood debris. The health department warning says boaters, swimmers and surfers should stay out of coastal waters if they are turbid and brown."

I previously wrote about Leptosperosis and its prevalence in Hawaii.  I was fortunate that I did not contract it when I went cliff jumping at Maunawili Falls, but I think this advisory is enough to convince me that I won't be going back in the near future.