We've been in Hawaii for a little over four days now, so I think I
had better start collecting my thoughts on the trip before I forget
them all. Our real vacation starts at about noon today (Thursday the
7th). Up until now, the conference has been on, but this did not stop
us from going to Hanauma Bay to do some snorkeling yesterday. It was
quite nice; we saw lots of fish and interesting things at the
reef.
We left Victoria last Saturday. We flew to Vancouver, cleared US
customs there, and then flew on to Honolulu. We left Victoria around 3
pm I think, and arrived in Honolulu around 9 pm. The only mishap we had
was that the baggage identification tag the airline puts on bags some
how got ripped off of Tamara's bag. We did notice until the US customs
guy asked us if Tamara's (big!) bag was carry on luggage. Fortunately
Air Canada was able to re-print the label, after tracking down my bag
to make sure they printed the right one. They gave us a lift to our
gate in one of those golf cart things. Riding the cart put Tamara
practically beside herself with joy, but I was less amused by it.
On Sunday we met up with Marli
for breakfast. We found the beach and went for a little swim. The
beach had rather coarse sand, which tended to stick everywhere and
was stubborn about coming off, even with water. The sand didn't go
out very far into the ocean. Stepping into the water meant stepping
onto a bunch of ugly pointy rocks. There were also jelly fish in the
water that day, although none of us got stung.
On Sunday evening we went to the conference reception. Maria
introduced me to a large number of people, but I managed to forget
all of the named before the conversation even ended of course. They
had a whole roast pig and various cheeses and things for
snack/dinner. It wasn't really intended to be a full on dinner.
On Monday morning, 8:40, I gave my presentation. It went alright,
but I tripped over my words a lot and there seemed to be a lot of
confused looking people in the audience. Oh well. A few people were
interested in it, including a guy from Lawrence Livermore National
Labs. That night, Maria took us to Duke's Canoe Club for dinner,
which was very nice. We heard the most beautiful rendition of "Happy
Birthday," presumably by a choir which was there for dinner. They also
sang some other songs, but it got a little tiresome after awhile
because we were sitting right next to them.
Marli gave her talk on Tuesday, which went well. Tamara and I
walked along the beach and inquired about surfing lessons at a couple
of places. We might go do that this afternoon, after we pick up the
rental car. We eventually ended up at the aquarium, so we decided to
go though it, pretty much on a whim. It was pretty interesting. We
learned a bit of stuff about coral and saw some interesting fish,
including some very brightly coloured ones.
After that we made our way back up the beach, looking for a place
to have some dinner. We eventually found a little Italian place. It
was a little pricey, but every thing in Waikiki seems to be that
way. I finally got to try some local beer, Kona Longboard. It was
yummy... like Grasshopper, but better. The only bad thing about that
restaurant was that the espresso was very bad. I expected much better
espresso from an Italian restaurant!
As I mentioned, Wednesday was our snorkeling day at Hanauma
Bay. There were a few talks I wanted to attend that day, but
snorkeling was more fun, and I can just read the papers
instead. Although Tamara had lots of sunscreen on, she burned quite
badly. I fared better... I forgot to put sunscreen on in some places,
but I didn't burn as badly as Tamara did where she had sunscreen. I
have finger marks burned into my shoulders where the sunscreen
ended.
The conference banquet was last night. The dinner was a sort of
surf and turf: very good steak and some overcooked (according to
Maria) swordfish. The desert was excellent! Some sort of layered
chocolate cake topped with a white chocolate medallion with IEEE and
ACES written on it. Entertainment was a series of Polynesian
dances. They had an audience participation thing, which was comical
to watch. Lets just say that many engineers don't like to dance, and
those that try do it badly. Maria noted that the audience
participation probably works much better with non-engineers.
The next three and a half days will be our real Hawaiian
vacation. We are renting a car a driving around the island. Hopefully
we can do some hiking and stuff. Lots of pictures to come I'm sure!
