Diamond Head Crater - Honolulu

Waking up at 4:00 am on vacation is not what it’s for. We take them so we can sleep into late morning, take our time in front of the mirror, and take advantage of the hotels travel size lotion;dabbing a little onto our hands and rubbing it while standing on the patio of the hotel overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Today there would be no hand lotion with a cup of tea on my patio. Nor would I be able to roll around in a bed with clean white linens and a few too many pillows. I wouldn’t be able to spend my morning in the 1000 thread count cocoon. Instead, I was filling the water tank for my in-room coffee maker. Surely no barista was up at this time in the morning to make me a macadamia nut latte. I had landed in Honolulu two nights ago, and already had a collection of flowers that I had tucked in behind my ear every morning. I walked to the lobby tripping over the rugs because my eyes were barely open. My lungs were already awake from breathing in the fresh salty air. The concierge rang a shuttle driver and soon we were inside of a 1990 Sprinter and heading to the base of Diamond Head crater.

We jumped out of the van and slid the door shut. There was a three-minute hike up the base of the canyon and we would be looking through the giant metal fence into the tunnel leading to the inside of the crater. We waited for five minutes until a guard opened the gate and allowed us to enter. A group of about 30 people headed to the ticket counter. Usually more show up but they predicated rain this morning. That’s probably another thing you don’t do on vacation; hike in the rain.  The hike was moderate up the hill but all the different types of plants I’ve never seen kept my attention and took my time. The last part of the hike was a bunch of stairs. This is where we were able to pass up most of the crowd. At the end, about five stairs lead you to the top of the mountain. From there you have a threehundedsixty degree view of the ocean and the island.

To my left there was a bend in the island leading the ocean to porches of many wealthy residents. The beach was lined with palm trees that looked like tiny needles sticking out from ground from where I was standing. The beach pulled up and paved a tree filled wave up to the peak of a smaller mountain. Streetlights glowed like fireflies do in the early morning sky.  Behind me was a group of homes that lay between two peaks. The peaks looked so rocky and humid, even from afar, that I could tell you homes have slid down into in to the valley and you'd believe me.  To my right was the strip of resorts and hotels. If you came from the right you were just visiting but if you came from the left you took advantage of this beautiful view because you were lucky enough to live here. A low morning tide brought waves in from far away and made it seem as if the water was shallow even a hundred yards off of the beach. A little further to the left and you could see a small island in the distance. The rim of the crater surrounded us and if I zoomed out far enough, I could have felt like bacteria in a petri dish with a camera dangling from my neck. Straight ahead of me, the sun began to rise off of the curve of the earth. I could feel the air getting warmer and my nose gradually stopped running. The warmth of the sun shaded the rain clouds above the ocean and the water they were crying into the Pacific. I could see the sun’s aura pushing away the darkness from the night. Soon enough the sky was filled with it’s warmth. I sat in the same spot for an hour and soaked the moment in. When I was done, I took my time going down the mountain but kept passing people as I descended. I wasn’t going to waste too much of my day without heading to my favorite diner in Honolulu and having their famous guava filled French toast.