None of our travels around the island were preplanned before our arrival in Honolulu, other than the very generous greeting, dinner and ride to our hotel by Shinnyo friends living in Oahu our first night. We got around on foot often, but also on spur of the moment, consulted the local tourist books and found amazing deals for day trips around the island, out to snorkeling points, over to the Arizona Memorial and other tourist attractions, and of course, the aforementioned cheap shuttle bus back to HNL.

Taking the Roberts Hawaii tour bus also gave us a serendipitous native guide to the island and island life, Felix Alonzo. While the name doesn't sound like your typical lengthy Hawaiian name, as with many folks here, scratch the surface and you find a generation or three back some pure Hawaiian blood and a current generation proud of the heritage mixed in with other blood.