Marc's Public Blog

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There were a couple of shows, one with Sea Lions and one with dolpins:

This is the 2nd aquarium we go to that has a nice little birdie collection. Those were very friendly and hungry :)

first one

then more :)

7 extra deserts for the road :)

actual bullet holes from the pearl harbour attack

a bit of early morning rain

ship that took us to the Arizona Memorial (currently being renovated)

Mighty Missouri

rainbow over the location of struck ships

Back on land, onto the museums:

suicide torpedoes, ugh...

it is still an active military base

The Bowfin is a nice typical submarine visit:

Then onto Ford island, by bus, onto the mighty Missouri where we took the 90mn private engineering tour

they have their own private neighborhoods there

the guns are big

our private tour guide

big guns

Then, we had to hurry on to the Pacific Aviation Msseum to see what we could before it closed:

More pictures of the Pearl Harbour Pacific Aviation Museum

And that was it for our Pearl Harbour visit. I now agree that it's hard to see it all in one day :)

Our first day, we went with Hawaiian Diving Adventures, met them at 07:15, and were lucky enough to be the only divers that day (just after thanksgiving weekend). Our first dive was the sea tiger, a nice boat sunk on purpose:

Our second dive was "the pipe", minimal life, but a bit more fun with the octopus our guide found:

Two days later, I chose Reef Pirates, because they had a 3 tank dive that was more geared towards experienced divers. Sadly we did not luck out that day as they made us go there by 06:30 (getting up at 05:40), and then left 45mn late while they were sorting out whether they would allow a diver with medical conditions, join us, or not.
Once diving the Coraair plane wreck, they forced us to go back up after barely 10mn down there, even though I still had 12mn of bottom time left on my computer. I'm not impressed by such forced babysitting :(

The next dive was Angler's Reef, where our guide found another reef octopus:

Last was Koko crater, with two underwater Buddhas and lots of turtles (more than 7 different ones, one of which sadly had a piece bitten off, probably by a shark):

And that was it for diving in Oahu, not super impressive, but not terrible either. At least the water was still reasonably warm during the winter (25C or better).

Oh yeah, we also took the 8 course sake sampler, and the portions were generous. That was probably less of a great idea, too much sake :)

we then did 5 dives on 2 different days (on this separate page, and the rest of the time was used to visit the Island a bit:

The first day, we did morning dives and then stayed in the Waikiki area:

yeah, bring your phone and selfie stick to the infinity pool, makes sense...

diamonhead crater

I tried to surf a bit, but there were barely any waves, so I only got the chance to go up once

On the 2nd day, we spent the entire day in Pearl Harbour|/perso/trips/post_2018-11-27_Ohahu_s-Pearl-Harbour-Monument_-Museums_-and-Mighty-Missouri-Ship.html]

Our 3rd day, we did 3 morning dives, then checked out Oahu Sealife Park and spent the rest of the day checking out the East Coast and walked to a few viewpoints:

Our 4th day, we started with the Diamondhead hike, which turned out to already be pretty packed. The parking lot was full, but we were able to find a parking spot just outside the crater tunnel (yes, there is a tunnel through the volcano crater):

cars are in line waiting for parking spots to free up inside

hike up

the top had stairs to where the artillery used to be

once at the top, nice view of course

Waikiki where we spent monday afternoon

Koko crater hike, didn't have time to do it that trip. Maybe next time.

lava tube with access to the ocean

we found a rare solitary monk seal, sunbathing

Once done with the blowhole, lava tube, and arch, I drove around to the other side of Koko crater and its small botanical garden

the viewsonic bird!

Then, we went to check out another coast access with a spitting cave you can hike to:

15mn hike around the coast

and here is the spitting cave

From there, I drove up to Lyon Arboretum, which sadly was more jungle than botanical garden in places and then the quick-ish 45mn hike to the MAnoa Falls:

We then had just enough time to drive to Tantalus Lookout for sunset:

For our last day, we went to check out Waikiki Aquarium, and then spent 1h30 at the US Army Museum of Hawaii:

And last was Iolani Palace, the former Royal Palace:

With a quick drive by the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and the Japanese Garden in the airport:

Nicely decorated venue:

Plenty of people were lit:

my sonic hedgehog found a friend :)

Great to run into friends again:

Day #1:

Video summary of day #1:

And that was it for Day #1, after some well needed sleep, I was there bright and early at 16:30 for Day #2 and Niko's set that was starting earlier than originally planned:

we ended with Gareth Emery's laserface

Video summary of day #2:

And just like this, after 18h30 over 2 days, it was over. It may not quite be EDC, but honestly the lineup and the music were great, and it was a lot easier/cheaper to attend. Heartily recommended. Hopefully I'll see you all for the next one:

Taj was next, just before PvD

basement was also banging

PvD was next at midnight

and just like that, it was over after 2h

Blurr took back over for the rest of the night

Video summary:

Last time I think I was not impressed because it wasn't the typical french tasting menu I was used to, but also because the service was quite slow and the whole dinner took 4H, which is just too long in my book. This time it was better timed, and some of the dishes that I was less impressed with were replaced by new ones that were all quite tasty with multiple levels of flavaours.
The wine pairing cost arond $250, which clearly wasn't cheap. Jennifer was ok with it, but I think she would have appreciated more red wines, even if a good amount of dishes we had were better paired with white.

we started with what looked like macaroons with pate de fruits, but were actually salted

sea urchin

tasty ostiestra caviar

lovely dish with edible flowers

so cute

dessert #2

this is how coaching happens now :)

With the time change, the morning flight was not in the dark:

We had around 10 cars:

Sadly one of the cars had a not quite explained oversteer in turn 15 and did a full 180 before hitting the inside wall hard. We're thinking it might have had a tire failure:

that wall was supposed to be straight

the rebar got ripped out

TH put the wall back in no time, I guess it wasn't the first time

poor car

In the meantime, while the track got slower in the afternoon, I slowly relearned what I manage to forget every time I go, and got my time down to a record 1:47 (for me) on the 3 mile track with the bypass after putting on fresh tires. I could have gone faster in the morning when the track was faster, so my guess is that in ideal conditions, the car can do at least 1:45. Nothing to sneeze at :)

This was my best session where I managed a few fast laps, including 1:47:xx

With the same time change, the flight back was darker :)

They come in a container that has food:

they were quite small when we got them

they quickly grew

After a week or so, they turn into chrysalis and stay that way for over 2 weeks. Those weeks are not very eventful:

they make a shell and drop what their used to be their head

after much wait, the first butterflies finally got out

when they get out, they don't fly yet, they need time for their wings to harden

Sadly one of them had a shell that did not open right, got stuck while trying to get out and broke both its wings and a leg :(

once I confirmed that the poor thing even had a broken leg and was apparently bleeding through its broken wings, I ended its suffering

Over the next few days, the other ones came out too, the last ones just in time before our trip. We went to release them before flying out:

Within a few minutes, most of them had flown off. Sadly the weather is not ideal for them anymore as nights get cold and rain was in the forecast, but we hope they make it.
All in all, it took 22 days from when we got the shipment with baby caterpillars to setting them free.

Sadly, Pendulum started playing late (00:30) for only 90mn's worth, a bit underwhelming to say the least, but the set was good, using good old vynil no less.
Thankfully, Steven Ross, Kowta, and Dirtyphonics before him, gave good set too:

By 00:30, Pendulum finally showed up

It was a good set, glad to have seen him for the first time in SF.