SURFIN’ WAIKIKI – PART ONE

Link to this week's column at
USAToday.com/travel:

USA Today column

Note: Be sure to check out the new addition to
the “Cap’n Meryl & Friends Album” in my Photo
Gallery. Here is a direct link to this new
photo.
New Photo

After last week’s Update (“Palm Springs or Bust”)
I had a lot of unexpected feedback, some from
readers who love the water as much as I do, and
some from those who don’t swim and detest water
in general. I wasn’t expecting much feedback at
all, but when it came it reminded me of a chapter
in what was to be the sequel to “The World At My
Feet.”

This sequel may take another form now due to
changing circumstances at my airline, but in the
meantime I thought I’d share the following piece
with you, having to do with Hawaii. In PART TWO
next week the story continues to talk about a
particular sequence of flying that actually
started in Maui in the middle of what was
supposed to be a one day trip from San Francisco
to Maui and back. It didn’t quite work out that
way, to say the least.

To get yourself in the mood, don’t forget I have
several Hawaii photos in my Photo Album, some in
the “Hawaii” Album and others in the
“Seattle-Tokyo-Honolulu” Album on Page 2 of the
gallery, which can be found at
Gallery. I also mention
Meredith in this piece, my pet duck when I was
growing up in San Diego. You can meet her in the
“A Much Younger Cap’n Meryl” Album.

“Many of the flights we flew were overnight trips
with spectacular layovers in Honolulu, Kauai or
Maui. I loved all three places but they were
very different—Honolulu with it’s hustle and
bustle, Maui and Kauai with their serene beaches
and gorgeous scenery.

In Honolulu, we stayed at a hotel that was owned
by my airline, situated just over a block from
Waikiki Beach. There were loads of good places
to eat and, best of all, there were at least five
ice cream establishments within a three-block
radius. Baskin Robbins, Lappert’s Hawaiian,
Häagen Dazs—they were all right there. So much
ice cream, so little time.

In Maui we were constantly changing hotels and
each one seemed more luxurious than the last.
Sometimes we stayed in the Kaanapali area toward
the north and other times we stayed more toward
the south, in or near Kihei. No matter where we
stayed, though, we were always situated right by
water. At one time, we even got our own
condominiums on the beach. What a life this was!

In Kauai, we stayed at a casual beach-front
hotel. The water was right there but it was a
little rocky, and one had to be careful. One
evening, when it was really calm out and I had
talked the front desk into a room just a few feet
from the water, I went swimming. I was the
only one around and, on impulse, decided to take
off my bathing suit. If there is anything I
love, it’s the feeling of freedom one gets
swimming in the buff. I tied my bathing suit
around my ankle, where of course it got loose and
fell off. Not good.

I went underwater and looked around but it was
already too dark to see well underwater. I
wasn’t about to start poking around the rocks.
Who knew what was in there? I didn’t know and I
didn’t want to find out.

There was nothing else to do but enjoy myself and
wait until it got completely dark. Then I had to
wait for couples walking along the beach to get
out of the way before I made a mad dash to where
my beach mat was. The hotel supplied these at
the front desk upon check-in. I had only the
small bath towel from my room which wasn’t
capable of covering up much, so I wrapped the mat
around me the best I could and made a run for it
to my hotel room.

I got to my door just in time to see my captain
(I was a DC-10 flight engineer at the time)
coming out his door, two doors down from mine,
probably en route to dinner. “Oh, hi Meryl.
How’s the water?”

“Very nice,” I managed to say. He didn’t realize
I was stark naked behind that thin mat.

“Well, see ya around,” and off he went. Thank
God.

I was still fumbling with my key when the
copilot, whose room was on the opposite side of
my own room, came out. “Hey, Meryl, how’s the
water?”

“Uh, very nice,” I managed to say. I was frantic
to get into my room. He wouldn’t let me go.

“Isn’t it pretty rocky?” He was persistent.

“Well, there are rocks but there’s plenty of room
to swim on top and the surf is very gentle.”

“Oh, well maybe we’ll see you out there
tomorrow.”

“Ummm, okay,” and I finally was able to bolt into
my room.

The next morning, at first light when nobody was
around, I “wore” my mat out to the water’s edge
and, in my original Birthday Suit once again,
hastily got in the water, leaving my mat right
there at the edge. I didn’t really think I could
find my suit since the tide had gone out during
the night, but I liked that suit and wanted to at
least try to find it.

As luck would have it, I found it hooked on a
rock and I hastily put it on under water. I
decided to stay in the water for awhile, but kept
my suit on this time. I’m telling you, it just
isn’t the same. This wasn’t the last time I went
swimming naked and, if you insist on knowing, it
isn’t the last time I lost my suit. Fortunately,
I was always able to retrieve it right away.
This was the only time I dropped it and had to
leave it, and was fortunate to get it back the
next day.

I grew up in San Diego and was at the beach
virtually every warm day when I was growing up.
Although two of my three older brothers had been
surfers, I never got into it, other than
body-surfing. I had a pet mallard (duck) named
Meredith growing up, and she would body surf in
the wave right next to me sometimes, or sometimes
I would surf a small wave holding her straight
out in front of me. What a kick that was and she
seemed to enjoy it, too.

Sometimes Scott, the youngest of my three older
brothers and I would play catch on the beach
after swimming, and Meredith got to “be” the
ball. It always caused a stir among beachgoers
as she flapped her way between us back and forth.
At home she couldn’t wait to dive right into her
own fresh-water pool again.

Much as I loved body-surfing, I never did learn
to surf with a surfboard like my brothers.
However, on one Honolulu layover I got it into my
head that I’d like to learn to surf with a board;
so I hoofed it over to Waikiki Beach where I
rounded up an instructor and we headed out.

I thought I’d be better at it than I was;
generally I have really good balance. It was a
struggle, though, and I’d finally just stood
upright for the very first time and was actually
riding my first wave when I heard someone cry,
“Meryl!”

I looked to my left and there was my captain,
merrily riding the wave right next to mine! I
just had time to wave back as I fell off my
board; the distraction was plenty to knock me
right off.

My captain later told me he kept his own
surfboard at our layover hotel in a locker. I
hadn’t known they had lockers and it turned out
there was a waiting list for them. However, I
decided once was enough for me with regard to
surfing and stuck to swimming, snorkeling and
body surfing after that.

On our flights home, I’d always find somewhere in
the cockpit to hang up my wet bathing suit after
making sure the captain didn’t object. When I
did this, sometimes one or both pilots would dig
out their own wet swimming trunks and more than a
few times there would be three wet suits strung
out in the cockpit. On the way home we’d eat
shrimp cocktail and leftover hot fudge sundaes
from first class and talk about what we’d each
done on our layovers. Those were awfully good
times.”

To be continued next week…

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And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,

Cap'n Meryl

www.fromthecockpit.com
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