Today we fly to Tahiti, a long overdue visit to French Polynesia we always intended to visit. Unfortunately we have a long layover in Oahu and no food on the flight over so we eat our fill at the lounge in Phoenix before the flight. And then we notice that there is a hurricane hitting Hawaii luckily not Oahu but it is not clear what the impact will be so we keep an eye out if our flight will even leave Phoenix.
Luckily our flight leaves on time, we are really happy that at least we will make it to Oahu, the question becomes now if we will make it out to Papeete afterwards. At least that is what we think but when we arrive in Oahu the plane shakes like crazy and it abandons the landing literally meters above the runway due to shear wind alarms so we get a bit scared. Luckily the second approach is more successful and we are now in Oahu either for eight hours or for much longer depending on the hurricane.
The airport is quite full with many passengers coming and going, with quite a few of flights being impacted by the approaching hurricane. Unfortunately the lounges here have no food so we decide to first explore the airport, the area where we arrived and will leave is newer but the rest is older, at least as far as we explore.
Where we spend most of our time is in the outdoor garden looking at the clouds and the winds and the rain and hoping that we can still leave later in the day. And also looking for birds of course.
Surprisingly even in this small garden there are many birds especially Spotted Doves and quite a few White-Eyes. We really enjoy watching them from hiding, there is no rain where we sit but the birds are out in the rain and seemingly enjoying it.
However we also see some more interesting birds like a Waxbill and a few zebra doves. And lots and lots of Bulbuls, we really didn’t expect that many here.
Our other staple location during the layover is the flight information monitor we always check to see if our flight is cancelled. However between a sea of red our flight is still on time all the time until it is time to leave and we are quite happy about it.
Leaving is actually less bumpy than arriving and soon we are out and above the dangerous clouds and on our way to Papeete, another relatively long flight. But at least this time we get some food, not very good but still welcome as we will arrive at 11 PM in Papeete and we still have to rent the car and then drive to our accomodation.
