Hoorah...wonderful place to be. My brother-in-law was stationed there with the Navy about 6 years. I never thought I would ever go to Hawaii at all.
We went FOUR times. We would get a cheap flight, he would take 2 weeks off and put us up (free place to stay that overlooked Pearl Harbor...we could see the airfield from the deck on the hillside) and he would be our tour guide. Each trip we visited a different island. On one trip he bought a 39' sailboat before we came, taught himself to sail, he took it out sailing once before we got there, we re-rigged all the sails with about a mile of rope when I got there (we were knee deep in ropes in the cockpit during this process...he had me ride the bosun's seat up the main mast to work on the antenna (all fun stuff for this tree guy)....then we sailed to Molokai (next island over) and stayed on the boat for a week as we explored that island. (I didn't learn the full sequence of sailing/learning to sail events until we were well into the adventure!!...but he had just retired as a Lt. Commander from subs so he knew how to navigate already...and he is a very quick study in almost anything.)
Anyway...don't get me started...we had some wonderful adventures there...took the kids each time...first trip they were both preteens...later trips they were teenagers. Good times.
Tell Jon, "Hey!!!" I met him at the WCGT redwood climb....a very like-able fellow. I have enjoyed watching his career progress.