Baseball In Paradise

Hello!  Not too much has changed since last week.  My schedule has pretty much remained the same: Wake up, play baseball, then go to the beach all day…Trust me I’m not complaining.  The one thing out of the ordinary that I experienced however happened yesterday.  After realizing that we were way too inexperienced and way too “not from Hawaii” to surf on the treacherous North Shore beach on our day off, my roommates and I, and a couple of guys from Northwestern decided we wanted to go on a hike and then jump off a waterfall.  We debated between Manoa Falls, Alapena Falls, and Maunawili Falls and eventually decided on Maunawili..Definitely a good choice.

Unfortunately for us, even the locals do not know where Maunawili Falls is.  So trying to figure it out with the cab driver turned out to be a project.  As the cab fare went up more and more we decided to get out and walk the rest of the way..definitely a bold decision considering we had no idea where we were and niether did the locals..But after about 35 minutes of walking we stumbled upon the entrance to the Maunawili trails.

We began the hike oblivious to the fact that it absolutely poured the night before, meaning the whole hike would be in mud…also meaning that wearing our favorite shoes was definitely poor decision.  After 45 minutes of hiking we eventually made it to the waterfall, which supposedly used to be a royal Hawaiian bathing area.  At the falls there was a 50 foot cliff and a few smaller cliffs that we could jump off of.  The area we hiked through literally seemed like a scene out of Jurassic Park.  There were vines and crazy plants and trees and I’m pretty sure I saw a Pterodactyl?…But im not 100% sure…

Today we start a 4 game series against the Oahu Paddlers, I’ll talk to you guys next Thursday!

Thanks,

Joe Coyne

p.s  Aidan, Pat, and Brayden I’ll pick you guys up in a few..On my time.  Miss you guys

Baseball in Paradise

Hello, its been a little over a week since I got here and I’ve already been fortunate enough to explore a good portion of the island, become acquainted with my team, and play some baseball.  On Friday we had our first practice and then on Saturday we dove right into our first games.  We play a game every day except Wednesdays.  Wednesdays are our off days in which we are free to do whatever we want on the island.  Usually we play our games at 11am and have the rest of the day to ourselves.  We usually take this time to go to the beach.  Occasionally the NBA playoffs will be on right after our games due to the time difference and we will watch that before we head out.

So far our team has played against the Kamuela Paniolos, the Oahu Paddlers, and the Hawaii Ali’is.  We have been playing well but we keep losing  by one run late in the game.  Usually after our games we go to a beach in Honolulu right by our hotel.  However when we get the opportunity we like to get out to Waikiki Beach, which is about a 10 minute bike ride away.  We have not yet had the chance to go surfing but on our next off day we are hoping to rent some boards and surf on the north shore.

Yesterday we decided we wanted to do a little sight seeing so we ventured on over to Hanauma Bay, a preserved beach that formed long ago from a volcano eruption (Photo).  Here we saw a variety of different animals from a mongoose to roosters, and even turtles.  In order to preserve the land they have all the Hanauma Bay visitors watch a documentary on what they can and cant do at the bay.  All in all it was a very fun experience and I even learned a few things I didnt know before.   

I have to get ready for a game right now against the Paniolos.  Thanks for reading, I’ll keep you guys posted!

Thanks again,

Joe Coyne

Baseball In Paradise

Hello everyone, this is my first blog actually on the island.  I left from Logan Airport in Boston at 6 am and flew down to Atlanta where I then flew directly to Honolulu.  When I Arrived in Honolulu it was 1:30 in the afternoon, meaning it was 7:30 at night back home…also meaning I was ready for bed by 6:30, but i toughed it out.  When I arrived I was picked up along with 2 other players from the airport by Mark, the manager of the league.  The 2 other players, one from Wesleyan and one from Indiana University are my roommates now.  We were driven to a hotel called The Pagoda where we will be staying until August.

So with the next 36 hours or so to do whatever we wanted we decided to go exploring, naturally that led us to the beach.  The only time I have ever seen water this blue is in a pool.  Around 3:30 we went to get lunch at a local hotspot called “Fatboys”,  Weirdly enough, the NBA playoffs were on…and it was completely light outside…definitely a different experience.  After lunch we watched the rest of the game back at the hotel and then went out to the beach.  Due to jet lag coming from the east coast, we called it a night at about 8:30. 

The good thing about going to bed that early is that we all woke up at about 7 the next morning and had the whole day to do whatever we wanted.  We went to Walmart early and bought bikes, knowing that there is 90 day return policy.  So our job is to not destroy the bikes, or else we’re going to be out quite a bit of money… We wanted to explore more so we biked out to Waikki Beach.  For miles all you could see was the bluest water I’ve ever seen and surfers.  Speaking of surfers in Waikiki, the team I’m playing on out here is actually called the Waikiki Surfers.  My roommate from Wesleyan is on the Surfers with me.  When we arrived back at the hotel a fourth roommate was waiting in the room.  He goes to Florida Tech, and happens to be from the same area where Jarrod Saltalamacchia grew up…some of you may know that Salty happens to be my favorite player. 

After we met up with him we decided to go back down to the beach the rest of the day.  We met up with some other baseball players from some California schools when we got to the beach and some players from Georgia.  College Baseball players are not exactly diffcult to recognize out here.  So basically we’ve spent alot of time exploring, biking, and hanging out so far.  We have a baseball practice today (Thursday) in a couple of hours and then our first games are tomorrow.  I’ll let you know next week about how the start of the season goes and my first full week here!

Thanks,

Joe Coyne

 

Baseball in Paradise

My name is Joe Coyne.  I am preparing for what has the potential to be one of the best summers of my life right now.  I was given the opportunity to play in the Hawaiian Collegiate Baseball League this summer and I am currently getting ready for my trip out there.  Back in the fall, Coach Sanborn asked me if I would be interested in playing in Hawaii this summer,  I could not pass up that opportunity.  All year I’ve done my best to focus primarily on our college season at St. Joe’s and with the conclusion of that season its really hitting me that I’m actually going out to Hawaii to do one of my favorite things, play baseball.

I’ve talked to Mike Pratt, Chad Rafferty, and Sam Murray, who were fortunate enough to play out in Hawaii last year, and they have all generally told me the same thing, “it’s gonna be the time of your life”.  I dont think that it will actually hit me until I’m on the plane that I’m really going out there but I’m doing my best right now to prepare for my trip.  I’m making sure I have plenty of bathing suits, a healthy amount of sunscreen, and of course some bats.  Also, I’m getting mentally ready for a 13 hour flight.   It’s a good thing I’m not scared of flying…Oh wait, I am…but thats beside the point.  On June 12th I will fly out of Logan Airport in Boston early in the morning.  There will be one stop over in Atlanta and from there I will fly directly out to Hawaii.

Once I’m out there we will play 6 games a week for 2 months.  It should be interesting to see what we’ll do while we’re not playing baseball.  I’m looking forward to exploring the island and making new friends out there.  It’s also going to be interesting communicating with people back home considering the 6 hour time difference.  I’m beyond excited to experience all that Hawaii has to offer and can’t wait to get out there!

So thats it for this week, I’ll keep writing weekly about my experiences out there.  Thanks for reading!