One must arrive everywhere early to ensure parking in limited areas.  When we arrived there was one other man snorkelling and some scuba divers coming in.  By the time we left at 11.30ish there was probably about 40 or more people in the water.

This spot was for the slightly more experienced snorkeler after Hanuama Bay yesterday, as there was quite a rocky entry and the water was quite a bit deeper.  The snorkelling was also very good, with big concentration of fish in certain areas.  The water however was the coldest we have had, made more so by a cooling breeze flying over the top of our heads and the sun behind clouds.  After 2 hours or so in the water I was ready to come out as was pretty chilly.

Quentin managed to find a cute wee rock lobster hiding in the….you guessed it….rocks!  Later on we saw an eel swimming around freely.  Actually it was trying to get away from a fish 10th of it’s size who was busy chasing it.  The first time I have ever actually seen a eel swimming, not just hiding in the rocks.

As we were starting to head back in we came across a turtle happily swimming around .  We blissfully swam with it for quite a while and I thought Quentin was busy getting video footage on his GoPro, only to discover when we got back to shore that his GoPro had frozen so he hadn’t been able to.  As I am typing this he is busy updating the software on it to ensure it doesn’t happen again!

 

On the drive back we stopped again at Teds Bakery to try their famous Chocolate Haupia  Pie, a layer of rich, smooth dark chocolate custard cream, filled with another layer of haupia (creamy coconut pudding); topped with whipped topping. Yummy.  Really nice and not at all too rich or sweet.  Damn if we didn’t share a slice

We had also planned to stop at Mikes Huli Huli Chicken for a plate lunch, chicken, rice, salad but when we got there he didn’t have any chicken and wouldn’t for an hour or so.  Say what, no chicken at lunch time on a Friday.  We couldn’t be bothered waiting so carried on back to Kailua (less than 8km away) and went to Teddy’s Bigger Burgers!  They were actually really nice burgers, I had the chicken teriyaki one, Quentin beef, but the bigger beef one which after he had finished it did suggest he probably didn’t need it to be quite that big!

Then home for showers and to wash down the dive gear before heading out to have a drive down to Kailua Beach to check it out.  We have been here since Sunday and still haven’t seen the local beach which is supposed to be one of the best on the island.  It was a beautiful beach, miles of white sand and with a nice trade breeze which cooled everything down.  With the wind there was also a lot of kite surfers on the bay, so made for some interesting watching.

On our way back we called into the Whole Foods supermarket, one of the  more up market supermarkets where everything is organic, sustainable produced etc etc.  Why stop there?  Easy they have an amazing pre prepared food section and we thought we would get something simple and easy for dinner.  We ended up with some very yummy looking beef kebabs or kebobs as they are known here, already threaded with big chunks of beef, onion and green peppers, and a citrus marinade.  Then we walked past the bakery and next thing we have a lemon, raspberry tart, and a fruit berry tart in our basket.  No idea how they jumped in, but would be rude not to eat them!

A quiet night at home tonight to prepare for a weekend of shopping.  Yippee.

First time that I can think of that I have had to pay to go to the beach.  Parking was just $1 but then it was $7.50 each to go to the beach, and before you can go down to the beach you must watch a 12 minute video all about the wildlife and water safety.  Once this is completed you are then heralded down to the beach by your own feet or a tram as it is a steep hill.

We arrived just after 8 and were provided tickets for the 8.30 movie, even at this time there was masses of people wondering around, and by the time we left at 11.30 the car park was already full.

As we had been advised to do we asked the life guard about conditions further out in the bay as we had been advised this was where some of the best snorkelling was.  While we were advised that the current would be strong as the tide was going out we were told just to be aware of it and it would be safe to do.

So of we went, swam out past the buoys to the right of where we had entered, saw very few fish but lots of rubbish in the water, not looking too good at this stage.  Q decided we would turn back and head to the left, still outside the buoys, we had been doing this for about 10 mins or so when I heard one of the life guards (there were 3 stations along the beach in all) yelling something over the loud speaker.  Q popped his head up, couldn’t understand what they were saying so just stuck his head down and carried on.  The words that I could make out where “two snorkelers outside of the buoy…strong current…make your way back to the white markers….rescue you…” so thought it was probably best for us to turn around and alerted Q to the fact!

Once heading back into the more protected part we did see quite a few more fish and a turtle.  I found this gorgeous baby fish, normally you see them about 8-10 inches long but this one was only 1-2.  Very very cute!

The only issue with being inside the buoys was that so was everyone else, and it was chaotic in places.  Because it is an attraction to see when in Honolulu every man and his dog was there, even ones that couldn’t swim.  You see these swarms of Asian tourists who have probably never set foot in the water let alone snorkel, arrive with every flotation device known to man kind, noodles, life jackets, rubber rings, and there they are in the water with snorkel, mask and fully clothed.  Floundering around like nobodies business, panicking when they cant work out how to use their mask and snorkel and using their fins to walk everywhere therefore  breaking all the coral.  In some parts the water was only 3 feet deep, so really no need to panic.  Like on land these tourists travel in packs, and if they want to go from point A to B they do it even if you are in the middle, it was like being swarmed by bees!

After that we headed home, showers, feet up before heading back out for some more masalades, yummy.  Then a few chores, post office, shopping etc before we went down to the Kailua Farmers market.   This was a great market with lots of food stalls.  We had dinner down here, so much to chose from, Q ended up with curry and me a chicken wrap.  Then we had to have a lemonade because we had seen everyone walking around with these preserving jars drinking lemonade out of them.  It was very very yummy lemonade, finished by ice-cream.  WE could have been adventurous and had seaweed flavoured, or asparagus but I settled for passionfruit and Q for lychee sorbet.

Another day done and dusted.

It was a very pretty drive along the coast route from Kailua to the surfing capital of the world Hale’iwa.  First stop along the way was at one of the state parks to take some pictures of the aptly named “Chinaman’s Hat” rock.

As we wended our way around the coast I provided an informative audio from my Lonely planet guide so Quentin would know what we were passing.

Our next photo opportunity was at La’ie Point where one can see the waves crashing against the lava arch.  Folk legend tells the story of the rocks being a giant lizard that a demi-god broke into pieces to save Ohau from being attacked!

Then on to the famous North Shore food trucks for Quentin to have garlic shrimps/prawns.  There are several of these scattered around the island with the highest concentration being on the North Shore.  We stopped at one called Giovannis which is supposed to be the original Shrimp Truck, that is until you get a little further down the road and see Fumi’s also saying they are the original Shrimp Truck.  Either way I had done my home work and it was either Giovannis or Fumis that we voted the best.

The truck itself is covered in comments written by people that have been there, there was a large shaded structure with seating leading up to the truck and it was covered.  There was also several other food trucks around, Thai, one selling New Zealand sausages, shave ice and smoothies.

The smell of garlic and fish was enough to make me throw up but I quietly sat there while Quentin scoffed his dozen or so prawns down, garlic butter dripping down his mouth, hands, everywhere!  It is quite a good set up because out the back there is also a tap where everyone can clean themselves off.

On the road again next stop was Ted’s Bakery, apparently they do the best Hula Pie which is a chocolate pie with coconut cream, this was the place I wanted to get my lunch from.  I had a bbq chicken sandwich, which was very yummy, the marinade is pineapple and passionfruit and very flavoursome.

We didn’t have Hula Pie as that morning we had discovered Agnes’s Bakery and stopped of to have some masalades, these are sugared donuts that are cooked fresh to order.  I don’t even really like donuts but these were very yummy.

Ted’s was very busy so I got mine as takeout and we headed down to the first spot that we could find shade and a few and ended up at ‘Ehukai Beach Park, a very lovely spot that also happens to be where the banzai pipeline is that provides the huge swells for surfing in the winter months.  While the swells weren’t as huge as they were for the surf events we did sit at our shaded table and watch a girl that was sitting on the edge of the sand looking down on the water (the sand was like a little dune so quite a drop down to the actual beach part) get drenched as a wave of several feet came up and drenched her!

After eating we headed down to the beach just to say we had been there and have a look around.  Then a little further down the coast, where we turned around and headed back home, once again via the coast.  While a longer drive, it is a much quieter drive than the freeways, and of course much prettier.

A quiet evening in and an early night so we can rise early for a trip to Hanauma Bay.

We had already booked online sometime ago for the first tour at 8am for the Arizona Memorial and had to be at Pearl Harbor by 7.  Rose at 5.30, out the door by 6, arrived by 6.35 (we were allowing for traffic and wrong turns!), joined the already forming queue.  Arriving early did give us the benefit of parking right outside the entrance and of having only about 15 people ahead of us in the queue.

By the time they were letting people in at 7am there would have been 300 plus people in the queue.  Crazy.  Although many of them were on tours, or did not have pre-purchased tickets for the Arizona Memorial tour so needed to be there early to secure them.

We had booked a days passport so that gave us entry to the memorial, with guided audio, entry to the Mighty Mo, Aviation Museum, Bowfin submarine and museum.  A real boys day!

We used our time between 7 and 8 to do the audio tour around the grounds, only problem was the skies opened up, rained heavy, Q was worried about the camera getting wet (no not about me!) so I rushed to the book store and got us two of those lovely plastic macs and a plastic bag for the camera.  Arrived back to where Q was hunkering under cover and the rain stopped.  Typical.

Time to see the movie of the attack and then head to the memorial.  Not much that one can say about all this other than it is pretty sobering and pretty emotional.  All those what if’s.  What if the fleet hadn’t all been there, what if the US hadn’t stopped selling oil to the Japanese, what if everything wasn’t anchored side by side, what if when the planes were first seen on radar the alarm was raised rather than thinking it was their own planes, what if….

Getting back from the memorial the skies were once again black and a light shower started, by the time we had got from the boat to cover it was bucketing down, and for the first time I was feeling cold.  Only lasted a few minutes but looked like it was going to threaten off and on for the day.  Q headed back to the car for our rain jackets, yes we had them in there all along, not only would they look nicer than the plastic macs they would protect us, oh and the camera more!

From here we headed by shuttle to the Mighty Mo, did the guided tour and then explored the rest of the ship.  Was really interesting to think we stood in the same place that the Japanese signed the surrender documents to end WWII.

(Yes that is a phalynx CIWS and cruise missile launchers on a WW2 Battleship)

After lots of walking up and down hideously small and steep ladders we headed back to the shuttle and on to the Pacific Aviation Museum, every boys dream, not so much every girls.

As soon as we arrived Q was look at that look at this, I was “where are the shops”.  To be fair the size of some of these things were amazing, the helicopters especially so.  It was now lunch time, shared some fries and a brownie and then headed back to Pearl Harbor for the Bowfin tour.  I wasn’t too keen on this one as I find submarines pretty cramped and I get a bit claustrophic.  But being the trooper I am I went.  To make it more bearable I listened to the children’s audio version of the tour rather than the adults.  Much more fun!

After a quick trip to the museum it was time to leave and head to near by Pearl Ridge shopping centre.  A rather large mall that consists of updown and downtown and is joined by a monorail.  Oh and had a dive store Q wanted to go to.  After doing the top layer of the updown mall we headed downtown where the dive shop was, which happened to be next to Longs Drugs and by now I had the headache from hell, a combination of not enough water, those small spaces, the cold and then the heat etc.  I got drugs, he didn’t get the mask he wanted because it wasn’t at that store, it was at the other one, the one we hadn’t gone to.

Still feeling tired and not in the mood for shopping (we had been on our feet for over 6 hours now and a lot of it standing in one spot at a time), I suggested we head to the movies, a chance to sit down, cool down and relax and it just so happened we were right next to the movie theatre and The Family a movie we had seen advertised on TV was due to start in 15 mins. Perfect.  Even better it only cost us $12 for the two of us.  The movie was funny and brutal all at once.  It had Robert  De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer in it.  A nice way to spend a couple of hours and gave me renewed vigour for shopping!

Didn’t buy too much, Q bought a belt and some dive gloves, I bought a top, a new cover for my phone, the best ever suitcase, handbag, bracelet and some sneakers.  Actually when you type it out like that it was one or two things.  Oh and we bought some chocolate…surprising I know.  We passed by See Candies, well actually we didn’t pass it, Q suggested (yes he, not me) that we go inside.  As soon as we got in the door they were asking if we wanted to try something and if so what.  I tried the raspberry cream chocolate and Q a caramel one.  They actually gave you the whole chocolate to try, so we had half each and then swapped!  It worked because we bought some and then as we were leaving they gave us another whole one each, this time pineapple to try.  Yum.

Getting hungry as by now it was late and we had only had the fries and brownie for lunch, so just got asian at the food court.

It was now about 7.30ish, Best Buys was close by and I was looking for a new laptop, we headed off.  This should have been very simple, out of the parking lot, on to the main highway, turn left and then left again and there was Best Buys.  However the GPS didn’t want us to turn left into the parking lot of Big Buys and wanted us to do this big loop around the block.  Problem was, it was dark, we hadn’t seen Best Buys across the road and we were now in some dark back alley.  Decided to give it a miss, did the big loop to get back on to the freeway and there was Best Buys, stopped, bought my new laptop.  I really wanted the orange one but they didn’t stock it and there was no guarantees it would get to us before we left, so boring silver is what I ended up with, which Q was happier with!  So now I will look for a sleeve in bright orange for it.  It is gorgeous, touch screen, can swivel the screen so it looks like a tablet, small, light and half what I would have paid if I could even get it at home.  Sexy!

Then time to come home, finally arrived back some time after 9.  A long day!

Picked up by Alex from Ohau Photography Tours a pretty laid back surfer type of guy, there are 5 others on the tour.  A couple from Perth, a couple from Atlanta and a girl from NZ.  We head to a beach (too early in the morning have forgotten the name now!) to wait for the sunrise and to take photos.  Really lovely, a nice breeze from the tradewinds keeping it cool.  Some fabulous photos and on to our next location.

This was a great way to get to see some of the lower part of the island.  We stopped at Makapu’u Lighthouse, a really pretty spot, didn’t do the hike just in the parking lot (phew!).  Alex would suggest settings and ideas for framing pictures.

From here headed down to the beach area by the park, then to Waimanalo Bay a stunning beach with no one else on it, mind you it was still before 8am!  From here we headed in land to look at the mountains in the hope that the sun would peek through the clouds and cast light on the mountains, it didn’t.  The mountains were pretty amazing as they have all these deep ridges down them.  The ridges are made by water.  When it rains heavily the water pours down the mountains creating these ridges.  It apparently looks quite spectacular in the rain as there is hundreds of waterfalls cascading down the sides.

Stop at a little general store in Waimanalo (which by the way is in the neck of the woods that we are staying in Kailua) for breakfast.  Very yummy egg and bacon muffin for me, waffles for Q.  Then on towards the city where we go to a little park that has a waterfall for some more pictures.  Then back into the van and back to the zoo.  Feels as if we have been awake for 12 hours but it is only just gone 10.30am.

We had paid for parking until 12.30, the zoo is very close to Waikiki so we decided to take a walk get a cold drink and Q could get his first glimpse of the madness that is Waikiki.  Passed a Cold Stone creamy shop, yay, early, but still time for ice-cream, help cool us down as by now it is scorching.  Damn, don’t open until 11am, still 15 minutes to go.  Cross to the other side so Q can view the beach, the Royal Hawaiian in the distance, slowly go to the next block, head back, arrive at Cold Stone at 10.55am, sit wait, it opens, we cool down.  Bliss, time to head back to the car.

Head home to Kailua, dip in the pool, which to Q’s amusement I found freezing, he found wonderfully refreshing.  I dipped then sat in the sun, he relaxed.

Head down to Kailua town, look around the shops, all pretty high end, have a late lunch, early dinner as it is now 3pm.  Pizza at Californian Kitchen, with yummy peach lemonade.  Not fizzy lemonade, but the old fashioned home made.  They had Strawberry, raspberry, mango and peach.  I asked our waitress which was the best flavour, she said peach, so I tried it, it was!

By the time we get home it is after 5, relax a little, get everything ready for tomorrows early start.  Heat up left over pizza for dinner, go to bed.  *sigh* long but good day.