Here are our pictures from our 2008 trip to Waikiki (for pictures from last year's trip, click here).
We left on Monday, March 3, and
returned on Monday a week later (10:30 PM red-eye flight!).
On the way over, we had a three-hour layover in San Francisco.
Got into Waikiki at about 6 PM, and headed over to our favorite restaurant, Run Sushi.
(Remember, you can click on any image that has a blue border to see a larger version of it -- the big pictures are much better, so don't wimp out and just look at the "thumbnails," OK?)
The next day, after a morning surf session, it was on to Lulu's (also our favorite restaurant) for Macadamia Nut, Coconut, and Marmalade-stuffed French toast.
Back at the hotel, here's a view of the surfing, taken from our balcony (known as a "lanai" in Hawaii).
I surfed for about three hours every day. I'd usually paddle out at 6:30 AM to avoid the heat and sun in the middle of the day.
Now back to Lulu's for happy hour (work, work, work!). Here are some of our drinks:
And here's what we do after happy hour:
Sunset from the lanai -- note surfers in the middle of the shot. We found that having an oceanfront room is well worth the extra cost.
Every night, there was a hula show across from the hotel.
Here's another shot of our lanai.
Wednesday evening was our sunset dinner cruise on the Navatek:
The cruise ship company picked us up on a bus at the hotel, and took us to the ship.
First order of business on the boat is, you guessed it, Happy Hour. This time it's a Lava Flow, and Pina Colada.
The ship is very fast, and we sailed past Diamondhead by dinner time.
Our hotel is just to the right of the orange sailboat.
A show follows dinner, and the hula dancers were quite good.
Here are some videos of the dinner cruise:
OK, the show's a little corny...
This shows Diamondhead from the eastern side.
In this video we're passing Waikiki on the way back to Honolulu.
Our other favorite activity, after surfing and happy hour, was eating unhealthy foods. Here I am downing a Spam Musubi:
When it got too hot on the lanai, we could retreat back into the shade.
I rented my boards from Hawaii Surfboard Rentals. I simply ordered a board online, and they delivered it to the hotel -- it was there in the board locker when we arrived. I started out with a 10 foot board, and later swapped it for an eleven foot monster when the waves got smaller.
Here are some shots of the hotel (the Resortquest Waikiki Circle) and the beach in front of it, plus dazzling photos of the beds, bathroom, and elevator!
After another sushi dinner
we walked down the street to see the Society of Seven show. This group has been putting on a show six nights a week for forty years, and they know how to entertain. Best part: impressions of Stevie Wonder, Catherine Hepburn, and Ray Charles.
Happy hour on Friday was at the Oceanarium, a restaurant/bar with tables next to a huge aquarium featuring four large rays.
We hiked down the beach to the Hilton Hawaiian Village to watch the fireworks on the beach.
The next adventure involved building huge appetites for more unhealthy dining, namely, hiking up Diamondhead. We would have liked to start predawn, but we wanted to take a bus to the base of the mountain. So we waited until 7 AM when the busses started running.
But the bus never arrived, so we went to plan B: hike to the mountain and up it.
It took about an hour to get to the crater.
The hike wasn't too bad, but it was hot.
The final part of the ascent includes a 150-foot tunnel and a lot of stairs.
Here's the view from the top:
This shot looks down into the crater.
Here's a video I took from the top:
After our descent, we visited a farmer's market and had corn, watermelon juice, and boiled, wet peanuts. We then hiked around the other side of the crater to get back to the hotel.
Having built up a big appetite, we split a cheeseburger at another favorite restaurant: Cheeseburger in Paradise.
Followed by surfing, swimming, napping and more sunsets on the lanai.
On Tuesday and Sunday I met up with my Early Retirement Forum buddy, "Nords," and (on Sunday) his daughter for a surfing session. In this photo, daughter has Nords' board, he has mine (center -- this is the eleven foot monster I referred to), and I'm standing with hers.
If you look carefully, you get to see the blood caused by a coral cut on my right foot.
Here's a shot of the nightly hula show by our hotel:
On our last day, we headed over to the Hyatt Regency for dim sum. There are a lot of Japanese weddings that take place here.
In the afternoon we hung out, rode around on the Hilo Hattie's shuttle...
...and of course, stopped at Lulu's for one last happy hour.
Since it was our last day, we had to get the postcards written and sent out.
At this popular boogie board spot, some of the riders would catch a wave that would take them over the wall.
A lot of surfers had racks like this that let them carry their board on their bicycle.
Lena took a last wade in the ocean,
we had a deep-fried tofu burger at Cheeseburger in Paradise...
...and it was off to the airport on the city bus.
The red-eye flight was long, and we got back home the next day.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures!
The End
