Day Six: Hang Ten

One of the things on our list of things to do before we die is to learn to surf.  Mission accomplished!  We took surfing lessons today on Waikiki Beach and rocked it!  We both got up and rode a few waves.  They weren't all that big, maybe 1-3 footers, but it was a ton of fun.  It was really tiring though.  We were both sore afterwards.  We would do it again if we had the chance.  It was addictive. After surfing we walked along Waikiki Beach checking out the hotels, restaurants, and shops. One block back from the beach is the International Marketplace which is a cheap souvenir heaven filled with magnets, keychains, $4 t-shirts, etc. Then just outside the Marketplace is every high end store you could ever think of, Ralph Lauren, Coach, Hugo Boss, Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton, etc.

Surfing at Waikiki

Day Five: Diamond Head, Lanikai, and Dukes

Today we headed out to the famous Diamond Head Crater at the east end of Waikiki Beach.  It was a fairly hot and humid day and the hike up to the top was a little strenuous, but we made it. The view, like so many others is terrific.  You can see all of Waikiki Beach and Honolulu from there.  We would have stayed longer except the gnats were really bad.  

We split up after Diamond Head.  Big Jer and Bobbie took a drive up to Lanikai, voted the #1 beach in the U.S. 

TG and MB headed into Waikiki to goto Hilo Hatties(souveniers) and Dukes(popular beach restaurant).  We've heard that Hilo Hatties is the place to get your souveniers because they have everything and they're inexpensive...wrong on both accounts.  The store at the Ala Moana Mall is small and they don't have much beside Hawaiin shirts and Macadamia nuts.  What TG did leave with though, was a gorgeous set of lavender pearl earrings and a white, pink, peach, and lavender pearl necklace.  Plus, she got to crack open a live oyster and there were two black pearls inside which were made into earrings for Bobbie.

Dukes is right on the beach and named after famous surfer and Olympian Duke Kahanamoku. We had Lava flows and fish tacos of course.  Delicious.  The food is good and the wait staff is friendly, plus it sits right in the middle of Waikiki so you can't go wrong.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.  We are going surfing!

Day Four: Recovery

The day on Maui really took it out of us, so since it's raining today, we've decided to relax and go to the spa.  Swedish massage for the ladies and hydro-massage for the guys.  The spa, like everything else here is awesome.  Roman pool, cold plunge pool, sauna, steam room, and lounge with all the green tea you can drink!  For dinner we headed over to the the golf course to eat at Roy's.  Great food, Ahi, swordfish, butterfish, and Kanpachi.  Even better drinks and desserts.  We should be fully recovered and ready for the next big adventure tomorrow.

TG and MB at dinner

Big Jer and Bobbie at dinner

Day Three: Marvelous Maui

We were up this morning at 3:15am to catch a 5:00am flight to Maui.  On the agenda today, snorkeling at Molokini Crater, Turtles Arches, whale watching, and up to Haleakala Crater.  We go on the boat at Maalaea Harbor.  Our tour group was the Pacific Whale Foundation(we highly recommend).  Not even 5 minutes out, a humpback whale came up right next to the boat!  It was TG, Bobbie, and Jerry's first time snorkeling in the ocean and we all had a super fun time!  The colorful fish and coral are spectacular.  The green sea turtles stole the show though.  TG and Bobbie got to touch a red sea urchin.  It was slimy but cool.  On the ride back to the harbor we saw several humpback whales.  That was thrilling.

 Ride out to crater

 Big Jer getting his snorkel on

                                             

 Movie of snorkeling (listen for the whales)

Whale tail

After snorkeling we headed up the Haleakala Crater.  The road is steep with a million curves.  There are a lot of furry cows right along the road.  At around 8000 feet the clouds were actually below us.  The views from the summit are jaw-dropping.  We even saw Mauna Kea that's on the big island.  It was only about 45 degrees there and really windy.  Everything looked like Mars.  It was a lot different than the tropical valley below.  We loved it!

Park entrance

View from summit

We made it!

Day Two: The North Shore

Aloha. Today we went to The North Shore.  The water was a little colder here than it is by the hotel, so even though it is sunny, it is quite a shock when you first get in.

Waimea Beach is a great beach, very popular with the locals. There is sand volleyball, vendors selling t-shirts, grills to cook out, and more importantly, showers to rinse off. 

Not far from the beach is Waimea Valley, which is a botanical garden and waterfall...incredible! Beneath the waterfall there is a pond which is 30 feet deep, so you can go swimming if you like, but the water is freezing cold since very little sunlight makes it back there.

In front of the Botanical Garden entrance there are wild peacocks just walking around everywhere. We found one and apparently the peacock had a bit of a thing for Jerry because he was willing to go in the car to find him.

Then he moved on to finding a suitable mate. When peacocks are flirting they fan their feathers out. In the picture below you can see just to the right of the green trash can there is a chicken. I think this peacock was a little confused which species he was supposed to be flirting with. 

When the chicken ignored him, he gave up and moved onto his next target. Once again, not his species, but he didn't seem to care.

Tomorrow we are off to Maui to go whale watching, snorkeling, swimming with turtles, and driving up to Haleakala Crater.

Aloha: Day One

Aloha! We are finally here! Our hotel is the Marriott Ko Olina, and it has a couple buildings. We found out that the building we are staying in has only been open 2 weeks! The views are just incredible from the balcony. We are on the 8th floor (which is just about as high as I will go).

Looking over the pools, lagoons, and Pacific.

We hit the beach the first day and just relaxed.  We tried our hand at snorkeling.  There were some pretty cool fish.  The trumpet fish was the coolest.  Then we went to the Paradise Cove Luau. This is just down the street from our hotel so we thought we would walk. This was a great idea for going TO the luau, not so much a great idea coming back FROM the luau. It seems a lot longer when you have had a couple mai tai's and lava flows in you.

At the luau they have a pig roast, games, and they teach you how to do the hula.  Tg was very upse that they did not serve the state fish at the luau: Humuhumunukunukuapa'a. Day two: off to the North Shore to see Sunset Beach and the Banzai Pipeline!  Then we are going to Lanikai Beach, voted #1 beach in the U.S.

As Skynyrd once sang, "Sweet Deal Alabama"

New blog for TG and MB so enjoy.  

Great trip today to Scottsboro, Alabama, home of the Unclaimed Baggage Center.  That's right,  this is a mega-store full of lost luggage from airlines, trains, and buses.  They have luggage, clothes, shoes, jewelry, cameras, cell phones, computers, golf clubs, and on and on.  Basically, anything that's been lost they have..and cheap too.  It took us just under an hour to get there from the Nooga and was well worth the drive.  TG got a Kate Spade beach bag for $4 and a brand new High Sierra rolling carry-on for $85.  It retails for $260.  Kate Spade?  Never heard of her, but I guess she's some fufu designer, so TG is stoked.

TG with the goods.

MB with the goods.

We got some tips from the sales lady.  The first week of November is when they have their ski sale, which apparently is huge.  April is the time to go to get the unclaimed baggage from Thanksgiving and Christmas.

TG browsing men's lingerie

Here's the website.  Check it out.  We found out about it while watching Mega Super Stores on the Travel Channel. 

Off to Hawaii in 2 weeks!  Look for more awesome pics!