Hawaii Part 5

So after last post’s lazy Saturday we figured, with only 2 full days left in Hawaii, that we’d better get out there and have a few more adventures!

Sunday, Oct. 16:

Once we finally dragged ourselves out of bed we hit the streets and treated ourselves to IHOP for breakfast. Not very Hawaiian…but we were craving ” real” breakfast for once! After breakfast (delicious cinna-stacks french toast for me and a eggs/toast/bacon/pancakes for the Mr.) we wandered through the International Market again.

Above: us goofing off on a surfboard faux-to-booth area, koi fish in the pond, view of the market from the second floor

Continuing down the street we hit up Cold Stone Creamery for lunch. Healthy right?! Still ice cream really does hit the spot on a hot day in Hawaii.

rasberry sorbet for me – cookie dough for the Mr.

We enjoyed our tasty but rapidly melting treat as we headed east, away from our hotel and the main Waikiki beach. We’d never walked this way before as we assumed there wasn’t much to be seen but we were surprised because we found another beach (albeit a really rocky one), a band shell where someone was doing a small Sunday afternoon opera performance, and a close up view of Diamond Head.

Diamond Head

However, our real destination that afternoon was the Waikiki Aquarium. It’s located next to the beach, a living reef, Kapiolani Park, and the Honolulu zoo is their neighbor. The aquarium is small and you can venture through the entire place in less than an hour but it’s home to a lot of local aquatic creatures, has a huge jelly fish tank, is the home of one monk seal, a display featuring a nautilus (very rare!), and they are raising their own giant clams also.

An audio tour came free with admission which was nice. Mr.C and I were right on time to see the monk seal’s feeding and the rest of the time, after a run-through of the whole aquarium, split the rest of our time between the jelly fish tank and the Hunters of the Reef exhibit, a floor to ceiling 35,000 gallon tank teeming with black tip sharks, stingrays, jacks, and groupers – all common predators found in Hawaiian reefs.

Another amazing display was the 5,500 gallon Barrier Reef display. It was large, colorful, and hosted over a hundred different species of fish. Several giant clams are in this display as well. The over 30 year old clams are huge (!) 170-pound behemoths.

Consider the photos below your “Mr.C & Me” private tour of the Waikiki Aquarium:

And yes, we did find Nemo!

After our visit to the aquarium, we took a quick stroll on the beach before heading back to the hotel for a quick siesta. Then it was back out to the beach to catch the sunset. Finally one with minimal clouds!!

Once it got dark we wandered around town snatching up great deals on souvenirs & gifts. Of course we once again ended up at the International Market! Besides great prices on souvenirs there was also a steel drum show going on at the main stage. We decided to grab some dinner and listen to the island sound. We ordered spicy chicken & pork kabobs which were really good. Not as delicious as the meat we got from the Buk Buk Kitchen but still tasty!

We weren’t quite full so we grabbed a plate of garlic shrimp to share from a shop in the food court – Blue Water Shrimp & Fish Market. It had rave reviews online – we thought it was quite good. Large shrimp, the freshest most delicious pineapple we’d had since being in Hawaii, and an amazing sauce for the shrimp. And the plate looked pretty too, no?

Needless to say after all that delicious food and our big day it was time to head back to the hotel and gear up for our last full day in Hawaii!

Join us for our next post, “Hawaii Part 6“, in which we travel to Hanauma Bay, snorkel, get sunburned, and enjoy our last Hawaiian sunset. I must have told Mr.C that I didn’t want to leave and that I was staying in Hawaii more than a zillion times during our last few days. Seriously. Hawaii is amazing!! I need a “Hana Ho!”(Hawaiian for “encore!”) of this trip.

xo, “Me”