Waikiki, HI

Wednesday 14 Dec

Mark and I went for a morning walk along the beach front up to Diamond Head and back. This round trip takes about 50 minutes from our hotel. There were a lot of joggers out too and it was rather reminiscent of the Bondi promenade of a morning. The waves were rolling in and there were lots of surfers out on both normal and stand up boards. Although the sun was out early, the forecast was for clouds to roll in later during the day.

We headed down to breakfast fairly smartly so that we could pick up the 10am shuttle out to the Waikele shopping outlet. This, believe it or not, was Marks idea. I was happy to give Waikele a miss this time. Really, my preferred one and only shopping item would simply be the Westin bed that we slept in last night. The Sheraton Kauai Hotel was lovely but their beds killed both of our backs!

We took the 10 am Waikele shuttle from Dukes statue this time as the two Hotel shuttles were sold out!

We originally planned to return on the 3.30pm shuttle. Our plans changed though as we ran out of hands to carry the shopping bags so we left earlier, catching the 2pm shuttle. You could spend a week at the place though hunting down bargains etc but, really, you need to be very committed. Anyway, I’m glad we can tick off the ‘shopping’ from our ‘to- do’ list. Strangely, as you drive out of the massive shopping outlet, you pass ‘Aces Aba’, a venue for Spiritual Healing and Renewal. What a hoot! The juxtapositions just keep on coming!

Once back at the hotel we dropped our bags and headed next door to Duke’s, at the Outrigger, for a very late lunch. From there we headed back to the Moana and to the Banyan Tree Terrace. This is one of the most luxurious places in all of Waikiki and we were so lucky to be here! We were due to meet up with some people we had met on our day tour in Kauai; Alan, Maria and Gina. We had a nice evening with them chatting over some drinks and bar food whilst watching the sunset over the water and listening to a live band play Hawaiian music. A funny moment passed during the night though as the males were discussing sport. Now, Alan is a man who loves his sport but he had never, ever, heard of cricket. I don’t know what was funniest….Mark’s face when Alan said he didn’t know what cricket was or Mark trying to describe cricket to him with references and analogies to baseball! This was one of those….’glad to be alive’ moments. We’ve exchanged e-mails etc with them and a firm promise to visit them in Rhode Island soon.