Honest to Blog: Hawaii Day 3- A day of Snorkel

Aloha!

On our 3rd day in beautiful Oahu, we basically hung out by the beach and pool all day long. We woke up around 6ish and went on a beautiful sunrise run on the beach. It was amazing, I am glad that not many people were up though...because I am 110% sure, I looked like death. It was just a few miles, and a pretty easy run along the beach. There was a herd of cats that basically are beach bums, and I may be a bit jealous of, that I followed around for a bit. Then went back to Aulani, had some breakfast, and basically headed straight on down to the beach. This day was mostly cloudy with occasional sun breaks, so it seemed weird that it was only a beach day, but dammit, we were determined!

A few highlights of this day....we were just relaxing all cool, and shooting b-ball? No, we really were just relaxing..but from out of nowhere, there was all this commotion on the left hand side of the beach. Apparently a monk seal had drifted in and was just hanging out in the lagoon. This lady, who I swear was wearing a bonnet, flipped the shit, and started yelling and running to her child "JOHN HENRY!!!!, JOHN HENRY!!! ITS A SEAL!! A SEAL JOHN HENRY!! ITS A MONK SEAL!! THERE!!!

Hahahah I could hardly contain my laughter, JOHN HENRY! Bahahah

This is John Henrys Mum..Yes, I was creepy and snapped a shot.

We also ordered delicious lava flow drinks which is this amazing tropical colada drink with strawberry, seriously amazing!!!

And of course, sweet potato fries. Yum! Nothing like camping out on the beach with drink in hand enjoying the scenery.

Yum

Since we did not have much planned for the day, we decided to try out some snorkeling in the lagoon. Aulani has this really awesome pool thing, where they have a pool filled with a reef, and all different types of fish and stuff too, that you can go in and snorkel, but #1), its cold, and 2.) I don't want my ass floating to the surface for all to see while my face is planted in the water...I know it does the same in the ocean, but for some reason the pool was different to me.

So we rented snorkel gear for us so we could go out into the lagoon. The guy who rented the gear out told me, "Yeah, if you are lucky, there is a 3 legged turtle that hangs out in the lagoon, you might see him"

Me: "Oh thats so sweet, he is polydactyl...

Him: Ummm no...he is missing one...

Me: Oh.

Maybe I shouldn't be allowed to speak to strangers...haha but seriously.

So anyway, grabbed our gear, and went out into the lagoon. The water was pretty cold, since it wasn't very sunny at all this day, but I was a brave little camper, and went out to the rocks. I ended up seeing the 3 legged turtle, an eel (EEK), and many other fishies. The water could have been a bit more clear, but I will blame that on the dark clouds above me, and not the lagoon.

After about 30 minutes, I got tired and went back in and continued to get my sun...or cloud on.

After a little while, once everyone had come back in from snorkeling, we decided to walk around the sidewalk/boardwalk area thing that follows the ocean, and the resorts all along the coast line. This is the west shore of the island, so it is actually WAY less populated then the Waikiki side, and to be honest, it was so much better. I think I would have hated having to stay on the other side..I mean..it is still Hawaii...but naww mean?

Took a few pictures from our walk..

See..pretty grey?

Aulani is on the right

Lookin a wee haggard aren't we beks?

A self shot? Why not

After our walk, we basically were kind of spent from spending the day at the beach and pool and going on water slides into the pool...yeah I may have thrown some elbows into some kids faces to be first in line...so what? Judge me.

Later that night, we had planned on going to Roys, that was right across the street from our hotel. Roys, is this pretty nice restaurant, and it is on a golf course, and serves asian fusion type food. Well, lo and behold, after listening to the news, the Roys' that we were supposed to go to, had burned down!! We had gone the night before, just to make sure it was within walking distance to our hotel, and it seemed dark for a Monday night, but to be honest, we didn't think TOO much of it. Well whaddaya know!?!? IT was because it was black...not the lights turned off. Hah.

So anyway, fortunately for us, they have another one in Waikiki. So we got all gussied up, and made the journey to the great wide open...of the city.

Not too many pics of this...well really none at all, except for a self portrait in the elevator.

Actually, I know I took pics of my food...but they are on my Droid...and haven't gotten my pics off that phone yet. Le Sigh.

Beks, over here

Think I am getting this self portrait thing down.

So we walked around downtown Waikiki for a little while before our dinner reservation. It doesn't even look like Hawaii. There are Louis Vuitton, Coach, Prada, Fendi, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, and Sephora shops up and down the strip, and ick...just not what I want to see when I am in Hawaii. So we only looked around for a little bit, then found our restaurant.

The food was delicious! Since our food was going to take a little bit longer for them to bring out due to the volume of them taking on the other burned down Roys' reservations, they brought us these cheesy risotto cakes. Seriously amazing, and crab cakes...and I really cannot even remember all that was on this platter of goodness, but I died a little bit. I had a cocktail, that was super good and again, cannot remember what was in it, but knew that it made me warm and fuzzy. For dinner, I had salmon that was encrusted with macadamia nuts with fresh asparagus and mashed potatoes. Oh.Em.Gee. Seriously. So amazing. I need to really start branching out when I go to restaurants, because every time I do, there are seriously some amazing dishes out there, that I cannot make myself.. Weird.

Anyway, after dinner, which took a few hours, and was so amazing and wonderful and just one of those with such good conversation that you have the warm fuzzies...or maybe that was my cocktail...? Anyway, I digress.

We went to dessert at Cold Stone! Even the Cold Stone is Hawaiian...pretty sure only my Seester will get that reference. But anywayze.

After our ice cream, we found the heep, and headed back to our hotel..

Where we...

Did pong with mom.

Yeahhh...I can't believe I am typing this right now.. You indeed read that correctly,