Hawaii Underwater

Forgot to say that we went on a submarine tour yesterday.
It was pretty cool - one of those tourist submarines with lots of portholes.

A boat took us out to one of the submarines. (There were two - one was the premier sub - perhaps with bigger portholes?)

We watched the first one dive and that was when it hit me that we were actually going under the water. A peculiar feeling - but too late to change my mind.

When you're actually inside the thing, it's fine. It was quite light and airy - not claustrophobic at all. It was quite amazing watching the depth indicator showing how far down we were going. Maximum depth was 122 feet - not bad - and what was really interesting was how colours change as you go further down.
My skirt was bright pink - and that got brighter. (Apparently neon colours do that) But the girl next to me was wearing a  dark green dress - which ended up going grey.

We spent an hour under the water and were supposed to see things like this: -

 

And we did - but my photos ended up more like this: -

 

 

 

Those fish swim pretty fast!

 

It was amazing - and they showed us two boats and two planes which had been sunken to create artificial reefs. That's where all the fish hang out. So there were long stretches of drifting seaweed and rocks and then suddenly lots of activity around the reefs - which you missed, if you weren't on the ball with the camera.

 

A good way to see Hawaii from down below.

Thursday 2 May 2013

Had a glorious breakfast outdoors by the pool - lots of different kinds of fruit, a coconut theme to everything, and a chef who cooks you eggs on demand.

(These Hawaiians know how to do the right kind of weather, I must say!)

Took a drive to the west of the island today to a fancy resort at Ko Olina. It was extremely exclusive - with its own beach and koi carp pool.

Unfortunately, it also turned out to be a disney theme resort so we stumbled on Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck posing for photos with kids. (Why Minnie, I wonder? Who likes Minnie?)

There were disney themed motifs everywhere too and so it wasn't quite as sophisticated as it might have been. However, the pool, lobby and whole grounds were absolutely magnificent - so we wandered around, posing as guests. (How could they tell?) And had a nap on a lovely couch on the verandah, dabbled our feet in the water and acted quite posh (so I think we fitted in).

We had lunch at one of the cafes on the beach, so we weren't entirely freeloading.

Here's the little lobby below: -

 

We didn't see the tasteful disney themed beach - but it gives you an idea of the size of the place!

Dinner - Wednesday 1 May 2013

Discovered a fantastic little Italian restaurant last night - called "Il Lupino" (little wolf?) just close to the hotel.

You know you're in the right kind of place when they bring you warm bread without asking - and automatically refill it as well - and drizzle good olive oil and balsamic vinegar into a dish to dip the bread in.

Entree was a plate of freshly sliced slivers of prosciutto and two other slightly different, yet very similar, types of cured meat. (The waiter told us what they were we were too hungry to take it all in.) Then there were three types of cheese - brie and something else and something else - and then three or four types of condiment - mustard, wasabi, something orange that looked like jam but tasted like horseradish - and possibly something else.

That was for Jim, and I had marinated peppers with goat's cheese and arugula - which was also delicious.

We both had pasta for main course. Mine was tagliatelle bolognese - with a heavenly sauce of pork and veal - and Jim's was linguine alla pescatore - plus a small bowl for the shells (another good sign). Waiters hovered with parmesan, cracked pepper and whatever else. We also had an extremely good red wine, recommended by the waiter. And all this for less than it would have cost in Melbourne.

We booked a table for the next night - this time outside so we can eat by the light of the typical Hawaiian gas torches.

Aaahh.... I can feel myself relaxing.......

TRIP TO HAWAII

Mary & Jim










Wednesday 1 May 2013

This is the image I have of Hawaii. Let's see if it turns out to be true!

Well, we're here!

Weather is balmy - as it always is apparently.

The flight was okay - but was interested to see that QANTAS use iPads as inflight entertainment. They have a velcro strap to attach them to the back of the seat and have large stickers on them saying that you have to make sure not to "inadvertently" remove them from the plane as they have security tags installed. Not sure what will happen if you try to sneak one off - alarms, bells, whistles etc.

At Honolulu Airport, there was a man in an Hawaiian shirt employed to say "Aloha" to every passenger. As we were at the back of the plane, he must have said it 350 times already before we got to him. To his credit, he was still cheerful.

We are staying at the Sheraton Waikiki, which is like any other big hotel - except that it's right on the beach. The pool, which we've only just looked at, juts out over the ocean.

Our room wasn't ready when we arrived so we sat near the pool and looked enviously at those dressed appropriately for the weather. (We still had Melbourne Winter clothes on.)