Jess awoke before the alarm, feeling well-rested but warm. Jer turned the A/C on and dozed, while Jess wrote in this journal and then packed her daypack. The shower was just as nice as the room (plenty of hot water, great pressure), easing us into the day. Jer did a bit of work, then got ready to head down to the Aqua Coconut Waikiki’s free continental breakfast. There was quite a spread in the lobby: juice, coffee, tea, fruit (including fresh pineapple), pastries, muffins, hard-boiled eggs, cereal and the piece-de-resistance: DIY mini Belgian waffles. We ate well.
Once full, we headed out and walked along the canal for a bit (and Jer found a baseball cap to replace the one he’d mislaid!), then headed down to Waikiki Beach. It was fun to walk in the sand, seeing the sunbathers, surfers, boogieboarders and families all enjoying the powdery white sand. Jess was quite taken with the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, an ornate pink palace with a prime location. We passed lots of hotels of various degrees of luxuriousness, before eventually reaching the Honolulu Zoo.
The Honolulu Zoo reminded us a bit of the Central Park Zoo, an oasis in the midst of a busy city. While not huge, it was a nice little zoo with small habitats, rather than cages, for most animals. We saw Hawaiian nene geese (which have cute faces), along with a wide array of non-native birds (everything from scarlet ibis to superb starlings to birds of paradise). They also had lots of mammals (sun bears, cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, hippos, rhinos, tigers, etc.) and reptiles (including a wide variety of skinks, plus a cute komodo dragon). The keiki (children’s) zoo was quite cute — we patted a tortoise and a bearded lizard, and Jess was quite taken with a miniature horse named Hoku ("star" in Hawaiian).
Even though it was small, we took our time and explored, so it was 1 pm by the time we were done. We headed to Teddy’s Bigger Burgers, across the street. We had a "50% off your 2nd combo" coupon, so Jer got a 7 oz burger with bacon and Swiss, while Jess got a regular 5 oz burger. Both came with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and "special sauce", and the fries were excellent. We were quite pleased with our meal — it wasn’t particularly exciting, but it was solid.
Our tummies full, we headed down the street to the Waikiki Aquarium. Though it is small, its exhibits were well-labeled and informative. We were particularly interested in the displays about coral and Hawaiian tropical fish (many of which Jer had seen while snorkeling on the North Shore). Other notable items included a good array of jellyfish and a tank of sea dragons (which looked like a cross between seahorses and seaweed). Jess loved the Hawaiian monk seals (they were cute, even while asleep), and we learned a lot about colorful Pacific clams and got to hold a tiny hermit crab and touch a spiny sea urchin.
When we left the Waikiki Aquarium, we debated going back to our hotel, only to realize that the bus only ran to Hanauma Bay for another three hours. So we located a No. 22 bus stop and took the long ride past Diamond Head. At Hanauma Bay, we had to watch a 9-minute video on safety and conservation before we could go to the beach, change and rent gear. The part of the Bay we snorkeled in was very shallow, so we were up-close-and-personal with the fish (and sea anemones). The water was pretty murky, though, and Jess was rather nervous about being so close to the coral, so it wasn’t ideal. We weren’t able to stay for the twice-monthly night snorkeling, due to the bus schedules. All in all, we found Hanauma Bay a bit disappointing. If we had the opportunity to go back, we would swim out past the shallows and try to get to the deeper waters (where sea turtles are sometimes seen).
Because we’d arrived so late, we’d decided not to try to catch the No. 22 bus back, since it left an hour after we got there, so we wouldn’t have had time to snorkel. Instead, we took our time, and then walked two miles to the No. 23 bus stop. It was all either downhill or flat, so it was an easy walk with great views of the sunset over the coastline. When we reached Hawaiia Kai Town Center, by the bus stop, there was a Roy’s Restaurant (part of an upscale Hawaiian fusion chain). Jess really wanted to go there, but the bus didn’t run late enough. We caught the No. 23 bus back to Waikiki, and Jer used his Treo to locate a Roy’s Restaurant in Waikiki, and it turned out to be only a few blocks down the street from our hotel! We called and made reservations, but ended up going straight there from the bus stop. Even though we were a half-hour early, they seated us promptly. The service was fabulous, friendly and attentive but not smothering. Our waiter described the various items and made recommendations. Jess had tasty blue crab crabcakes in a tropical butter sauce, followed by a delicious macadamia nut-crusted goat cheese and baby arugula salad with grapefruit-tarragon dressing. Jer had a wondeful asparagus and bacon soup, followed by their signature blackened ahi (which was raw in the center and seared on the edges). The desserts were stellar: the pineapple upside-down cake was the best Jess had ever had, and Jer’s chocolate lava cake was perfect.
Full and happy, we wandered back to the Aqua Coconut Waikiki, hung up our snorkel stuff and slid into bed.