Hawaii...Dolphin adventure and Scenic drives

Day 4: Sunday

A local friend that we made during our customary night walks on Waikiki beach recommended us to try out breakfast at Sarento’s, top of the Waikiki Ilikai beach hotel and he gave us free invitations for Sunday breakfast that was otherwise not available, as the restaurant is open normally only for dinner. The ride up in the glass elevator to this restaurant was an event in itself, and the romantic view from there, of the Diamond Head crater, Waikiki beach and Honolulu’s skyline was a treat in itself. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, pastries and muffins complimented with fresh tropical fruit and tropical fruit juices.

Niki had a 1 pm appointment for swimming with the dolphins at the Sea Life Park, so we rescheduled our shark adventure to Tuesday. We took the Pali Highway and passed through a tunnel formed by trees and circled around Waimanalo to the east of Oahu, yet another breathtakingly beautiful and scenic drive. Thank God for the GPS!!! We parked our car at the Makapu’u beach park and hiked up to Makapu’u point. This was a beautiful hike and not too difficult. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. We spotted a couple of hump back whales from the top of the lookout and close to the rocks, some sea turtles were swimming. Meg got a thrill out of the sea turtles.

Niki couldn’t wait to get in the water with the dolphins, so she kept nagging us to go to the Sea Life Park. The park reminded me so much of the movie ‘50 first dates’ where Adam Sandler worked as a marine biologist in the Sea Life Park and spoke to the dolphins, penguins and sea lions as he worked around charming Drew Barrymore. I made up my mind to watch the movie once again. The park had a great view of the ocean, it was situated in a lagoon, but it was small compared to the enormous Sea World. We passed some baby sharks and sea turtles and Meg got yet another thrill. She seemed to like the sea turtles a lot. There was a sea lion show going on and few sea lions were performing in a beauty pageant.
We checked in for the dolphin swim adventure and there were 8 people in Niki’s group. I was surprised that she was the only child in her group, while the other children were enrolled in the Dolphin encounter, a shallow water experience. After wearing life jackets and a brief orientation by the trainer, they got into the water. The dolphin shook Niki’s hand and kissed her. After kissing her, it clapped its hands. It didn’t clap for anyone else, just for Niki and she was excited about that. Next the dolphin gave her a ride on its belly half-way across the pool, which was the best thrill. Then she got to pet the dolphins and also watch them from underwater, while the trainer took a Zoology class and educated her about the amazing mammals. I caught it all on video; it was a memorable adventure for Niki.

We ate a late lunch at the restaurant in Sea Life Park. I had grilled mahi mahi and Rajesh ate a bowl of chili, Niki had a hot dog and Meg ate a slice of pizza. We proceeded to check out the Diamond Head crater, which is an extinct volcano. Everyone was hiking up on foot, but we were tired, so we went in by car and found ourselves in the bowl of the volcano. Rajesh is always intrigued by volcanoes and he gave us a commentary straight out of National Geography about volcanoes and lava that put us to sleep and in minutes we were snoring. So he quietly drove us over to the hotel, and we took a short nap.

That evening, we were ready for our customary walk on Waikiki beach, it never bored us. The nightlife out there is very entertaining. The streets are lit with fire torches and lined with entertainers - musicians, iron man, Hawaiian Elmo etc. The beachfront is filled with pubs and restaurants, also lit with fire torches and Hawaiian music playing everywhere. Tourists garlanded Duke Kahanamoku’s statue on the beach with their leis. The Duke was the one who introduced surfing to Hawaii and he was also a Hollywood actor as well as an ambassador of Hawaii’s customs and traditions.

The same friend who recommended Sarento’s recommended us to eat at Duke’s on Waikiki beach. We walked by the place and it was packed with people dancing, loud music and drums. We watched for a while, as we helped Meg make a sand castle and Niki loitered in the water. We decided that Duke’s wasn’t appropriate for us with the kids in tow, so Niki suggested Cheese Cake Factory.

The wait to sit on their patio was 1 hour, we didn’t mind as we were not that hungry. So to build our appetite, we walked the length and breadth of Waikiki and did some shopping in the International Market Place before we were seated for a delicious dinner. Niki kept dance- walking the hula on the streets that one vendor suggested that I enroll her in hula classes in NY. We ordered a lot and wrapped up the leftovers for a homeless girl whom we saw every night by the Waikiki police station. The CCF had papaya cheese cake in their specialty of the day, but none of us like papaya and also there was no room for dessert. We walked some more and shopped a bit at the ABC stores and Niki gave our leftover food to the homeless girl. She thanked us profusely and started eating immediately. Niki felt so sorry for her and just couldn’t stop staring at her, so Rajesh encouraged her to give her $10. Niki went over and the girl said that the food was delicious and God bless you!

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