After hitting the buffet we headed over to Diamondhead, which is a big old volcanic crater that overlooks Waikiki and Honolulu. The guidebook said it was less than a mile and took about 30 minutes to get up there. It failed to mention that the trail is almost completely vertical.
Okay, so not entirely vertical, but it was a bit sadistic -- every time you think you got to the top you'd round a corner and there'd be another staircase or tunnel or ramp waiting for you.
Luckily, the view from up there was totally worth it, so after a few bouts of catching our breath (the 2% incline I generally use on the treadmill turned out to be woefully inadequate), we got to look around in the wonderful breeze and see the entire crater laid out in front of us, with all the hi-rise hotels of Waikiki beyond it. From up there you could really see all the reefs too, the water is incredibly clear.
After a much easier trip down, we went to the Spitting Cave of Portlock, which was a little cave at the base of some rocks that violently erupted when the incoming waves hit it just right. Katy took a movie of it that you can watch here.
We tried to get into Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling, but parking was full so we moved on.
We drove by the beach where they filmed the scene in From Here To Eternity, which was actually smaller than I thought. And it looked pretty impossible to get down to, but there were people down there and I don't think they parachuted in, so there must be a way.
Next we hit the Valley of the Temples, which a large cemetery that includes temples from a bunch of different religions. We were there to see Byodo-In Temple, which is replica of a 900-year-old Buddhist temple in Japan. It's the temple where they filmed Sun and Jin getting married on Lost!
Finally after taking the H3 highway through the canyon and mountains back to the hotel ($100M per mile for the elevated highway, no joke), we headed back to Hanauma Bay and managed to get in easily this time. We had a good time snorkeling and chasing fish around trying to take their pictures with the underwater camera rig we brought (an old digital camera of ours and a waterproof enclosure I got on ebay). While we were in the middle of snorkeling there was a huge downpour for about 5 minutes, which is not uncommon in Hawaii based on my 3 days of experience. Pretty odd to be out in the Ocean while it's absolutely pouring rain on you.
Two fish videos:
Below and Above and Below
Get back here!
And our photostream for the day is here.
Tomorrow: Downtown!
(since I'm paying attention to the blog for the moment and can nuke any spam that strikes, I'm re-enabling comments on these entries)
Your pictures have been absolutely beautiful! Your commentary is informative and colorful as well.:-) I look forward to checking each morning to see what you have posted. Be on the lookout for celebrities. I've read that Hilary Swank and Julia Roberts are vacationing in Hawaii.