Hawaii: Day 5

Today consisted of mostly re-doing things we wanted to see again. Since we had to check out of our hotel, we left our stuff with the bellhop and wandered off. We went looking for a rental car. Low and behold, who ever thought Jeff and I would end up driving another stick shift Geo Tracker?? Taa-daa! We did, and it was sea-foam green at that. Had no side or rear windows in the back, it was all beat to hell and full of sand, but all we wanted to do was get to the beach for a little more R&R before our day of traveling. We decided to start early because we wanted to see if we could make it to Hanauma Bay before the parking lot filled up and we couldn’t get in. Mission failed. Lot full and closed.

On we went back to MakaPuu Beach, the beach we visited and loved a few days prior. Same as we remember, crystal clear and rough waves. . .perfect. This time it was a little more sea-weedey, but it didn’t slow us down. There was the occasional spaz when seaweed got wrapped around your leg and it gives you a heart attack. It would make me start looking for Portuguese Man o’wars! None found. Nothing found but a swimsuit full of seaweed. . .ick. After a few hours of lounging around we decided to head back to the hotel. On our way back the parking lot for Hanauma Bay was open! So we went on in to take a look. It was quite stunning from the parking lot up on a cliff. You could see the reef and people snorkeling amongst it. By then we didn't have enough time to snorkel, so we decided to save it for our next trip to Hawaii!



Hanauma Bay


We went back to the hotel to clean up. Fortunately for us they had a hospitality type room where we could shower and change. We decided to go to a restaurant we heard about from the ladies at the front desk. It was also listed in the Waikiki Beach section of the book 1000 To See Before You Die. It was called House Without a Key at the Halekulani Hotel. They have outdoor cocktails and Hawaiian music under the century-old Kiawe tree. We could see the performing group and dancing hula girl every night from our hotel room. It was a beautiful setting, especially during sunset over Waikiki Beach.


Our nightly entertainment!




We ordered Mai Tai’s of course and out came the most stunning drink!


Isn't this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen!!



A little while into our meal, it started to sprinkle a little. Fortunately we were just under the roof of the lanai, so we stayed dry. Not 5 minutes later, a double rainbow appeared and looked to be ending right down into the ocean amongst a group of people swimming. This was one of several rainbows during our short 5 days in Hawaii.



Our time was winding down and we headed back to the hotel to collect our belongings and take the taxi ride to the airport for a 10 pm red-eye flight back to Los Angeles.