The following day was all about exploring Waikiki, so I spent the morning wandering up its expansive Main Street, most of which is filled with shops I didn’t have the faintest chance of affording, but I enjoyed window-shopping the designer clothes and jewellery anyway. A girl can dream, right? Indeed, most of my shopping ended up coming from the numerous ABC Stores that line every corner, convenience stores where you can get everything from food and drink to souvenirs.
In the afternoon, I’d booked onto one
of the hostel activities, an afternoon catamaran tour for $40. We were picked
up from the hostel and driven down to the waterfront where we boarded a
catamaran and head out to sea. As we cruised, we had great views of Waikiki
from a different angle than one would get from walking along the streets. After
a while, we stopped and were given free rein to snorkel, or use the provided
ocean trampoline, stand up paddleboards or kayaks.
There was a green sea turtle swimming
around our boat, so I immediately chucked on a snorkel and jumped in to follow
it (at a safe distance of course!), hovering at the surface of the water as the
turtle dived and watching it munch on delicious sea floor for a while. This was
a really special experience as they aren’t the most common of creatures and
once they dive, are pretty impossible to find, unless you catch them in the
act, like I had.
Having admired the turtle for long
enough, I headed back to the boat and hauled a kayak into the ocean where I
spent a while cruising the high seas and being glad that I hadn’t opted to take
a SUP out instead as it would have been near impossible to stand up with the
shallow waves that rolled across the ocean.
All that activity had worn me out, and
so I spent the rest of the afternoon draipsed across the ocean trampoline,
chatting and laughing with some of the girls from the hostel. I thought such a
trip was a great idea, as it gave us the opportunity to immediately get to know
people in our hostel, something which isn’t always the easiest thing to do.
This made such a difference to the rest of my time in Hawaii, and definitely
added to my enjoyment.
Shave ice was top of my list for
things to eat in Hawaii, and I’d asked at reception earlier that day where was
best to go. She had suggested a spot in downtown that served superb shave ice,
but in portions large enough you’d need someone to share with. Lucky for me,
the catamaran tour had found me a friend I could share with, and so we headed
off to Ice Monster.
Outside the store, a member of staff
sat with a ‘spin the wheel’ to win various toppings or money off your ice.
Being so very lucky, I of course didn’t win anything, but my friend did,
meaning we’d be able to top our ice with boba. What’s more, is that we were
permitted to try as many flavours as we wanted, which of course we did, before
settling on mango.
What an excellent decision, as we were
presented with a mountain of delicious mango ice served with fresh mango,
panacotta, and mango sorbet. What’s special about Ice Monster’s shave ice is
that it’s silky smooth, and I loved every bite. Definitely recommend. Suitably
fed, it was about time for my nightly occurrence of watching the sunset. What a
perfect way to end the day. It looked like my time in Hawaii was on the way up.
I hope you enjoyed today's blog! There's more Hawaii blogs to come, so make sure to stay tuned to my
Twitter @CiarasCountry and feel free to drop me a message in the
comments for any recommendations of where I should visit next!
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