Day 6 Oahu--Apr. 7

We got away from the Kona Bali Kai, got gas, returned the rental and arrived at the airport without a glitch and with plenty of time. Our flight to Oahu left early and took only about half an hour so we were on our second island about half an hour earlier than expected. We found a shuttle to take us to the Ohana Waikiki West for $9.00 a person; cheaper and more comfortable than a taxi. Our very interesting driver, who was originally from Iran, gave us a mini-tour on our way in, which was very helpful. Despite arriving around 11:00, the Ohana had our room on the 16th floor ready so we checked in and got settled before looking for some lunch. From our balcony we can see Diamond Head through the buildings and the ocean to our right. We are three blocks from the beach, and right across the street from the International Market, through which we walk to get to the beach. Everything we need is nearby. A friendly woman gave us directions to her favorite place—Duke’s, right on the beach. It was good food and not as expensive as I would have expected. After we ate, Kris and Heidi went back to the International Market (I’ll just call it the I.M. from now on) to find the Post Office while Marv and I walked up the beach for a while and then cut back over to the hotel. We made arrangements to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center on Thursday and talked about what else we wanted to do. It was too late to go to Pearl Harbor so we opted to take the free trolley to Hilo Hattie’ in Honolulu. It is the quintessential “All Things Hawaiian” store, with everything from clothes to kitchen ware to bath and skin products to coffees and snacks. But it was still smaller than what we had expected. Heidi and Kris did quite a bit of shopping before we all got back on the trolley and rode back to the I.M. We walked through it again and stopped for coffee (them) and a mango smoothie (me). When we met back at the hotel Kris and Heidi had found the perfect place for dinner—the food court at the I.M. was having free entertainment. Back we went again to the I.M. We each found something different from the others to eat. Marv had a whole fried tilapia and I had sushi, from different vendors. The show was a Hawaiian drum band and 6 or 8 dancers with a variety of costumes doing dances from all the Polynesian cultures. It was probably similar to what we’ll see tomorrow on a grander scale, but they were really good. It was still early and a lovely evening so we walked back to the shore to stroll along the beach for several blocks, enjoying the magical street scene and all the people before going back for bedtime.