On our first real day of vacation I woke up early and hit the gym. The Moana Surfrider gym overlooks the International Marketplace, so there was never a dull moment. After the gym I shopped at our favorite, ABC Store, for sunscreen and snacks. Then it was off to Honolulu Coffee Company, located inside our hotel. I got a latte and was going to also buy us some breakfast, but it was here that I remembered how inflated Waikiki prices are. For example, I buy Fage yogurt in Chicago for $1.99 per cup. At Honolulu Coffee Co. they were selling the same thing for $4.50! I’d expect them to charge a little more, but 2.5x? No thanks.

After all this running around, Dallas and I did a lot of this:

I had a mimosa, lava flows, and an iced coffee drink with Kona Coffee, Bailey’s Irish Cream, Kahlua, Frangelico, coconut cream and vanilla. There was one other really delicious one that was basically a Kahlua Colada. Dallas drank local beers.

And a lot of this:

The exclusive beach access at the Royal Hawaiian was free to all registered guests. At the Moana Surfrider, it was $30 to rent the beach umbrella all day with up to four chairs, but the plus side was that they would bring drinks and food right to you. At the Royal Hawaiian you had to get up and go to the beach bar and couldn’t bring it out to the beach. I balked at shelling out $30 at first, but after you’re settled in and have your spot and people coming by to serve you, it’s totally worth it. Great way to enjoy total relaxation!

We watched this catamaran, Na Hoku II, sail in and out all day. It’s a booze cruise, so watching the characters load and unload was pretty entertaining.

I walked around a bit on the beach. Oh, and at one point in the afternoon, I was swimming just out from the hotel and a large sea turtle kept popping his head up just a few feet away from me. It was so awesome! Swimming with a wild sea turtle! I’d done this before, but I would have thought that Waikiki would be too busy for a sea turtle’s style, but I guess not!

And aside from that we got lunch and I went on a short walk down Kalakaua Avenue, and that’s about it. Great first day of vacation!

Later on Jen, Chad, Kristin, and Cousin arrived. We took them to one of our favorite Waikiki restaurants, Sansei, where we gorged on seafood. By coincidence, Kristin and Cousin’s uncle was in Honolulu for work, so he met us for dinner too. Jen, Chad, Kristin and Cousin were staying just up the street at the Sheraton Waikiki, so after dinner we had drinks at the hotel bar, Rumfire. Kristin and Cousin were out for the night, but Jen, Chad, Dallas and I enjoyed a few. It was an early night, everyone was still adjusting and very tired.

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