We also got a complimentary continental breakfast for each of us at the restaurant for each morning, so we made our way there. We got a great table just where we like to be – under a roof but on the edge of being outside. It was raining most of the morning so we avoided the wet although the folks sitting under the umbrellas didn’t seem to mind. I took several shots of our view to mark the sunrise as we sat there.

Vasco joined us about 7:30am but he wasn’t very hungry so just had some coffee and some of the pastries that we’d gotten from the bakery. We finalized our plan for the day which was to go up to Kailua then head over to Waimea Falls and then come back. It would give him a good sense of the island which, at 227 miles around, changes a lot in terrain and can take a long time to do the whole thing.

For this entire trip, pretty much any time something was marked as “Lookout” we stopped to check it out. This was the first one of the day, a little after 9:30am. It was OK but you can see the terrain changed quite a bit from Waikiki beach.

We stopped at Kailua Beach next but I didn’t include photos. We made a LOT of stops this day and took lots of photos, so I got picky about what to include in the blog. We were here a good 30 minutes or more. Ash was on the phone most of the time (mine, because he’d left his in the room!) and I took photos of Vasco in the water.

GPS tagged this location as Kaneohe-Kualoa 2. It was a tiny beach just next to the road. The two photos above and below were taken here. Vasco really wanted to use that tree for some photos of him and we had to wait quite a while for this couple that was sitting by it to leave. It was clear they were going to, just took forever to clean sand off their feet, etc.

GPS simple tagged these 2 above and below as Oahu. I looked at the map again and couldn’t tell you which beach it was, but it was along Kaneohe Bay somewhere.

We had seen signs for this Shrimp Shack along the way and initially didn’t stop but, like that other place, Ash really wanted to so we went back. And again, it was a great stop. They’ve been showcased on the Food Network and the line got incredibly long after we placed our order so our timing was good.

This was Sunset Point Beach Park, just on the downside of that northern peak of the island to be on the north shore. And you could tell by the changes in the waves. I took a nice video here but have been struggling with videos on this trip for some reason, so will find a way to add them later. At any rate, big, beautiful waves here.

By 2:30pm, we’d made it to Waimea Falls and Botanical Gardens. Really stunning place, the photos won’t really do it justice. And, like the falls the day before, the water flow not very impressive. But it was still a great stop.

We made it back to the hotel just before 5pm. Vasco when downstairs to catch some beach time before the sun set. Ash had forgotten his phone here so he got caught up on messages and I worked on culling the many photos we’d taken throughout the day. All with a beautiful view.

Duke’s is a very popular restaurant and bar with some beach seating that had been recommended to us. We tried to make reservations but they weren’t accepting any for the nights we were here – apparently you have to make them pretty far in advance. But the website says to come by anyway, so we did the day before, and learned that they have walk-in seating available every night, you just have to wait.

Tonight’s wait was going to be 2 hours to order off the main menu. Or, you could sit in the bar now and order off the more casual menu. Sold.

We were literally at the first table in the bar. The 2nd photo is a shot of the regular dining room I took when I went wandering. This place is HUGE. That’s maybe 20% of it. The dish is mine – Korean steak tacos. Most impressive was the 2nd one still held together after I ate the first one – usually the tortilla falls apart by then.

We went for a walk up Kalakaua after dinner, all the way to end of Waikiki Beach then turned around. The view on the way back with all the hotels lit up along the beach was beautiful.

A little bit of a geeky thing to do, but that’s not going to stop me: I love the way iPhone shows the map of the world in Photos and you can see where all of your photos were taken. These screen shots give a fun perspective on how much of each island we covered on this trip.

I told Ash yesterday I would be fine if we didn’t get in a car today. We’ve done a ton of driving on this trip. We will probably go to Diamondhead which isn’t too far, but otherwise we plan on taking advantage of the hotel amenities. Vasco is committed to a full day at the beach. So we’ll see how it all goes.