Hawaii Day 6 - Diamond Head

 After our first night on Oahu, I think we both kind of miss our last hotel. There’s no open balcony door with the sounds of the ocean coming in and the pillows are terrible. BUT - that is not discouraging us from having a good day today!

We had entrance to Diamond head State Park booked for noon, so we had plenty of time to find breakfast and hop on the bus up to the park. We found a corner cafe for breakfast and got a veggie panini and a breakfast burrito with veggie chorizo. Both were excellent. Ross also got a fruit smoothie while I snagged a lemon ginger tea. I’m still fighting a cold. 

Even though we know we’d probably get there early, we went to the bus stop to catch our ride. Ross kept refreshing Google to see approximately when the next bus would arrive, but the time kept getting pushed later and later. We probably could have walked most of the way, but eventually our bus arrived. It was a quick ride and we were headed up the hill to the entrance in no time. We had visited Diamond Head last time we were here as well, but this time we also wanted to look for birds.

We got up to the entrance an hour early from our reservation, but they let us right in. Yay! With binoculars around our necks, we were ready for the hike up and ready to spot any new feathered friends. 

The views all the way up are great and I did remember a bunch of the hike from last time. We took our time up and down and finished the hike in about 2 hours. We didn’t think we were going to spot any new birds on the trek, but right before we got to the entrance, we spotted a small flock of birds and snagged a few new guys including a Java Sparrow. That guy’s beak is pretty cool. 

We sat down for a snack and then a quick stop at the mini gift shop where I bought another pin that looks like a geographical marker for my new travel vest. Once that was complete, we needed to make our way down the hill to the bus stop. We got off at a different stop than we hopped on so we would walk through a nearby park. I saw a green parrot type bird earlier and wanted to try to find it again. Luckily we did! And more Java Sparrows and Common Waxbills (we call them bandit birds because of the red stripe over their eyes). 

After making it through the park we found a palm tree right next to the beach to relax under. Ross has been waiting 8 years to chill under a palm tree and I didn’t want him to miss out on the opportunity. I’m sure I’d never hear the end of it! I went to go test the water, which was a little warmer than snorkeling day, then we took a walk out on a nearby jetty. We had to keep an eye on the time because we were meeting the Novy clan at Sky Waikiki at 4:15. 

After a quick hotel stop to get cleaned up, we walked the 15 minutes to Sky Waikiki. It’s a rooftop bar on the 19th floor of maybe a hotel. It was a neat place and we got to hang out with not only Richard and Cindy, but Richard’s parents and his Aunt and Uncle. 

After our hour was up, we said our goodbyes to all our friends. Richard and Cindy are going home tomorrow, so we likely won’t see any of them for the rest of our trip. Ross and I headed down the street to the International Market Place to spend a little time before our 6:15 dinner reservation. 

Once again, we did a bunch of window shopping, but no sales. We did pop back into a Hawaiian Cookie Company shop for our “first” taste of cookies. A great appetizer! By then it was time to head to Olili’s for dinner.

We had eyeballed the menu before arriving, so we had an idea of what we wanted. We split an N/A drink and one entree. It was some sort of bok choy wrap that was incredibly tasty. We had room for dessert, but couldn’t decide if we should get something. So Ross decided that if we both picked the same thing, we would get it. We each studied the menu and on the count of three, pointed to our dessert choice. Fate was on our side, and we both chose the “Mud” pie! It had coconut sorbet, macadamia nut crust, and some purple sweet potato shavings. Super delicious and local! We made a great choice. We finished off the meal with a coffee for Ross and a Hibiscus tea for me. 

We stopped into an ABC store for some decongestant on our was back to the room and are now just relaxing before bed time. Tomorrow is our last full day in Hawaii and we plan to go back to where the whole pineapple obsession started - the Dole Plantation!

Stats for the day:

Steps: 21,048

New birds added to the life list: 7

Milligrams of “preventative” Vitamin C I’ve taken: At least 1000