New Years Eve in Waikiki

Saturday, Dec 31
This morning started at a pub that offered 2 for 1 breakfast coupons. A couple of blocks from the hotel, away from the beach, we think it’s owned by a Canadian, based on the décor and menu options. Good omelet, pancakes (more coconut syrup) and banana muffins.
We then took advantage of the hotel’s complimentary stand-up paddle board lesson. They usually only get one person doing it, so they only have one board. Today, there were 4 of us, so we had to take turns, which made for a rather boring lesson. Waikiki beach is protected by an artificial reef, which makes it very flat. If you want to do any surfing or boogie boarding, you have to paddle way out. So we got in the car and headed out to the North Shore, where the swells were supposed to be small. We drove for over an hour, stopping at many beaches which all had either a lot of rocks, “no swimming” signs, or unpredictable looking waves. Eventually, we asked someone and after driving the full length of the North Shore, we turned around and found a beach just to the south with boogie boarding waves. But instead of sand, there was a big smooth slab of rock underneath. Rob did some rides, but I got right out again and waited for him.
After about 45 minutes at the beach, we went for lunch at a school bus converted to seafood shack. We both had some awesome white fish with garlic and herbs. Someone from our hotel was there with one of the Lotuses. Loti? Rob had asked the price at the hotel, but we ended up sticking with the Calibre with cheap tires that made a horrible noise on the highway. More drool from Rob at the site of the Elise.
After lunch, we shopped for North Shore souvenirs. I got a new rash shirt for sunburn free snorkelling.
Back at the hotel, we had a nap to prepare for a night of partay-ing. Eventually, we got dressed up to go find dinner, and found a lot of line-ups and over priced, reservation only prix fixe menus. Rob seemed to be drawn to sushi, but the sushi menus weren’t speaking to me. So we settled on a 50s style diner called the Rock Island Café. Meh. Nothing special. I had another hot dog, this time with kalua pork (Hawaiian luau style) on top. After dinner, I decided I wasn’t comfortable in a dress and heels, so we went back to the hotel to change. Cue another nap! At 11:30, we walked over to the beach to watch the midnight fireworks. We’re hardcore like that.
The fireworks were good, about 15 minutes long, with a few thousand well behaved people on the beach. After the fireworks, we came back to the hotel and used the 24h free internet in the business center to check in for our flight tomorrow night. 45 minutes after online check-in opened, we got the last seats on the plane. Aisle seats, across from each other. I am a window seat girl, and I won’t be able to sleep with nothing to lean on. Oh, well.