1.1 Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

We wanted to do another Hawaii-like thing today, so it was off to
Hanauma Bay for snorkeling. This was by far my longest time in the
sun, and I am really happy that I managed to not get sunburned.

Anyway, we got there at about 8am, got the 8:30am educational film,
and then rented our stuff. I had forgot the main rule of Risa Club:
“Feed your Risa before going out”. So we had to go back and get
something to eat. Then we made it back down and relaxed on the beach
while we digested. We did some snorkeling and I did a lot better this
time than last time, but I still eventually got freaked out and went
back to the beach to read. I had to move to the shade of a palm tree
because I was worried that I was getting sunburned.

There were also lots of Japanese people at this beach, but again, that
isn’t a problem for me. The fish were much better here than at the
Turtle Bay place. I saw some big and great fish. Risa saw some
turtles. I also got some reading done, and really enjoyed the
scenery. We spent a few hours there, and probably left by about 1pm.

We went to a Safeway and did some omiyage shopping. Risa also somehow
managed to lose her voice, so I got her some throat stuff. I think
she will be ok. Right now I am enjoying baiting her in her
non-argument-capable state.

1.2 Dinner at 3660 on the Rise

Before dinner we headed out to the Kahala hotel to pick up the
chocolates for gifts – apparently the chocolates at the Kahala are
famous (they should be for what they cost!) – and also pick up the
leis that we left there by accident. Then we had a bit of time, so we
drove up to the observation point that is on the way to the Hanauma
bay and saw the city at dusk. Nice.

Then we headed to 3660 on the Rise. The place came recommended from
Lena, and seemed to have pretty good reviews so I thought it would be
a nice place for our last dinner in Hawaii. I was interested in the
Ahi Katsu, which did not disappoint. The Wasabi-Ginger butter sauce
was great. We also got some oysters which were nice – they had a very
sweet sauce on them that made me like them more than I usually like
raw oysters (Risa is a big fan though.)

For drinks, I had a Merlot, and Risa tried 4 different whites before
settling on one. The waiter was great in helping her choose and
giving small tastes of each of the alternatives. I think in the end
she actually picked the wrong wine because she had moved the glasses
around, but they were all pretty good, so no harm done.

After that we moved on to the main dishes: I had a bacon-wrapped steak
(man, I had a lot of steak on this trip!) and Risa had a
Chinese-steamed Snapper (I think) that was in a very delicious sauce.
I thought both the steak and the fish were great. What made me really
happy though is that they had an option for smaller portions, which we
both took advantage of, and still we both had too much to eat. We
were really full.

I had told them when I made the reservation that we were just married,
so they made some nice Macadamia nut wontons with chocolate. Crazy!
We also ordered their trio of desserts and ended up nearly exploding.
With tea and coffee afterwards. It was a great dinner.

We drove home, and then started to pack. Actually though since we
were both full, we ended up take about a two hour break on the bed.
Then we finally started to pack. That took a while. I was pretty
surprised at how much stuff we were actually able to take with us. We
did have to leave the last 10 people’s worth of leftover Wedding Cake
though. Otherwise, we got it all!

I think I finally crawled into bed at about 2:30am, and we were set to
wake up at 5:30am to get up so we could leave at 6:30am for our
10:30am flight.