Exploring Waikiki

When the sun came up this morning it was easier to appreciate why Waikiki beach is as famous as it is.

We walked along the beach while it was still quiet.

A view of our hotel..

Our room is just below the bottom left hand leaf of the right hand palm tree, if that makes sense.

Between the beach and the road along the front there is an enormous Banyan tree, which appears to be home to a number of white doves and some intermingled pigeons..

This afternoon we took a boat to a small submarine moored offshore which allows you to view fish on the sea floor and reef.

The views back to Waikiki from the boat were good although the cloud was rolling down from the mountain.  Our hotel, a third from the left of the picture is dwarfed by the larger hotels around.

Diamond Head is a famous landmark along the coast and an extinct volcano crater.

Believe it or not, from the boat, the water close by did look this extraordinary almost royal blue colour.  (The picture of the submarine coming to the surface, below, was taken after our trip.)

The submarine came alongside the boat for an exchange of passengers.

Inside it was not as claustrophobic as I feared although watching the depth indicator as we went down was sobering.

We took a selfie in the strange blue light..

It was good to see the fish but low light and the movement of both fish and vessel did not make good photos.

But the bubbles as we came back up were impressive!

By the time we returned to the surface and shore the clouds had gathered and it was starting to rain, although the swimmers and surfers were undeterred.