Hawaiian Adventure Day 12

Oahu day 4

It's our last full day on the islands :(
And it did not go as planned.....

I was told to use the black and white picture to signify that things didn't go as planned.

We planned to go on a submarine ride today off the coast of Waikiki. We left the resort and drove the 45 minutes into Honolulu. We found the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort (huge) and found a parking spot. We navigated the ground to find the Atlantis submarine booth and then the dock where we had our boarding picture taken. We waited patiently for the boat that takes guests to the submarine to come back and unload the last group and get ready for our group. Then, when it seemed to be time to board, a crew member came out with a microphone and started talking. The mic didn't work at all and he was just talking away. So we all assumed we were missing boarding instructions etc. Then another crew member handed him a mic that worked and we were told in a casual nonchalant manner that due to poor visibility our sub ride was cancelled.

What? Huh? Say that again.
He said they don't like to cancel [Editor's note: Well, yeah, canceling costs them a literal boatload of money...], but the conditions at the diving site are so bad right now, that the sub can't see... the passengers can't see etc. Making the trip out both boring and dangerous (some of this is my interpretation of what little he said).
Please see the desk to reschedule or refund your tickets.

Ok. Well, that's the pits.
This was a very hard transition for us. It wasn't an outcome we had ever talked about with our oldest and it came at him out of the blue. He really struggled with it.
The kids and I left the dock area immediately and hubby stayed back to deal with the refund.
We found a place to sit and some cold drinks and were able to recover.  From what we over heard, this wasn't the first tour they had cancelled this week. Bummer.

Waiting on the pier before we got the bad news... someone forgot sunglasses?

Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head in the distance

Watching some outrigger canoes... still before we got the news.

So, now we have some time and hey, some extra funds :) Whatcha wanna do?
Lunch.

We found a familiar lunch place and settled into lunch.
We decided to use some of our extra time and funds on beach time and rentals.
Once back at the resort we hit the beach.
Hubby and our little lady rented a paddle board to try out. While we waited for that, she and I played with some boogie boards in the waves.
This was a blast. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed a nice beach.
I haven't done this in forever and this location was just about perfect.

Awesome beach. 

Plenty of chairs and umbrellas for all :)

Eventually she had to go off and ride a paddle board, so the young man and I enjoyed some time on the shore. He apparently isn't into the beach. This was news to me, but he had a rough morning and if he wanted to sit and watch... that's ok today.

After paddle boarding and a few more minutes playing in the waves, we moved back up to the pool area. It felt like the right time for a cool treat - shave ice and Mickey bars!

Then the adventurous ones decided to try a go at the snorkel lagoon. Our little lady was unsure about this, but wanted to try. It went ok for them. Something to try again next time, but not a huge hit.
Alright, everyone back in the pools. We found the infinity pool... how had we not tried this one yet? This is my new second favorite pool.
We decided to wrap up the pool time with the lazy river and a last run at the water slides.
The line was a little too long on the tube slide, so the slide-goers hit the body slide instead. We all got to float a bit and then it was time to go. Dinner was calling and I am always amazed at how you feel after 3 hours of water activity, later on.. once its over.

We made some pasta in the room and then the little lady went to the kids club one last time. I was able to walk around a bit with my camera... so we have some resort shots.

This resort is beautiful. Lush and green, very well thought out. Nice job Disney :)

Moon!