Not every day is sunny in Waikiki

Yes, sometimes it rains. See the raindrops in the koi pond right below our balcony. Why, it must have rained for five whole minutes on one of the nine days we were there. I got sprinkled drenched I tell you when I guzzled put my gin and tonic down, leaned over and took this shot to prove it does indeed rain in Waikiki.

Soon the clouds disappeared and we were once again on or in the ocean. Or sitting beside the ocean taking photos of other people on or in the ocean. Whatever. There was ocean involved.

(The sign reads "no diving, no jumping, no climbing" but clearly Hawaiians have their own way of doing things.)

Hey look, a fish stealing Doug's spotlight. I don't know what kind of fish this is, but it was very tame and friendly. I think this one would be good panfried with a lemon butter sauce.

Evenings were quiet, with a stroll on the beach, or a drink in the RumFire bar.

See the fire on the right, from the giant torches all around the bar? The hotel bar had live music, and fantastic food and drinks like the Hoku-tini - coconut rum, mango puree and pineapple juice, shaken and served in a chilled martini glass. You had to hold on to it, because the wind was sometimes so strong, it would knock it over or even slosh the drink right out of the glass. That's why I drank mine quickly, so as not to waste a drop.

Tapas were popular at the RumFire, and my favourite was this cubed chicken made with hoisin sauce, and minced onions and celery and served warm. It came in a mound with small, buttery lettuce leaves to use as wraps. Oh, and juicy burgers served with thin fries in paper cones. Actually we had great food everywhere, even the PukaDogs (kind of a Hawaiian hotdog) and shave (not shaved) ice covered in fruit syrup, which is a bit like a slushy but the texture more closely resembles soft, fluffy snow.

The lights of Waikiki beckoned at night, but we just watched from our lanai. That's Hawaiian for balcony (oh look, she's speaking Hawaiian now, yes, mahalo nui loa*) also known as "Balconville" here in Quebec (which is where you spend your summer vacation when you stay at home.)

Tangent alert: The Hawaiian alphabet only contains 12 letters with an unnatural fondness for vowels. I end up sounding out of breath when I try to repeat a street name, for example. Turn left on Kamehameha and head for Kalanianaole just past Kapiolani and Liliuokalani. Whew.

Here are a couple of very useful Hawaiian expressions.

"A'a i ka hula, waiho ka hilahila i ka hale." When you dance, leave your bashfulness at home.

"Pa`a ka waha!" Shut the mouth!

You're welcome. ("He mea iki.")
I stretched out on a deck chair by the pool one night and despite the odd looks by passersby I shot the full moon (why is that woman with the crazy hair pointing her camera at the night sky and twirling it around in circles? She must be Canadian....) I used a delayed shutter just to see what would happen. I was trying to spell a word. Can you guess which one?


*thank you very much