Magic Island

Southwest of Waikiki and directly south of the huge Ala Moana shopping center is Ala Moana Park and Magic Island. During the week, at least, these areas are highly underutilized gems that seem to be completely ignored by the hordes of tourists.

I don't know what type of bird this is but it sort of looks like a small crane.





These are the same creatures I saw at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore. Update: Thanks to my friend, Andy, I learned that these are called "Opihi" in Hawaiian. The more general term is "Limpet".
This was a staged video shoot of a wedding of a Japanese couple, complete with a Hawaiian ukulele player (who looked bored). It was the perfect setting for it though!
The view of Diamond Head is unobstructed and absolutely spectacular.
Rounding Magic Island on its west side, one comes across this scene.
The gorgeous turquoise colours of this lagoon aren't really well represented by this photo. In the background are the highrises situated between the Ala Moana and Ward shopping centers.
As you can see, this beach is sparsely populated compared to Waikiki next door.