Surf Lesson with Hans Hendemann Surf School & Dinner at Morimoto

After some time at the beach and lunch, Mal and I got picked up at our hotel for a surf lesson on Waikiki Beach with the Hans Hendemann Surf School.

I was both excited and nervous to try surfing. Excited because it looked like a lot of fun and it was one of my goals for 2013. I was nervous because I’m not the best swimmer, and I’m really afraid of sharks. Well, my worries were immediately put to rest, however, when our instructor told us there were no sharks in the waters of Waikiki Beach (no reports of attacks or anything like that) and we’d learn to surf in shallow water, which would likely not even be above my head. Phew.

The first 20 minutes of our lesson was on land. We watched a brief video (safety first!) and then practiced how to stand up on a surfboard.

Tada!

Mal’s turn!

He was a natural.

After we had some practice on dry land, it was time to head outside to try the real thing. Our instructor, James, a surfer for 38 years, took us and another student, a nice guy named Nicholas from Denmark, to the nearby beach for a 1.5-hour lesson on the ocean. I didn’t take my camera with me because 1) it wasn’t waterproof and 2) surfing is no place for a camera. For real.

Surfing is hard. There’s salt water splashing non-stop in your face, boogers everywhere, and you need to use your entire body in order to do it, so it’s physically taxing. It was also really windy yesterday, which made it even more difficult.

Surprising, standing up on the board and actually surfing wasn’t too tough for me, but the paddling, however, was exhausting””and the wind didn’t help! I spent a lot of time paddling out into the ocean, but not moving very far. I consider myself a fairly in shape person, but my arms were burning at times because I was moving them so quickly through the water, trying to pick up speed to catch a wave and not really going anywhere. (I just felt so cool typing “catch a wave.” Haha!) Thankfully, I had James to give my surfboard a little push so I would have enough speed to ride the wave. He’d yell “stand up, stand up” as soon as he saw the board catching the wave. Mal, Nicholas, and I took turns riding waves with James’ instruction, so I probably rode 7 or 8 waves during class. It was SO cool!

After our surf lesson, Mal and I returned to our hotel and prettied ourselves for dinner at Morimoto, which came highly recommended by a number of you guys. Thanks so much for the suggestions! It did not disappoint!

Mal and I made a reservation for dinner, but there was still a little bit of a wait for our table, so we grabbed some drinks and sat outside in the lounge area.

I ordered a Piña Haupia, which was freshly muddled pineapple, pineapple vodka, coconut, and fresh lime sour. It tasted like a piña colada on the rocks, and it was so good!

About 20 minutes later, we were seated at our table, which was located right near the big, bright, open kitchen. I love watching sushi chefs at work.

My handsome date:

Who apparently bought tickets to the gun show.

I can dress him up, but I can’t take him out! Haha!

Morimoto had a fabulous menu with all sorts of interesting and tasty-sounding selections, but Mal and I were all about the sushi last night. We ordered a bunch of maki rolls and some sashimi to share.

All of it tasted amazing””melt in your mouth sushi for sure!

We also ordered dessert””a chocolate caramel torte with vanilla bean ice cream””which was heavenly. Our spoons fought for the last bite!

Day 1 on Oahu was truly fabulous. I can’t wait to see what the rest of our trip brings!

Questions of the Day

Have you ever tried surfing? If not, would you want to?

Do you like sushi? What’s your favorite kind?