It's another gorgeous day in paradise. I'm lying on a chaise on my pal Craig's balcony, sipping primo Kona coffee, eating malasadas and watching surfers out in the ocean at Waikiki. On the news, a stunned looking surfer, a guy called Tino is incensed, as in totally bloody furious that after 40 years of surfing Waimea on the north shore, an eight foot tiger shark had the nerve to attempt to sneak up on him and bite him!

Dude! You are one cool, crazy, totally happening customer!

Tino didn't flip out, freak out or see his life flash before his eyes. No, he fought off this king of the sea. The shark became entangled in the surfer's board leash and panicked. Tino said, "It was like fighting a dog over a bone."

Yeah but this dog has some razor sharp, plentiful teeth!

Ya gotta dig a town with people like Tino in it. Yesterday I had a totally blissful day. I booked a half hour dolphin swim and cried buckets when I had to leave. It's a lot more expensive since I first visited the dolphin pod at the Kahala Mandarin two years ago.

But worth it? Absolutely. It's sublime to know these magnificent creatures are so well loved. I asked my dolphin's - Liho (Hawaiian for rare and precious) - trainer how we can be sure the tuna we buy is dolphin-free and he looked right at me.

"Eat peanut butter sandwiches," he said.

A sobering thought.

Today I am booked on a hike of Diamond Head. I am beyond, beyond, beyond excited. I booked it - and it's free - but they book out months in advance. Only six of you at a time and you get to explore the back side of the Head, which is the extinct Koko Head volcanic crater, the first place fire goddess Pele settled when she came to Hawaii from the mists of time.

I have my camera, my water bottle, my best walking boots and plenty of aloha. I am one happy guy!

Aloha oe,

A.J.