Blogs from Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, United States, North America - page 14

How to see a lot of the island of Oahu in a single day....hmmmm ? The answer was a Circle Island Bus Tour. There’s a lot of this type of tour around so we picked one which included an early morning visit to Pearl Harbour. It was an early morning rise with the bus picking us up at 5:50am (we were the first pickup point as we found out as we were still collecting people until 7:00am). First stop was Pearl Harbour so we headed straight for the cafe to grab something to eat seeing as we had to skip breakfast. We had a look around the main area where all the WWII memorials were along with some old military exhibits. We also watched some of the original footage of the real bombing of Pearl Harbour. ... read more

Hi there and welcome on a trip to the HOOMALUHIA BOTANICAL GARDEN......we started out at around 8 in the morning and drove through beautiful mountains before arriving in a town called Kaneohe and as we drove through the gate (which is free to all that visit)the beauty began ,,,,, This garden was established in 1982, and designed and built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers for flood protection. It is a rainforest garden, with plantings from major tropical regions around the world, grouped into distinct collections that focus on Africa, Hawaii, India and Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Melanesia, the Philippines, Polynesia, and the tropical New World. Special emphasis is placed on conserving plants native to Hawaii and Polynesia, as well as arecaceae, aroids, and heliconias.The garden includes a lake (32 acres) and walking trails, as ... read more

Hi there and climb aboard as we head for the North Shore in pursuit of the Big Wave ......well we headed out the hi-way in great warm weather and decided that we would make multiple stops along the way visiting and meeting some of the locals along the way. We stopped to revisit Chinaman's Hat (. Geologically, it used to be connected to Oahu before erosion cut it off. It is also known as "Chinaman's Hat" for its likeness to the straw hats Chinese immigrants wore)and wandered around enjoying the view.we then made more stops along the way and finally decided to spend some time in and around the village of Waialuia....(Waialua is a former (sugar) mill town and residential area, quite different in its quiet ambiance from nearby Haleʻiwa, which is more commercial and tourist ... read more

Hi there friends and Aloha kakahiaka (Good Morning).......well here we are with day four's travels now behind us .....we headed out early Sunday morning for Waikiki Beach area where we planned a walk along Kalakaua Avenue which I guess could be called the Strip of the beach area where you will find everything from the homeless curled up in their cardboard hotels to those staying in the most luxurious of hotels.....a long lazy walkabout rekindled memories of past visits to this somewhat mesmerizing and enchanting spot........we then made our way to the midway point of Diamond Head to view the surroundings from a better vantage point and also see Hanauma Bay(In addition to the turtles, Hanauma Bay snorkelers can take a peek at the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa (the Hawaiian state fish), trumpet fish, angel fish, and many more. ... read more

Geo: 21.3069, -157.858Day 5 After decades of reading about it I finally made it inside the Iolani Palace ! We saw the outside yesterday but today it was open to the public. Built in 1882 for King David Kalakaura to replace the earlier royal residence the "Palace of the Heavenly Hawk" was the centrepiece of the monarchy until its fall in 1893. Here were held the Coronation, the Court Balls, grand receptions for visiting dignitaries, here Robert Louis Stevenson chatted with King Kalakaua and here Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned. The building is small and elegant, very much in European style so it is hard to believe it stands on a Pacific Island until you look out of the windows and see the palm trees and mountains. King Kalakaura was well-travelled and fascinated by modern inventions so ... read more