Our hotel was right on the beach. Really nice views!
Our room on the 16th floor had great ocean and pool views
Working!
Norm and Eva were broadcasting from the restaurant with open views of the ocean. They worked long days - on the air from 8-1 and then the team piled into a van to do interviews all around the island for a full 6 days.
....and also did some goofing around
Out for dinner at the Highway Inn, a truly authentic Hawaiian restaurant. We had a wonderful sampling of many delicious Hawaiian foods: kalua pork, lau lua, poke, poi, lomi lomi salmon, etc etc.
Lau Lau - Pork wrapped in taro leaves and baked all day.
Surf Lessons
Norm was doing an interview with a surf instructor, so of course he had to have a lesson. He did great and got up every time.
Dinner at Dukes on the Beach
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| Ha Ha -pre dinner rush. Dukes is very crowded at dinner time and we had to wait. |
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| Mary and Betty have the Mahi Mahi and Black Thai Rice - delish! |
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| Bruce and Norm with the famous Hula Pie |
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| Hand Made Leis |
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| Mary and Betty modelling their beautiful and fragrant flowers |
Dinner at House Without a Key
Below is the restaurant way at the back of the 5* Halekulani Hotel. It was a beautiful maze to get to the famous outdoor restaurant.
A nice spot in our hotel for a glass of wine after a night-time walk on the beach. :-)
Wandering Waikiki
While Norm was working, Mary wandered around Waikiki shopping and checking out the tropical Christmas decorations. |
| Gotta love an ABC store, they are everywhere. A B C =All Blocks Covered. :-) These are great stores for: souvenirs, snacks, wine, chocolate mac nuts, Kona coffee, deli, fresh fruit etc, etc. |
Here is a panorama of Waikiki Beach from the back of our hotel. The marina and Hilton Village on the far left and Diamond Head Crater on the far right. There were lots of walking paths and boardwalks along the water and in front of the hotels along the street. Street shops in this area were very high end, but there were also ABC stores and mall stores we recognize.
Hawaiian Santa Sand Sculpture
At the NEW International Market Place
The last time we were in Hawaii, The international Market Place was a huge flea market in the middle of Waikiki - fun with lots of cheap souvenirs and clothing. That was closed down a few years ago and the "new and improved" high end marketplace is now open. It is nothing like the old market. We actually liked strolling around in this modern indoor/outdoor mall listening to Christmas carols and looking at stores, decorations, gardens and community events.
The new high end mall was built around the 4 storey high ancient Banyan Tree.
The mall has open-air parkettes and sidewalks(hallways?) - yoga class there today
Shopping
Don Ho - Remember Tiny Bubbles?
On the 3rd floor are views of the Banyan Tree, gardens and restaurant patios
Looking around the beautiful Pink Palace, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel
Aloha!
Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay Nature Reserve
Before we were allowed to snorkel, we had to watch a video about ocean ecology, safety and protection of the coral reef. You had to walk a winding path down to the beach.
We saw many many fish - here is a small sampling.
We got lucky that the bay wasn't crowed today because of the Honolulu Marathon. We saw lots of participants on our drive to Haunama - traffic was terrible though!
After snorkelling, we followed our Shaka app tour around the southern part of Oahu. We had some great views of beaches on the south and windward side of Oahu
Next up, the beach made famous in the love scene in the movie From Here to Eternity. It's also the wash-up beach in the latest Jurassic Park movie. Yes, it's tiny!
Lanikai Beach, Kailua - Stunning! A favourite vacation spot for the Obamas
Rabbit Island
Waimanalo Beach
Hiking up Diamond Head Crater
The water was really this beautiful colour of blues
Beautiful view of the Diamond Head Crater.
Yes, we earned that frozen Dole Pineapple Whip.
Circle Island Tour
We rented a car and downloaded the SHAKA app to my phone. I highly recommend this app - it plans a route with GPS and has a great tour commentary - very interesting and really good with the GPS directions. (there is a Shaka app for each of the Hawaiian Islands.) No wifi needed.
We stopped at the Macadamia Nut Farm. I was most fascinated with the vegetation all around the farm. It was beautiful, lush and tropical. The trees made a huge, tall lacy canopy over the farm. Fabulous!
Lots of chickens eating the macadamia nuts.
Laie Point Rock Bridge
Pounders Beach
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A great time to stop for lunch at one of the shrimp trucks. Wow, delish! They were huge and fresh. There were shrimp and scampi ponds in the fields behind the trucks.
The waves were also huge on the North shore and beaches were closed today.
At Sunset Beach and the Banzai Pipeline
Surfing Competition started the next day.
Now off to Turtle Beach on the north shore looking for Sea Turtles
Found one!
Next stop at our round the island tour was the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Mostly pineapple souvenirs there, but we did see the incredible Rainbow Eucalyptus trees and got some Dole Whip ( pineapple soft serve)
The drive back to the hotel, we ventured onto Nu'uanu Pali Drive ....very cool
Waimea Valley and Toa Luau
The botanical garden hike in the Waimea Valley is absolutely beautiful. Very tropical and the home of many "jungle" movies such as Jumangi, Jurassic Park, Hunger Games, etc. It was a rainy walk, but made the rainforest even more beautiful in my opinion. After the hike, we had a wonderful experience at the Toa Luau. It was small and personal and a family run party - we loved it!
bamboo forest
Admiring the beautiful lush scenery with friends Bruce and Betty
You woudn't believe the size of some of those leaves!
Waimea Falls
After the beautiful hike to the waterfall and back, we stopped at the main building for our Luau. They had hands on demonstrations preparing taro, making coconut milk, weaving baskets, peeling plantain, and even cooking the Kalua Pork in a banana leaf lined pit in the ground called an Umu.
After a great buffet, we had a Polynesian Show.
and the finally was a wonderful fire dance with all the male dancers joining in on the lawn ...very spectacular.
Time to say Aloha
On our last night we had a wonderful dinner at Hy's with Bruce and Betty.
