Thursday, 28 March 2013

Honolulu

Honolulu – 17th March

Happy St. Patricks Day – Tom.

Today we arrived at the island of Oahu one of the eight Hawaiian Islands, famous for Pearl Harbour and Honolulu.  We first drove to the centre of Diamond Head Crater, which is an extinct volcanic crater, accessed via a tunnel through the crater wall, where we observed lots of wildlife, including Hibiscus and Mongeese (or is it Mongooses). 




We admired the spectacular coastline and stopped at Hanauma Bay to view the beautiful beach and offshore coral. 



We continued driving along the coastline and stopped at the Halona Point Blowhole (unfortunately the weather and tide levels did not produce any water spouts).  However, we were fortunate enough to see two whales close to shore doing their classic tail flips.




After viewing another beach we stopped at Pali Lookout to see views across the island.



On returning to the ship we immediately jumped on the shuttle bus that took us to Waikiki Beach, where after a brief stop at McDonalds for lunch and internet connection, we wandered through Waikiki, visiting the Hard Rock Café, which was in the middle of its St Patricks Day celebrations.  We went to a beachside restaurant for refreshments whilst we watched the surfers surfing the surf (which was smaller than anticipated).



After visiting a night market in Waikiki, we grabbed a cab and returned to Honolulu for an evening meal on the waterfront before rejoining the ship for a late departure.



Needless to say we were exhausted after a long but very enjoyable day.  Definitely a place to return to in the future.

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