The North Shore & Waikiki Beach, Oahu.....24th & 25th February...

We disembarked the ship at 0800 ready for another day of sightseeing....

Sadly it's another rainy and cloudy day so no photos, a great shame as it's a very pretty drive along The North Shore passing Sunset Beach and the famous Banzai Pipeline, hundreds of surfers from around the world come here to surf the giant waves.....

A stop mid morning at Tropical Farms of Oahu macadamia nut plantation and more samples of yummy nuts and coffee.....

We stop for lunch at the surf town of Haleiwa another mecca for surfers.......
Mojitos, beer & pizza....

A happy Yorkieman demonstrating the sign for "hang loose" a common Hawaiian saying....

Our last stop today is at the Dole Pineapple Plantation for a huge pineapple whip....very yummy....
We drove past miles and miles of of pineapple farms....it takes 1-2 years for a pineapple to grow and ripen....
This beautiful tree is an Australian Rainbow Eucalyptus, quite a common sight on the islands...
Todays tour ends back at The Hyatt Regency, Waikiki with a free afternoon until the farewell dinner this evening...

Diamond Head from Waikiki Beach...
Myra and I dipped our toes into the Pacific Ocean !!!!

The 9ft bronze sculpture of Duke Kahanamoku honouring an Olympic Champion and father of international surfing....

One of the many colourful trolley buses...
Time then for a 5 o'clock cocktail pre the last "event" of the tour group the farewell buffet at our hotel....yay no early alarm tomorrow....

Sunday 25th....
Waikiki Beach and early morning surfers (07.30) pic taken from our hotel room balcony....
Time this morning for a nice leisurely breakfast and then we have to say sad farewells to Myra, Bill, Susan & Richard and the rest of our tour group at 1pm as they all head for the airport and the flight back to Atlanta. Our flight to Las Vegas is not until 10 this evening so we take ourselves off for a long walk along Waikiki Beach and find some surprises....

The incredible Banyan Tree....
Found on most of the islands the tree produces aerial roots which mature into thick woody trunks....

The largest Banyan Tree is on the island of Maui, planted in 1873  it now has 16 major trunks covering an area of over half an acre.... 

Fascinating....

Diamond Head from Kapiolani Park east of Waikiki....

Anyone for cricket on a Sunday afternoon....

And a bandstand in the park..how very English and fantastic...
A very pleasant way to spend an afternoon listening to excellent singing and music from Hawaii....
Time to go back to hotel and complimentary hospitality room for a shower and change pre going to the airport.....
Oh my gosh, we and the driver had a great laugh, our ride was a 54 seater coach for just the two of us....
We have had the best time, a great cruise and lots of adventures and stories to tell, also great fun, food and especially fellowship.....
Our next post will be from mainland USA as we collect our home on wheels from storage and head hopefully for some sunshine and R & R (we are exhausted but happy) in either Arizona or California.....
There is a tale to tell about our flight !!!
Cheers from Yorkieman and Mrs Blogger.....

Mokihana Helicopter Tour.....23rd February

Our second day on Kauai before sailing at 2pm back to Honolulu....

We weren't sure until meeting on the pier at 06.30 whether our tour today would be on after the weather yesterday but we're a go, some light cloud but no rain.....

This is our ride this morning !!!
Well we certainly saved the best for last.....
I cannot describe what an incredible experience this was and the photos in NO way do it justice.......

As we take off and fly high over our ship the music is perfect....the theme from Hawaii 5-0....
The photos have a hazy look as taken through reflective glass....

For over an hour we fly over the most amazing landscape...
This is Waimea Canyon that we fleetingly saw yesterday on our coach tour...

A plus of the heavy rains of the past few days is that the waterfalls are running full...

Hard to portray how high these waterfalls are...and there are so many of them...

Our excellent pilot, Brian, gave us a close up view of the Canyon and the Na Pali Coast....
He narrated through noise-cancelling headphones in between a great soundtrack...

The beautiful Na Pali Coastline (we will sail past this later today) 

The beach where they filmed parts of South Pacific...

The areas we have flown over today have been used in many films and TV programs........MASH & Pirates of the Caribbean to name a couple....

This was one of the best experiences ever and well worth every penny/dollar....

Sail away at 2pm..... 

A tricky golf hole......

The six of us gather on our balcony as we sail past the stunning Na Pali coastline.... 

Fabulous scenery and then time to head for the last time to the Goldrush Bar....

This little chap is my favourite "towel" creation....again thank you Mario...
Tomorrow we disembark our ship at Honolulu but there is still another day of sightseeing for us all....

Discover Kauai and Luau....Thursday 22nd February 2018

We sailed yesterday evening for The Garden Isle of Kauai docking in the harbour of Nawiliwili  (no jokes please !)

Another early alarm and breakfast and again sadly cloudy skies and rain later but hey ho that's why the island is so lush and green...

First stop is at Lydgate Beach...

Three beauties at Lydgate Beach...and another variation of my Hawaiian hairstyle !!

What a colourful chap....
There are over 300,000 wild chickens on the islands....they have no natural predators ...as with the plants and animals on the islands they were introduced by the early settlers and now roam free...apparently they are very tough to eat even if stewed for several days !!!

The remains of the dock in the harbour of Lydgate Beach...this used to be the main dock for the island but the cruise ships etc became too large to fit into this area and now use the harbour at Nawiliwili .....

The volcanic and rugged coastline as we head towards the Spouting Horn....

The Spouting Horn blowhole.....I do have video but can't mange to get it onto the blog which is a shame as it was rather dramatic....

This is a lava tube blowhole....

More of the rugged coastline at Spouting Horn...
Returning to the coach we discover that the tour has been changed as a storm is heading our way and indeed it starts to rain heavily so our packed lunch is eaten on the coach rather than at another beach....

Plenty of cloud and rain as we drive up the mountain to Waimea Canyon.
 Luckily it does stop as we get to the lookout....

Beautiful colours of the canyon....

The cloud is very quickly spreading across the canyon....

And very quickly will blanket the area....
We were so lucky as another coach arrives just as we depart and the canyon is now completely covered by the cloud, hopefully it will clear as quickly for the folks on the other tour to get a view of the beauty....

The local library, photo a bit blurred as taken from the coach...
On from here to another coffee plantation and more samples....

The highlight of todays tour is at the Kalamaku Plantation House for a traditional Luau.....
The gang enjoying our complimentary Mai Tai pre dinner and the show....

One very poor photo I'm afraid of what was the most spectacular evening...
The Luau is a traditional story told in song and dance and absolutely amazing, so energetic and athletic especially the guy who did the fire dance with real fire....
It was an incredible show and certainly a highlight....
Back to the ship and sleep as an even earlier alarm tomorrow for us and Bill and Myra...
more on that in next blog entry....

Kona By Land & Sea, The Big Island...21st February 2018...

Overnight the captain drove the boat around the Big Island to the other side and the port town of Kona....!!! Apologies I couldn't resist that bit of silliness...

We are anchored out and tendered into the port by lifeboats...

Another full day today seeing more of these fascinating islands...
Our tour takes us through Kona and along the coastline to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Park...stopping at The Kona Coffee Plantation on route...free samples of the many varieties of coffee and interesting to learn about how the coffee bean is grown...

There are two areas of the National Park...The Royal Grounds and The Pu"uhonua....
The first area we walked through was the Royal Grounds...
This structure is a small replica of the "heiau" an ancient temple or sacred site... 

The game of Konane is an Hawaiian strategy game played with black and white pebbles on a flat surface of lava rock...

The royal mausoleum built in 1650 and revered by Hawaiians houses the bones of King Kamehameha's great grandfather and other royals....the wooden images are ki'i representing Hawaiian gods...

Farther along the coastline is the Pu'uhonua or the Place of Refuge
Break any of the kapu or sacred laws, example catching a fish out of season, and the punishment was death. For those that could evade their captors and swim around to this cove they would find sanctuary and in a few days be absolved of the crime by a priest and allowed to go back into the community.....

Imagine scrambling out of the waves onto the rough lava, although exhausted you are safe in the Pu'uhonua...

Yorkieman and Daddy Bill studying the map for the self guided tour and reading up on more of the history....
The dry stone wall constructed 400 years ago defines the sacred space of the Pu'uhonua...

This is a very common sight on all of the islands...one of our guides did mention that although it is very pretty it is an invasive tree...
None of the trees on the volcanic Hawaiian Islands are indigenous but have been introduced by the Polynesian and European settlers.....

Such beautiful colour....

The second half of today is a catamaran boat ride along the coast and again a very informative narration.....

Just after leaving port we did see bottle-nosed dolphins but I wasn't quick enough to snag a photo....

The Captain James Cook Memorial and British soil....
Cook was thought to be the first westerner to land on the Hawaiian Islands....
It is also a very popular snorkelling area....the sea/waters around the Hawaiian Islands are very clear and very blue...

We had hoped to see whales but not to be today, luck of the draw....

Our NCL ship The Pride of America....
The 4 of us get back on board and meet up with Susan & Richard at The Goldrush Bar !!! 

This is a rubbish photo but I wanted to remark that this is the first time we have seen the half moon in this position rather than "sideways" on....

He looks cold !!! Thank you Mario for another towel creation...
Another great day seeing and hearing more about these fascinating islands...
Part of the bay at Kona where we anchored is used for the swim training area for the Ironman Triathlon.....