Hawaiian Islands Tour

January 24 to February 5, 2020
P. Michael Henderson

I'm going to leave the map at the beginning of each page so you know where we are.

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1/27/2020 (Monday)  We didn't meet for our tour until 8:30 this morning.  It was nice to sleep a bit later.  Heidi begins with a briefing on the day's activities.

We're going to take a bus tour around the southern part of O'ahu.  I didn't follow the trip on my iPhone map but I think this is pretty close.

A shot of the Pacific along the way.

We went to Hanauma Bay but didn't go down to the beach.

Then to the Halona Blowhole Lookout.  The blowhole wasn't active while we were there.  I think its only active when the seas are fairly high.  This picture shows Halona cove which was used to film the beach scene between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in "From Here to Eternity". 

The blowhole is in this area but we didn't see it active.

Along the way, we stopped at a strip mall to use the restrooms and to do some shopping at a tourist store.  Judy and I had a cone of chocolate macadamia nut ice cream. 

Then we headed to the Nu'uanu Pali Lookout.  It was very windy at the lookout but the scenery was magnificant.

This was an interesting sign.  I suppose with the very high winds the bees get carried along and can bump into you.  There are no Africanized bees on Hawaii (yet).  There are, unfortunately, varroa mites.

Then it was back to the hotel for lunch and our afternoon outrigger ride.  At 2:30 the group began to gather in the lanai.

Judy and I had purchased "beach shoes" which worked really nicely. They stay on your feet much better when walking in sand, and the fabric keeps out a lot of sand. 

The hotel had set up chairs for us on the lawn so we could have our outrigger lesson. The outrigger ride people wanted to give us some instruction about what to do (and what to expect) on the ride.  Photography note:  I purchased a waterproof case for my iPhone.  It worked very well but I was shooting through plastic and that caused some blurriness in some of the photos. The big advantage it offered was a strap around my neck so that I wouldn't drop the iPhone over the side.

The people who run the outrigger canoe rides are called "the beach boys" even though there are now girls who are part of the group. Ted, the leader of the group, gave us instruction on how to enter and exit the canoe, how to paddle, and what to look out for.

And here are the "boys".

We went out to the beach and pushed the canoe into the water.  Being the photographer, I didn't push and won't be paddling.

Judy did the paddling for the two of us.  Here we are heading out.

One of the "boys" was in the front of the boat setting the paddling pace.

And one was in the rear, along with Ted, who did the steering.

We headed out to where the surf was rising.

We turned around so that we were facing the shore, waiting for "the" wave.

Ted saw it coming and yelled for everyone to paddle hard to catch the wave.

And then we had it, sliding down the face of the swell.

It was exhilarating!   I expect that's why people surf.

When the wave finally spent itself, we turned around to do it again.

Diamond Head from the canoe.

We caught another wave, but it was not as large as the first one.

And that was it - we headed into the beach to allow the next group to have their ride.  It was definitely an exciting, worthwhile activity.

After we got cleaned up, Judy's goal was to go to the bar to celebrate with a Mai Tai.  Pat Schroeder had highly recommended it.

So here's to you Pat - two Mai Tai's.  I actually had a second but Judy held at one.

About 6pm we met some friends in the downstairs lounge area.  Here are Ritu and Fritz.

And Rendell and Cristela.

And that was the end of another day.  Tomorrow we fly to the big island.

Our adventure continues here