Hawaii - North Shore and Waikiki

Okay, so this Japan blog has turned into a Hawaii Vacation play by play, but since the Hawaii trip is really the final step in our "journey", we are including it. Internet access has been spotty to say the least, so we have to group several days together. That will make for long posts with lots of pictures - please bear with us...

Our last post covered through Hilo (the big island) which is where the active volcanoes are located. On Friday afternoon we boarded a plane bound for Oahu. We are staying in a hotel overlooking Waikiki Beach in Honolulu - it is an older Hotel, but not a dive by any means. It's a great place to stay and the location is great.

This is the view from our balcony.

Saturday we got up and went to the Dole Plantation. Dole started in Hawaii as a pineapple processing outfit. We spent a couple hours learning about pineapples and stuff - we got to ride a train, so Avery liked it. It was an Opryland type train - not Japan by the way... Anyway, it was cool, but not what I came to Hawaii to see.

After Dole, we went a few miles up the road the the famous North Shore - now THAT is what I came to see. The waves were not as good on Saturday as they were on Friday, but that's okay. It was still awesome. The waves were about 6 feet tall and being the moron that I am, I had to go and challenge one. Avery was scared and didn't want me to go out and Deana said "let him go get knocked over by one wave and he'll be right back (yeah right - I'm tougher than that). So, I swam out in the water to wait for the waves. In about 2 minutes, I had all I could handle. For the record, I lasted TWICE as long as my wife predicted...

Okay, If you can see me in the picture (I'm the little speck about to get pounded by the wave), I'll just say that getting out to where the waves actually break was a little harder than I thought.

Here it is! My 0.5 seconds of glory - I was riding the wave! I was then promptly tossed onto my head and reminded of who was in control. Oh well, I still have my half second!

After a LOT of sweet talk and promises, I managed to get Avery out into the water. Turns out we had a blast fighting the waves when they came ashore. We were standing on dry land most of the time, but when the waves would crash in, i would have to lift her up and hang on to keep her from getting carried away. Deana said she had a lot of fun just watching.

Today (Sunday), we went to Sea Life Park. This place is located on the Beach and resembles a Sea World, except MUCH smaller. We came here so Avery and Deana could swim with the Dolphins. Deana had this booked several weeks ago and has been looking forward to it for SOOO long. She and Avery were so excited. I did not participate because I wanted to be able to take pictures - this place actually allowed you to take your own photos - cool huh? Well, as luck would have it, the "professional" photographer got to stand in the water and take pictures while us common folk had to stand in the "observation area" (which was not in the water by the way). The trainer must not have seen us in the observation area either, because she kept getting between us and the action. As luck would have it, she didn't get in the way of the "professional". I keep referring to him as the professional because he must have been using a million dollar camera. We agreed to make the next two payments on his equipment as trade for the photos that he made of Deana and Avery...

Since we don't have a scanner with us, I laid the 4 best photos out and took a picture of them so I could post them on the blog (is that illegal?) Any way, the pics from the park are below and they really do NOT do the day justice. The girls had so much fun and I'm sure Avery will be talking about this for quite some time. They were truly happy. Avery was NEVER nervous or scared of the dolphin - she was in 3 and a half feet of water (she is only 3 feet tall) and she kept telling Deana to "let go and let me do it" - such a big girl.

After Sea Life Park, we drove along the coast for a while and stopped to take in some amazing views. The pics below are just a few. I think we took nearly 200 photos just today, so these few pics that I am posting do not do Hawaii justice by any means...

We ended the day in the much calmer waters of Waikiki Beach. Avery and I again played in the waves (but we stayed in the water most of the time here), and Deana soaked in the sun and took photos.

Here is a great photo Deana took as we were getting ready to head back to the hotel to clean up for the evening.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Pearl Harbor and then hit the beach again in the afternoon. Tuesday we will be wrapping things up and getting ready to head to the airport (we leave Tuesday afternoon and arrive Wednesday morning in Nashville). This will probably be the last post before our trip is officially "over", but look for one more that reflects on the entire year.

Until next time - Curtis