Day-4 – Tour of Oahu

Today we are going on the “Grand Circle Island” tour as an extra excursion from Cosmos.  Just outside the lobby area, where we are waiting, is a small fish pond with koi and a number of orchids.  This is one of the prettiest groups. 

Once in the bus we begin traveling clockwise around the Island with our first stop at Nu’uanu Pali Lookout.  We have a great look at Kaneohe and Kaneohe Bay in the background.

The mountains to our right offer a look at the sharpness of the peaks.  The nearest is still in the shadows of the mountains behind us.

As we are leaving the overlook platform I see this tree with the unusual trunk/root system, pretty unusual.  They look like ribbons of bacon.

Nearing the bus we see a number of chickens and roosters.  This hen and her chicks were looking for food to eat.  A number of roosters were also running around.

We leave the lookout and then head to the middle of the island driving north we pass between two different mountain ranges.  Here we look west and the mountains and grass fields, very scenic.

We drive past Wheeler Army Air Field which was also attacked during the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Our next stop is at the Dole Pineapple Plantation.  I understand that they no longer grow pineapples here on a regular basis as it is less expensive to do it at other locations, but they keep this place open as a tourist attraction. 

They still have an area where they grow different varieties of pineapples and several were at the middle stages of the fruit growth.  Here several of the plants have the pineapples growing.  Once this fruit is harvested, another pineapple will grow out of this plant.

Around the gardens at the Plantation are a number of different plants including this cocoa plant.  Not sure if they are ripe or not, but they do look ready.  Too bad they didn’t have a table with cocoa samples now that would have been interesting.

I finally was able to get a good picture of the bird with the red head which I understand is a red-crested cardinal.  It is a nice looking bird, but it moves around a lot and getting this picture was almost purely luck.  And the sun was even in the right location.

Here is a pineapple just in the beginning stages of development.  You can still see some the flowers on the fruit.  Months from now it will look just like the pineapple you buy at the grocery store or fruit stand.

As we are leaving and before getting to the bus we see more of the wild chickens on the island.  I find the roosters fascinating with all of the different colors and feathers

In the drive entryway the plantation has a number of these Rainbow Eucalyptus trees.  Some are more colorful than others, but this one was close by and in good shape.  They are from the Philippines and Australia.  They are fast growing and can grow very tall.

We leave the Dole plantation and head towards the north shore where we see some nice rugged coastlines. 

We pass one of the beaches and find out that the tour bus does not plan on stopping.  We were able to get this picture of one of the beaches.  There are a lot of people on the beach.

Driving along the north coast we find that the waves are quite high, close to 10-15 feet.  Great surfing waves and we find out that one of the surfing competitions just ended the week before.

The tour bus driver does stop at Sunset Beach where many of the surfing competitions happen.  We passed the Banzai Pipeline beach a mile back and when we stopped at the parking area and restrooms we were able to cross the street to see this surfer waiting to enter the water.

Several surfers are out in the waters and this one is on a very tall wave.  Look at the size of the wave compared to the surfer.  Amazing!  It is a little windy with the wind blowing from the land and you can see the winds affect on the top of the wave.

Looking along the beach you can see the sand and waves for quite some distance.  That’s me standing at the very right side of the picture taking a picture of the waves.

We make the corner at the northern most section of Oahu and begin our way south.  Soon we pass Hukilau Beach, the beach used in Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawaii” movie and the hukilau song.  No stop but we got a picture of the name on the way by.

Our lunch stop is at Kualoa Ranch and just before we reach the ranch headquarters we pass this valley between two mountain ranges.  This valley was used in the Jurassic Park movie when the professor and children were running from the T-rex and also Godzilla, Avatar and Lost were also filmed here.

At the ranch and before lunch we go on a short ride around the property. 

We see many of the plants and trees associated with this side of the island.  We can also see Mokoli’I, better known as “Chinaman’s Hat” because of its shape.  Further in the background you can make out Turtle Island.

Reading about the activities they have here at the Ranch include horseback riding and ATV tours.  The valley used for the trips, similar to the picture here, was used in filming the Jurassic Park movies.  Next time we are here, I think we’ll come out for the day to do the ATV tour.

After lunch we leave and then stop at the Macadamia Farm Outlet and sample the nuts.  Mmm-good.  They have a merchandise store here also and have all the colorful Hawaiian shirts you can think of.  Anyone of them would look good on you.

Carmen just loves the flowers here on the island.  I’m sure she would love to take them all home with her and plant them in the yard.  I have to admit, I’ve taken pictures of most of the colorful flowers myself.

Our next stop is at the Valley of the Temples.  We pass a couple of the temples and churches including a Catholic chapel and other religions.  Our main reason for stopping is the Byodo-In Temple on the grounds.  Very nice.

Here we have a swan and koi relaxing and feeding in the waters around the temple.

Taking our shoes off we enter the temple and get a picture of the Amida Buddha statue inside.  The place is quite impressive and a place to meditate or to simply take in the beauty.

There is a pond around the temple with many different flowers.  Here is just one of the orchids that we can see. 

Besides the flowers there are any number of animals including swans, koi, and this tortoise. 

Speaking of animals, we have seen any number of chickens and roosters, but take a look at this rooster with its headdress.  Now that is some bouffant head crest on what I think is a Lanced Polish chicken.

As we are leaving the Byodo-In Temple I get this picture with the sun on the mountain tops behind it.  Very serine. 

Just off the temple grounds by the parking lot are a number of Japanese cemetery monuments.  We find out from the bus driver that these can run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We are back on the road and following the same road we covered a couple of days ago only this time in a reverse course.  This time we see the lighthouse at the top of the cliff near “Rabbit Island”.  We don’t stop at the lookout and keep driving.

The tour bus does however stop at the Halona Blowhole.  This time when we are here we do not see anny whales nearby.  The blowhole is blowing this time and we see the effects.  The hole is created by a lava tunnel that is open to the sea and the wave pushes water through and out the hole.  Impressive.

There was one big wave that crashed on the rocks in front of an obelisk.  The obelisk is a marker where some fishermen were killed from an unusually large wave.

As I was returning back to the bus I looked back and saw this rainbow created by the water coming out of the blowhole.

Not wasting much time here we head to Hanauma Bay.  Like I mentioned earlier this is where Elvis did the opening scenes from the movie “Blue Hawaii”.  We have a different vantage point then we did earlier because we are where the tour buses park, not allowed for regular cars.  From this angle you can clearly see the reef close to shore.

I find it irresistible and cannot stop taking pictures of the fancy colored and feathered roosters.  We saw a mongoose that has been running around, but I still haven’t been able to get a good picture of one.  I'm calling this one sergeant because of the strips on the wings. 

Before long, we are back at the hotel and just in time for the sun to set.  

Tomorrow we leave Oahu and head to Hawaii, flying into Hilo and drive to the other side along the Kailua-Kona coast.