Day 87 - Hawaii (4)

There are some days when we just pinch ourselves. You know, you just feel so privileged and lucky to be doing what we are doing. I am sure it is just not fair that we can have the time of our lives again, and again and again. Today was another one of them.

If any future visitors only have one day in Hawaii (eg cruise ship visitors), and you want to squeeze the maximum enjoyment into that one day, you would do well to do what we did today, I promise you will not be disappointed.

We did a day tour with Hawaii Turtle Tours (.www.hawaiiturtletours.com). The day got off to a bumpy start as the ticketing system put the wrong meeting time for us on our tickets. We were due to be at the meeting point by 8.30am for an 8.45am start. We were up early (6am) and were killing time when we got a call from the concierge to tell us of the ticketing error, and that the tour had left an hour earlier, but that we would be collected and taken to where the bus was on the tour.

The part owner of the tour business himself (Benji) collected us, and gave us a private tour until such time as we had caught up with the tour bus. Benji was very apologetic, and more than made up for the early hiccup. He drove us past Diamond Head, a volcanic tuff cone, stopped for a photo op at Hanauma Bay, a beautiful protected marine life conservation area, and again at the Halona Blowhole. We caught up with the tour bus at the next stop (which I think was called Makapuu - or similar), and met our tour guide, Julie and tour companions.

Our next stop was a brief photo op offshore of the aptly named Chinamans Hat Island. Then it was onto Tropical Farms aka, The Macadamia Nut Farm Outlet, which is a family-owned tropical fruit and plant farm. Some visitors with a complete lack of will power may have been known to succumb to buying some chocolate covered macadamia nuts, they may have even bought a couple of boxes :)

Then it was onto Laie Point Lookout which provides sweeping views of the Windward Coast and parts of the famous North Shore. You can also see Goats Island from here. Next stop was the Kahuku Shrimp Truck where we collected our pre-ordered lunches, and then drove on to the Turtle Bay Resort where we ate our tucker. I had the spicy garlic prawns (sorry - shrimps) and they were sooooooooo nice. We then had a couple of hours to snorkel and swim in the bay and beach beside Turtlke Bay Resort, which was very nice, but no turtles here.

It is a fantastic spot and we really enjoyed our time there, it does not match up with our snorkeling at St Thomas in US Virgin Islands of a couple of weeks ago, but it was really nice. We then had a tourist drive on past the picturesque Sunset Beach, and then came to the 'piece de resistance' - Nathan your about to get rather envious - Laniakea Beach aka Turtle Beach.

Laniakea is a well known surfing spot on Oahu's North Shore. But the best thing about Laniakea is the green sea turtles.

These turtles (honu) come close into shore to feed on the seaweed growing on the rocks. Like other reptiles, the turtle is cold-blooded, so they will sometimes haul themselves up on to the beach to bask in the warm Hawaiian sun, and there were a couple doing this whilst we were there. There was also at least another 10 or so swimming around the snorkelers.

Reluctantly we had to go and move onto our last stop, the Dole Plantation, which is a pineapple plantation, with a large store and outdoor maze attached. Not telling you what we bought coz you will think we are little piggys :) Julie then drove us back to our hotel, and ended a fantastic day soaking up the delights that the island of Oahu has to offer. 

We had a wonderful dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (no, not the Cheesecake Shop)  I wish we had them in Australia, a fantastic meal to end a fantastic day.

The dream continues