Weather is not Boring

One night we went to Germaine’s Luau. That was a really good time. we were picked up in a big tour bus that had a driver and a host. Our host Reno was the best part of the night.The food was really good. I particularly liked the pit roasted pork. We all tried poi, I liked it but no one else at the table seemed to be a big fan.Clint took some video of the different dances they showed us:

We were lucky enough to be in town for the annual Honolulu Day Parade. Unfortunately we were at almost the very end of the parade so we most of the groups were winding down by the time they got to us. Here’s the highlights:

Yesterday we took the circle island tour. It’s a good way to see all the tourist stops in one shot.

The first stop was at Hanauma Bay. Rumoured home to amazing snorkeling which I’ll totally have to check out next time. It’s also where some of Blue Hawaii was filmed, for all you Elvis fans.

There were a bunch of birds around the park where I took the pic from.

Cattle Egret

Chicken! There are feral chickens all over this island.

The next stop was at Halona Blow Hole

After the Blow Hole we stopped at the Byodo-In Buddhist Temple.

Clint in front of the temple

Giant Buddha inside the temple

There were some swans floating around the temple's pond. Oooh serene.

Following the temple we headed to Kualoa Ranch for a quick tour and lunch. The people who weren’t from Alberta seemed to think it was neat. The Alberta people seemed to think it was a ranch. They drove us up the mountainside a ways though so we got to see some neat views.

The front island is called Chinaman's Hat and the back one is Turtle Island.

One stop I was really looking forward to was the north shore. Home to some of the worlds biggest and best surfing waves. Here’s what we saw.

Flat water.

After the north shore we stopped at the Dole pineapple plant. It was very pineapple themed. They also had a coy pond and a vending machine with fish food. YAY!

There were some hopeful looking birds hanging around the fish food machine. Yes, I am still a sucker.

The fish were hungry.

We got rained out of the last stop which was supposed to be Pali Lookout so we headed back to the hotel.

We all went to Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. for supper. The first “run Forrest” comment gets fired as a friend. Here’s a pic of Clint’s neat drink:

Science is fun!

Today was kinda random. We started with breakfast. I had spam and eggs in honour of Monty Python.

spam spam spam spam

After some aimless wandering and planning for tomorrow (also sort of aimless) we went for lunch. I finally got a picture of one of the lizards that scurry around here. This one was too busy sunbathing to flee.

He looked really warm and comfy. He's about the length of my hand.

Then we took a bus to Hilo Hatty’s. The store sponsors the bus so it’s a free round trip to the store and back to the hotel. They called the busses trolleys but they run on gas. They sort of look like trolleys though.

They're totally open; no windows except for the front and back.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was time for happy hour. From where we were sitting we could see the equipment they’re using to widen the beach.

Because this is me; wild things I saw:

A small brown bird. Anyone know what kind?

A small red bird. I think it's a Northern Cardinal.

A mongoose

Our last tour was of the USS Missouri. She’s the ship that help the official Japanese Surrender ceremony. She  also served in Korea and Desert Storm.

The USS Missouri

The spot where the Japanese surrendered

Big ass guns

Because really, who wouldn't take a pic of something named for R2-D2?

It sorta looks like him if you try hard.

One of the drone aircraft used in the Gulf War. This one's hanging in the ice cream shop.

Touring the sub was very cool.

The Bowfin

Radio Room

The bus bars. A lot of electricity went through here.

Old school Artificial Respiration

There's not much room on a sub

Looking from stern to bow

me in a turret gun chair

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour is what brought the Americans into WWII. The USS Arizona went down in that attack. There is a memorial built over the wreckage. It’s quite a place.

The berth where she was moored

The names of the men that went down with her

Some of the wreckage

Yesterday we toured Pearl Harbour. We saw the USS Arizona memorial, the Bowfin submarine and the USS Missouri before we played out. Here is some of the stuff on the grounds of the park we started in:

The American WWII story is a lot different from ours. They focus more on the war in the pacific and hardly mention Europe.

Recovered from the wreckage of the Arizona after she was bombed in the Pearl Harbour attack

One of the street musicians: