Honolulu skyline (partial). Honolulu has a very long skyline, along the coastline.This marina was featured in the opening scenes of Gilligan’s Island TV show.Rainbow Tower, the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort.Rainbow Tower.Waikiki Beach. Even dark clouds and rain do not keep the devoted people from the water!Humpback whales, mother and baby.Mama humpback.Fish followed our boat, hoping we would feed them. We did.Green Hawaiian Sea Turtle.Spinner dolphins.More spinner dolphins.Looking through the glass bottom, coral reefs on the sea floor.
The other side of these mountains is Kualoa Ranch, where much of Jurassic Park, and several other movies, were filmed. There are tours available there now. The rides are very bumpy so we did not take a tour.Mokoli’i Island, also know as Chinaman Hat Island.Kualoa Beach, also a campground. I never was able to find out what made all these holes on the beach.Lāʻie Point State Wayside and Kukuihoolua Island.We don’t see these on the East Coast!Sunset Beach.Surfboards for rent at the Banzai PipelineWild chickens everywhere on all the islands. Here they were scavenging our lunches.Banzai Pipeline, considered the best surfing waves in the world.The waves were not very high this day.This was about the best pipeline I saw.Waimea Bay Beach.Laniakea Beach, also known as…Turtle Beach. Here are two Green Hawaiian Sea Turtles. They are protected by law. It is a crime to even get close to them or touch them.Dole Plantation. Tours and lots of overpriced souvenirs.And pineapple ice cream! Expensive, but it was delicious!Pineapple plantation.Close up of some very young pineapples. They are smaller than a baseball at this stage.Our second luau – at Paradise Cove.Sunset at Paradise Cove.Fire eater at the luau.
ʻIolani Palace, was the residence of King Kalākaua and his sister and successor, Queen Liliʻuokalani. It is the only royal residence in the US.Ali’iolani Hale, the Hawai’i State Supreme Court. This is shown on the TV series Hawai’i Five-0 as Five-0 task force headquarters.Statue of King Kamehmeha I. A duplicate of this statue is also in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol.Kawaiahao Church was the first Christian church in Hawaii, built between 1836 and 1842. It features a New England style architecture, and for its construction, about 14,000 slabs of coral rock were digged out by hand from offshore reefs on Oahu’s south shore. Divers had to dive 10 to 20 feet under water and with hand tools chisel out each coral block, which were then transported from the reef to the shore.
Hawai’i became our 50th state in 1959. So today the capitol is undergoing renovation, and the walls obstruct a good picture of the building. The capitol was built in 1969.The “foyer” is outdoors. This mosaic is entitled “Aquarius”, by Tadashi Sato, in 1969.Instead of a rotunda, the center of the capitol is open air. This is the view looking up from the mosaic “Aquarius.”The view from the front of the capitol, looking at the eternal flame monument.Statue of Father Damien, who tended the leper colony on the island of Moloka’i in the 1800s.Senate chamber.House of Representatives chamber.
USS Bowfin earlier in the morning, when the sky was clear and sunny.The USS Bowfin is part of the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum, and is open for tours.Various parts of the interior of the Bowfin.Gauges and valves.Bunks for the crew.On board entertainment.No problem for claustrophobia!The hatches are a little tight.Torpedo tubes.
