Another early (07:30) start this morning for an all day, 120 mile tour of Oahu Island. As usual our friendly Hawaiian tour guide/bus driver arrived at the front of our hotel to start the tour. Once again, he was a very informative and humorous individual which is what you need when you spend a day together. The island of Oahu, like the rest of Hawaii is incredibly beautiful and we had plenty of stops and photo opportunities. Waikiki is located on the South coast of Oahu, and our tour took up along the Eastern coastal road to the North Coast. As well as the magnificent scenery, there were many surprises along the way. One of the most beautiful is the Byodo-In Buddhist temple.
Just about everywhere you look, a stunning photo presents it self and the valley in which the temple is located is spectacular.
Another highlight was the Waimeia Valley and Waterfall. Once the bus dropped us off, we set off on a 30 minute walk along the Waimeia River through a lush tropical botanical garden. Eventually we reached the Waimeia water fall. Another wonderful experience. This photo of Sandra and John was taken during our walk.
On our way home another surprise awaited us, the Dole Pineapple Plantation and visitor's centre which is located right in the middle of miles and miles of pineapple plantations. We had been told that the pineapple soft serve ice-cream served here is an experience not to be missed. Our information was correct. Rosa and I had the biggest most humongous serve of soft serve ice cream we had ever seen and the pineapple flavour was unbelievable.
We got back to the hotel around 5 pm after a very interesting and enjoyable day. We recuperated with a few pre-dinner drinks and then headed back into town for dinner. And yes we had decided to dine at the Cheese Cake Factory Restaurant again. We are really enjoying this restaurant very much. One of the nicest times in Hawaii is dusk. It is warm, the light is very soft and all along the beaches torches are lit which create a magic atmosphere. Everywhere you go there is Hawaiian live music and dancing and altogether it is a beautiful part of the day. Today we had encountered a little bit of rain around the island. It didn't interfere with our activities at all but at one point, as we were waiting for our table to be ready, it created a spectacular rainbow over Waikiki Beach.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Waikiki and Saturday we board the Pride of America for the start of the cruise.
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