Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu, Hawaii February 9 & 10, 2025

Jay, Kim, Larry and I walked off the ship early to pick up a preplanned Tesla rental. 

Our Tesla Sedan reservation had been over booked so the company gave us a Tesla Truck for the same price. WOW did we have fun in it! We headed for Diamond Head to hike…. unfortunately it was closed on Mondays so we drove on to Hunami Bay. It was already sold out for the day.

no by no

The next thing you know we are hiking up and I mean UUUUP to the lighthouse. It was quite a hike, but Kim and Jay led the way and we finally made it. WHAT A VIEW! So stunning!

Makapu'u Lighthouse

The most incredible part of this hike was spotting whales spouting off the coast! It was a unexpected bonus to the hike.

We stopped to take pictures of the friendly horses on the way to lunch at a hot spot called Tom’s Bakery. Yum! We went looking for the enormous turtles that Larry and I have spotted every time we have been to the North Shore, but to no avail, they were not there. We found out later that it was the wrong season to spot them....

but we did find the infamous leaning palm tree that hung over the beach.

After a stroll on the beach....

We headed to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. It had grown more of a tourist destination since our 2008 visit ….loads of people with high dollar suveniors. 

Our final Tesla truck ride for the day was to the Southwest Coast.

.        This was where the locals hung out. 

Here we captured the most beautiful Hawaiian sunset along the beach. 

We headed back to the ship with smiles on our faces.

The next day we walked to the Kamaka Ukulele Factory which was just a couple of blocks across the street from Pier 6.

The folks there were so friendly. Even though the factory tours were scheduled on another day, they gave four from mainland USA a private tour. What workmanship goes into each piece. We all understood why the price was exuberant for one of these fine instruments.

After picking up the Tesla Truck from an overnight parking garage, we headed toward Koko, a volcanic crater. We considered hiking to it but decided to save it for the next time…it was a challenging  up hill walk with railway steps. 

Koko Crater

So we drove out to see the Kawaihoa or China Wall via a very nice neighborhood. 

Diamond Head in the distance

             The views were magnificent.

   

We stopped along our drive at Nu’uanu Pali Park and enjoyed the view into many Hawaiian Mountains. 

   

Chickens and roosters were prevalent here and other spots on the island.

We toured the island returning to the port on a curvy highway. After returning our eye catching rental Tesla truck, we enjoyed a gorgeous sail away dreaming about our next stop.