Sunday, December 28, 2008
We started the morning by setting sail in the Pacific Ocean for a 5-hour (not 3-hour) tour along the Na Pali Coast with Kauai Sea Tours. The trip consisted of sailing and snorkeling. The snorkeling activity was greatly limited due to the heavy rains that Kauai experienced the week before we came - over 20 inches in a matter of a few days. However, we did get to see several gorgeous views of the Na Pali Coast though and enjoyed our time on the boat.
We were lucky enough to see several whales too, as Hawaii is along the migratory and birthing path for the Humpback whales of the Pacific Ocean. I have included a couple of pictures here so you can see what we saw.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing - for me anyway. Chad did a bit of additional snorkeling at Anini Beach and then we had dinner and games at home. I spent time packing the bags to prepare for our paradise departure.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Chad went with his mom, dad and sister over to Anini Beach to watch the sunrise. (I, however, enjoyed sleeping in for one more day.) Here is a picture of what they saw.
Later in the day we all went back to Anini Beach for more snorkeling. (Originally this was known as Wanini Beach, but the "W" fell off the sign at some point in time, the locals weren't swift about getting it put back up, and tourists started calling it Anini Beach. The name has since stuck.) We were very lucky to see quite a bit of coral, fish and sea turtles. I am including a picture here to give you an idea of what we saw. (Chad got to touch the turtles!)
After snorkeling we headed back to the condo for a quick lunch and departure for the airport. All went as planned until we got to our flight in Oahu headed for Phoenix and our plane had a mechanical failure that no one in Hawaii seemed able to remedy. So, the pilot made what I believe to be an excellent call (particularly since we'd be traveling 2,000+ miles over the ocean with a broken plane), and canceled the flight. At least US Air was kind enough to put us up in a beach side hotel (Marriott @ Waikiki Beach) and pay for our trips to and from the hotel, as well as meals. And yes, I do realize that being stranded on the beach (in Hawaii) with a free hotel stay isn't really all that horrible.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Today we did some major sleeping to catch up on our escapades from the night before that had us up until nearly 5 a.m. After that we headed out to the beach to take in Waikiki and all it had to offer. This area is very commercial and very EXPENSIVE. There are more high-end shopping stores here than I could list and we learned that the tourism machine basically caters to all the Japanese tourists that get designer products here in the U.S. cheaper than they would at home. We saw many things, but I will include only a couple shots here. One is of this beautiful Banyan tree that is located in the courtyard of the Moana Surfrider - a luxurious hotel that dates back to 1901 and has all the splendor of some of the finest hotels I've run across.
The second and third photos are of a Waikiki sunset and seems fitting to wrap up this chapter of our travels. Happy New Year to all! We are finally on the way home!
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