Yesterday while I was snorkeling, my phone got wet.  The case that I was using for my phone to take underwater pictures….leaked.  I am trying to dry it out but so far it’s not working.  I may have to buy a new phone 😥. All the pictures and videos that I had taken, of course, have not transferred to my IPad making it difficult to do this blog.  Geesh…..should have put the above on the previous post but maybe you all figured it out.

Our first day in Honolulu we took two routes on the hop on hop off trolley. Below will pictures from that day.

Circle island tour…..Oct. 9/24

Drive thu Honolulu…..350,000 population 

Kamehameha II died from measles along with the Queen in 1824 after being exposed to it after a visit to a British military asylum for children.  Even common cold was enough to kill native Hawaiian cuz of a weak immune system.

Outrigger hotel that I stayed in in 1972, is still here.

Moana Surfrider Hotel, called the grand lady of Waikiki when built in 1901, cost $1.50/night at the time, now costs $1500/night.  Many celebrities have stayed here back in the day.

Highest waves on Waikiki in summer was 15 feet 

Queens Beach… public movies several times a week.

80% of vegetation is not native…wow!

Coast Guard lighthouse

Diamond Head Beach

Hibiscus is not native to Hawaii 

Aquifers …takes 20 years to filter rain water thru mountain

Hawaii Kai…named after Wm. Kaiser…. He had the swamp in the area dredged to make all-waterfront lots.

Hanama Bay was a crater.  It’s full of lots of fish.  I remember years ago looking into the water with a snorkel having being stunned by all the fishes swimming around my legs…you couldn’t see them if you just looked down.

Sandy beach, also known as ”break neck beach”….is appropriately named.  An orange flag means danger…could be undertow, currents, jellyfish and/or Portuguese of war, 

1940’s was last tsunami…originated from Seychelles.  Once a month they test early warning siren.

Waimanalu beach, where there are 7000 homeless.  We in Victoria and Canada, are not the only place in the world with homeless, mental health cases  and drug addicts.  Even Hawaii has them.

Huli….. means turn over  so Hulihuli chicken means rotisserie chicken. 

Pali means to walk. Going to Pali Lookout.  It is very windy

Red vehicles are federal emergency vehicles, yellow are local fire trucks 

150-250 inches rain in area of Pali Lookout. 

The vines and vegetation on the way up will cover the road if not kept cut back.

Pali lookout was so, so, so very windy but what an amazing views

Likelike Hwy named after princess 

Highway to Heaven, a hike, is closed because railings & steps are  missing.  It’s a liability.

Valley of the Temples…..cemetery byodo-in

Hawaii is the biggest consumer of spam….have a festival

Kuoloa…military base, Jurassic park across from Chinaman’s Hat

No scorpions or snakes on the island. 

At Winter there 60 ft waves at Sunset Beach. Also humpback whales come to birth. 

Last the harvest of sugar cane on Maui was in 2015

Bonsai pipeline just beyond Sunset Beach ….competition held for professional competition.   As much as 40,000 watching from the beach.  

Norfolk pines planted to produce mast replacement for ships 

Chickens are allowed to run free so that they can escape from tsunami.  They are everywhere.

Dole…no processing done here, stopped in 1990’s.

If you cut the top off a pineapple, you can grow pineapple. You can get 3 harvests for each top cut off. 

From all the military bases in Hawaii, there are probably 150,000 personnel.