Second Stop: Oahu, Hawaii

It was hard to leave Riley, Joel, Theo, and Daniel after those six weeks, and we continue to react every time we hear a baby laughing, thinking of Theo.  But there was also a draw at the other end -- Hawaii, which neither of us had ever visited before.  At the advice of some good friends, we had decided to stay in Kailua on the northeast, windward shore of Oahu.  We rented a small studio apartment attached to a family's home, but pretty private with a separate entrance and a fence around our little piece of the backyard.  It was several blocks from the beach and about a mile from the town center. 

Kailua Beach is well-known for its surf and we visited there one evening shortly after we arrived.

 

 

 



George got up early the next morning (although not too early by LA time, which we'd recently left) to try to capture a sunrise over Kailua Beach, but a storm blew into the windward shore, swallowed most of the sunset, and brought a dramatic downpour to Kailua shortly thereafter. 

 



A pair of kayakers was undeterred by the approaching storm.

 

 

 

Mary read about Oahu Nature Tours and we decided to take the Natural Highlights Tour around Oahu.  First stop, Waikiki:

 

 

Then, the "From Here to Eternity" Beach.  Our guide said the famous kissing scene on the beach from the film was considered so risque that they insisted on a very isolated beach.

Mary's favorite stop was a bird preserve.  She and some other serious bird watchers had a great time identifying and discussing the birds we saw.  The picture below is of an endangered Alae Ula, or Hawaiian Moorhen.

The last stop was  the Pali Lookout, which is high in the mountains overlooking Kane'ohe.

George hadn't expected to get any beach sunset pictures given where we were staying on Hawaii, but the tour ended in Honolulu about half an hour before sunset so we headed to Ala Moana Beach, which is just west of Waikiki and Diamond Head.

A friend of Riley's had told Mary that we shouldn't miss the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden on the road to Kane'ohe.  We followed her advice and are so glad we did.  The Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden website says:



"to make a place of peace and tranquility"
400 acres of geographically laid out botanic garden
endangered and rare plants
network of trails to facilitate visitor enjoyment
32-acre lake (no swimming)

Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden was designed and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide flood protection for Kane'ohe.

The plants are amazing and beautiful!

Sealing Wax Palm -- yes, they make sealing

wax (and lipstick) from the red stalks

Heliconia

 

Floss-Silk Tree bloom

 

 

Mast trees -- grown because the ancient Hawaiians needed long, straight, strong masts for their canoes for long-distance travel

 

 

 

 

 

Mary especially loved the birds.

White-rumped Sharma -- male (right) courting female.

Endangered Hawaiian Coot



 

Brazilian Red Cap Cardinal



 

 

 

And the scenery is other-worldly:

 

 

Picture below shows part of the Koʻolau Range -- the fragmented remnant of the eastern or windward shield volcano of Oʻahu. We were told that the distinctive shapes of the mountain sides are the result of massive landslides long ago that sent major portions of the original volcanic structures into the sea.