Honlulu and vicinity

We have to start this section with pictures from our luau experience, what everyone does when in Honolulu. It took place at Paradise Cove, an aptly named lovely little beach area west of Honolulu. There were Hawaiian cultural activities, a gorgeous chamber-of-commerce sunset, and lots of good food and entertainment. There are a few more luau pictures in the People section of this travelogue. If you are brave enough to watch a 40-second movie of Henry's hula dancing, click here.

We did not spend as much time looking at buildings, museums, and other man-made scenery on this trip as we usually do. There was just too much natural beauty to experience! But we did have a brief ride through downtown Honolulu as part of our bus tour to Pearl Harbor. On the way back we stopped briefly at the Supreme Court Building (on the right and left below) and the Royal Palace (in the middle). They're across the street from one another and good King Kamehameha keeps watch over both.

We also spent a little time in the Aloha Towers mall, shopping and having a light dinner and some local brews. Some little hula dancers were resting up between sets as we walked past, too.

The best sights during our time at Aloha Towers, though, were the views of the harbor we had from the restaurant, including this cruise ship and one of the best of many Hawaiian sunsets:

Honolulu is somewhat crowded (although not as bad as we had expected) but also a very lovely city. Of course, the beaches, ocean and incredible Hawaiian skies contribute to the great looks. Here are a couple of shots of the Aliawa canal, taken from our lodging's balcony...

... and two of the view toward Waikiki beach, the first one from the kids' hotel, the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach (one of many Outriggers in the area):

Did you like the lovely sunrise sky in the picture at the right above? Well, Kathy did, too. We got up early enough to see the sunrise since it was our last day in Hawai'i and we wanted to see as much as we could. And what a reward for early rising! Do they have clouds like this anywhere else?! These additional sunrise photos were taken from our apartment balcony:

Although it's a bit down the coast, and further from the city than Diamondhead is, I'm including these few shots of Hanauma Bay in this section. We didn't take too many photos there since we were too busy snorkeling and we don't have underwater photo capability. But as you can see, the Bay is incredibly beautiful and would be worth a visit even without the great snorkeling. The first two shots are from the walkway leading down to the beach, the bottom two a beach-level view of the water.

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