Ring Around O'ahu

Before planning my trip to Hawaii, I didn't realize that there were eight main islands that one can visit, among more than a hundred islands in the chain called the Hawaiian Ridge. This chain is also the site of more than 80 volcanoes.

My plan was to visit O'ahu, the island where Honolulu, Pearl Harbor and Waikiki Beach are found.














Eighty percent of Hawaii's population lives on this island.














The royal family of Hawaii used to live on O'ahu. Here is the Iolani Palace.

Though I spent most of my time in the city of Honolulu and Waikiki Beach, I did tour the island one day on a small tour bus, with a dozen other tourists.














Half of us were Canadian - there was a strong Canadian presence among the tourists I encountered.

From Honolulu, located on the south side of the island, we headed north, to the side of the island favored by surfers, to the town of Hale'iwa and the beautiful beach at Waimea Bay.














Surfing is serious business here - there is even a daily surfing forecast available to surfers.














The water was dotted with surfers waiting for the right wave. If you click on the picture below, you can see them more clearly.














Our guide informed us that cloudy, muddy water is to be avoided - it indicates the presence of sharks!

As we drove north, we traveled through two mountain ridges - the Ko'olau Mountains on the east and the Wai'anae Mountains on the west. I was fascinated to see some of the plants I grow indoors thriving here in nature.














We stopped at the Dole Plantation ...














... where we tasted fresh pineapple and pineapple juice.














They served large dishes of pineapple ice cream topped with fresh pineapple!














Later we lunched at a roadside shrimp shack.

Then we visited Kualoa Ranch on the east side of the island, taking a boat ride on their natural lagoon where Koi fish are raised. The ranch property has been the setting of a number of movies, among them Jurassic Park and You, Me and Dupree. Episodes of Lost were being filmed while we were there, though we didn't see any of the action!














As we made our "ring around the island," we were never far from the beach - and even caught sight of whales jumping in the ocean.














Our circle tour was one of the highlights of our week in Hawaii. Another time I would like to visit an active volcano, perhaps on the Big Island of Hawai'i or Maui.