Brown Sugar Beach

Sunday morning we went to the Bellows AFB beach. This beach is located on the windward side of the island. The common weather pattern brings clouds and rain to the windward side, almost daily. On this day, we arrived at 9:30 AM. There were a few clouds, but they were moving away. For the next 3 hours, we had mostly sunny skies and a beautiful green ocean to swim in.

Jennifer, Angela, and I walked out into the surf and played in the waves for almost an hour. We all had a ball.

One down side of this beautiful beach is the very fine sand. It is softer than most sands on Oahu, but it sticks to everything. Once dried to your skin, it is hard to scrub off. I was still finding sand on me this morning!

Regardless, it was our favorite beach and definitely a high point of the trip. Thanks to our hosts, Stacy and Christy Soutter, for making it so great!


Now the bad news - When I got back to Stillwater, I attempted to retrieve all our vacation pictures from the digital camera. The media card was blank. Put it back in the camera - Blank. I'll see if the computer gurus at work can fix it.

We are back in Oklahoma. Still driving home. Lots more pics to share so stay tuned.

Drive around the island

Angela and Jennifer at the Halona Blowhole

The Mighty Mo - USS Missouri BB63

The USS Utah Memorial

Angela standing at the site of the WWII surrender aboard the USS Missouri

Angela with the Crouching Lion. Wonderful Eats!



What a big day.

We saw the USS Utah, USS Oklahoma, and the USS Missouri Memorials on Ford Island. Angela wanted to go onto the Missouri so we did the tour. She had so much fun. The staff here is awesome. You can self tour (just walk around), do a self guided audio tour (with a audio player - you just punch in the numbers painted all over the boat), an iPod tour (again self guided with a provided iPod that does more multimedia stuff), and / or a guided tour with a volunteer. Yes - you can do all four for the same price of $20. What a bargain! We crawled all over the boat and saw a few things we missed last time.

Next Jennifer, Angela and I saddled up for a ride around the island. Oahu has not completed the Ka'ena Point road, so we struck out through the central valley. We stopped at the Dole plantation for pineapple ice cream then off to the North Shore. We saw some sea turtles playing in the surf. Then drive along the shore at a nice pace. We stopped at a GREAT restaurant. The Crouching Lion Inn. The food was awesome. Jennifer and I had the surf and turf. Ate outside in the cool breeze. They had some birds and rabbits in the restaurant. A talking parrot. There was a bar underneath that was attracting bikers. The service was great. Just can't saw enough. Please stop in when you are here.

Lastly, we were off to see if we could see some whales at sunset. We tried the White Sands Beach, but no luck. The south shore waves were very high. As we were leaving the beach, we saw many beach parties starting up. Looked like fun!

At the last possible minute, I tuned into the Halona Blowhole. I stopped to take a few pictures of the water shooting out of the hole, but we got so much more. WHALES!! Jennifer has been wanting to see whales for years. A local lady told us they were off shore and pointed them out. We stuck around for 30 minutes and watched 3-4 pods playing about 1/2 mile off shore. Really cool.

Finally we got back to the Soutter's house around 8pm. What a day! WHEW

Tomorrow, the brown sugar beach at Bellows Air Force Base.

Hanauma Bay and Pearl Harbor

Angela manning the 4 inch deck gun on the USS Bowfin

Angela and I on the upper deck of the USS Bowfin

Angela learning to run a WWII submarine

Panoramic View of Hanauma Bay

Great day of snorkeling. We went to Hanauma Bay to start off the day. Angela is now a two day veteran of standing in ankle deep ocean water, so we decided to raise the bar and see if she can snorkel.

She tried it and was a quick learner. She became a snorkeling champ in just minutes. We took pictures, but we used the primitive film camera so it may be a few days before the underwater pictures are available.

We sun bathed a little, then headed off to Pearl Harbor. One suggestion for Pearl Harbor - fire the lady working the information booth at 1430 on 3-19-10. She was very unfriendly and not helpful at all. Not a good ambassador for a national war memorial.

We chose to visit the USS Bowfin. It was launched on December 7th, 1942 - one year after the strike at Pearl. It was known as the Pearl Harbor Avenger.

The Missouri was not available due to our late arrival. Tomorrow we'll go to Ford Island by private vehicle (with Stacy's military permit) and see the USS Oklahoma Memorial, the USS Missouri (anchored at Pearl), and the USS Utah Memorial.

Tomorrow we're gonna head to the windward side for beach, sea turtles, whale watching, and possibly ocean kayaking.

No Blog Today

All we did was go shopping and eat lunch. Jennifer had a real bad night. She's getting better, slowly. All the adults are headed to Waikiki Beach to St. Patty's and then staying the night at the Sheraton on the beach. Tomorrow morning we are headed to Hanauma Bay. Should have some pictures tomorrow.

North Shore

We started the day nursing Jennifer back to health. She had a rough night and looked like death this morning. She's a trooper though. Some Sprite, tums, and time made her feel better.

We headed to the North Shore and stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation (AKA tourist trap #1). We looked around for about 5 minutes and left. We stopped and got some pizza. Nice hour and 45 minute lunch. We were going to stiff them on a tip, but they included it in the ticket (9 people). Worst service I have seen in a while.

We stopped along the shore and watch the big waves roll in. I took a few pictures. The girls moved up on the rocks just as a huge wave crashed in and would have soaked them if they had not moved.

We went to a second beach, but it started raining. We aborted the beach segment and headed back to Ewa Beach.

I told Angela we would stop for ice cream on the way back. She decided she wanted to "be in charge" and she told me I was not allowed to talk. so as we passed the ice cream stop, she asked if we were going to stop. But I had not been given permission to talk. We learned a lesson today about setting rules and then being able to live with the consequences. BTW Skylar hates me now for skipping ice cream. I'm headed out shortly to get stuff for sundaes. They'll love me again before the night's over.

Also on the way back I heard a commercial for the St. Patty's celebration at Waikiki that we plan to attend tomorrow. I swear they said "Dugan Rapes An Elephant" was playing. If that is really their name, I'm buying the T-shirt!

Enjoy the pics and video. Aloha!

North Shore

We are headed to the North Shore, Dole Plantation, and a place to view sea turtles today. We'll post pictures later. Remember, we're 5 hours behind OK, so look tomorrow!