- Back in the Saddle Again!
- South Pacific Here We Come! (Post #1)
- 26 Miles Across the Sea (Post #2)
- Getting our sea legs (Post #3)
- Tuxedo Junction – Gala Night (Post #4)
- Lady Luck Pays a Visit (Post #5)
- Thunder in the Pacific (Post #6)
- Meet and Greet (Post #7)
- Pineapple Maze in Hawaii? (Post #8)
- Hike to the top of Diamond Head (Post #9)
- Maui – Whale Watching or Waiting? (Post #10)
- Fire and Falls on the Big Island (Post #11)
- Kona Food Walk (Post #12)
- Six Days at Sea (Post #13)
- Raiatea – Swimming with the sharks (Post #14)
- Raiatea Highlights (Post #15)
- Bora Bora – Snail Rolls? (Post #16)
- Bora Bora – Fish, Food, and Fire: Patrick’s Tour (Post #17)
- Moorea – Tahiti Food Tour (Post #18)
- Tahiti – Marché Papeete (Post #19)
- Fakarava – South Pacific Snorkeling (Post #20)
- Hapatoni, Tahuata (Post #21)
- Pinnacle Gala (Post #22)
- Nuku Hiva – (Post #23)
We hiked to the top of Diamond Head Crater today and enjoyed a spectacular view of Waikiki and western Oahu
DIAMOND HEAD HIKE
Today we hiked to the top of Diamond Head Crater. It appears to be a little daunting, but we’ve done it several times before, and it’s not so bad. The trail is 8/10 of a mile long with a vertical climb of 560 feet. The view from the top is worth the effort. More about the hike HERE and HERE. Before we left the ship conducted training and lowered many lifeboats and tenders. Here is a photo that shows the difference between a lifeboat and a tender.
Starting your climb earlier is better because you’ll have cooler temperatures and better light for photos at the summit. Nevertheless, we didn’t follow our own advice and started around 10:30 AM. The drive to Diamond Head took about 20 minutes from Aloha Tower. The parking lot was full when we arrived, but they organized a line so when one car would leave another would be allowed to get a parking spot. This was much better than circling the lot and hoping you would be in the correct position when someone left. Parking was $10.
This is a Hawaii State Park and there is a visitor’s booth that sells souvenirs and rents audio headsets that will provide recorded information along the hike to the summit.
Hiking passes are five dollars per person and are purchased from machines next to the parking lot. They only accept credit cards. Restrooms are available near the Visitors Center in addition to water fountains and vending machines that sell soft drinks and bottled water.
The trail starts out on a slightly uphill paved path for about ¼ mile. The remainder of the trail is on uneven rock and dirt. There is very little shade after leaving the paved path. Every couple of hundred yards there is a bench where hikers can take a rest. Once you get up a couple of hundred feet, there’ll be viewpoints and lookouts every hundred yards. These are great places to take pictures and rest.
During the upper half of the climb, there is a tunnel about 50 yards long. It has dim lighting along the footpath and the tunnel is tall enough so that it’s not necessary to stoop. It’s wide enough for hikers to go in both directions simultaneously.
After the tunnel, there are two ways to reach the top. A sign describes both choices. It encourages hikers to take the slightly longer way up and the 99 stairs down. We took the longer, but more gradual route in both directions.
A final set of stairs leads to the summit, where hikers are rewarded with a spectacular view of Waikiki and western Oahu.
We were moving slowly the entire day. So for us, going down took about the same amount of time as going up. Our round-trip time was about three hours. Moving briskly, without stopping, each direction would probably take less than 45 minutes.
After our hike we enjoyed a pineapple smoothie from the refreshment stand.
RAINBOW DRIVE-IN
One of our favorite local restaurants is The Rainbow Drive-In. It’s close to Waikiki and not too far from Diamond Head Crater. Famous for its Plate Lunches, it’s not on most tourist itineraries. More about Plate lunches HERE. Our favorite is Loco Moco. Loco Moco is a pair of fried eggs on a hamburger patty served over rice and covered with gravy. Delicious. Try it at home!!
Here is a link to a file that lists many of my favorite restaurants and things to do in Hawaii.
ALA MOANA SHOPPING CENTER
Before our next stop at Ala Moana Shopping Center, we drove down Kalakaua Boulevard in Waikiki to see what’s changed since our last visit in 2015. It looks pretty much as we remembered it from seven years ago.
Ala Moana Shopping Center is the largest shopping center on Oahu and is relatively close to the Pier 2 cruise terminal or Aloha Tower. We were headed to Jam’s World, a local clothing line featuring bright, colorful Hawaiian prints. Jams World is a clothing line that Judy enjoys, and we wanted to see the new lines of colorful Aloha wear.
HERE is a link to their website.
After Jams World we headed to Target, on the back side of the Mall, to pick up a few odds and ends. On the way to Target we stopped at a store called “It’s Sugar”. As the name implies it sells candy – lots of candy and candy in super-sized containers. We couldn’t resist picking up a giant Snickers Bar package filled with 63 mini-Snickers.
After returning our car to Aloha Tower, we walked back to the ship and relaxed in our cabin for the rest of the evening.
SailAway was at 11 PM. About 100 people enjoyed the festivities at the Sea View pool as we left Honolulu for Maui.
