Three weeks into our Hawaiian adventure, and sadly this is our last week on the beautiful island of Oahu and it has been such a fascinating vacation.  We even learned about hurricanes and tsunamis as there were storm warnings while we were in Hawaii.  Interestingly, the day Chile experienced their magnitude 8.2 earthquake (April 1), the force of the collision had the potential to cause a tsunami in Hawaii.  That evening a storm warning was issued for all of the Hawaiian islands, so we researched what to do IF the island alarms were to sound during the night and when we felt we were sufficiently prepared we headed off to dreamland. Thankfully when we awoke the next morning the warning had been lifted.

This week we completed our checklist of Hawaiian sightseeing locations.  Our first stop was Pearl Harbor.  It is surprisingly tricky to arrange your trip to Pearl Harbor, so after much research we decided to book a tour and I’m so glad we did.  The tour did start very early in the morning, but it afforded us the chance to take in a gorgeous sunrise view from Diamondhead.  When we arrived at the Pearl Harbor historic site we were able to see nearly everything on display, including the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and its’ “tears of the Arizona”, the rainbow-coloured oil slick visible on the surface of the water.  While touring the site we were honoured to meet Herb Weatherwax, a very handsome 96 year old Pearl Harbor survivor.

Our next destination was the Sea Life Aquarium.  I’m not going to lie.  It was a dreary, rainy day to begin with and, aside from a very cool deep sea tank at the entrance and a very enthusiastic dolphin show, the aquarium has seen better days.  (I didn’t even take my camera in!)  The little one had an A+ experience, and really that’s all we wanted.  On our way to and from the aquarium, however, we caught some of the most breathtaking views of our entire trip.  I could have stayed to watch and listen to the waves crashing against the rocks for hours, but since that was not in the cards I snapped a few shots and we continued on our way.  Also a highlight of the trip was watching the surfers.  We have now learned that March/April is not the most ideal time of the year to catch surfers in action (January/February is supposed to be awesome on the North Shore and mid-summer is the key time to see the surfers at the south shore)  but I did manage to get a shot of this guy.  Believe it or not, he is 65 years old!

Nearly time to return to reality, we had to soak up some more rays on the beach.  Also on April 8 little one lost her third tooth in Hawaii.  Yes, the island of Oahu caused her to lose three teeth in 17 days’ time!  Poor tooth fairy had to make ANOTHER trip out to Kahala!  Our final sight was visiting the dolphins that live at the Kahala Hotel and Resort.  It was the perfect way to spend our final afternoon in the Hawaiian sun.  None of us could believe that six dolphins lived right next door to us!  They were beautiful and their home was amazing!  They truly had the run of the place!

Sadly, after an amazing 17 day adventure we were headed back to reality.  And by reality, I mean rain, sleet and snow.