Hawaiian Royalty

I visited 'Iolani Palace last week for fun.  I think the last time I went there was in elementary school.  It's sooooo beautiful inside and out!  Photographs weren't allowed though.  The royal throne room was amazing!  Everything in the palace is gorgeous and rich feeling!  And there are soooo many rooms!  I saw photos of royalty and I saw their jewels and crowns and other gold and silver stuff!  The furniture was pretty and the wood staircase was really nice!  The palace was the first to have electricity in the islands at that time!  Amazing!  It was such a grand palace at that time, and still is, only now it's a sad reminder of the fall of the Hawaiian kingdom.

Ewa side

Makai side and front entrance

Diamond head side.  You can see the top corner room, that's where Queen Lili'uokalani was imprisoned for 8 months until the Hawaiian monarchy was illegally overthrown.

Mauka side and entrance for the tour

Ka'ena Point

Ok so I've lived here all my life and I've never been to Ka'ena Point!  So I finally went and we walked like 5 miles!  Ugh!  Next time we're bringing bikes, and a tent because there's no shade!

There's a couple of swimming holes and tidepools along the way....

An arch!

The state just finished building this.  It's a fence that protects the whole point and keeps out all the rodents and animals that prey on the native seabirds.

Keep Out!

The only chick we saw.  If he looks huge it's because he is!

The lighthouse.

From the point.

There was a Hawaiian Monk Seal but I didn't get a picture cause it was too hot to walk everywhere!

We cooled off in the tidepools.  Even the wet rocks were too hot to walk on!

View of west side on the way back.

Diamond Head Hike

So the last time I went on this hike, I was on a field trip in elementary school.  This time I went for work and got paid for it!  :)  This is a panorama of the view:

Mo'o in La'ie

"This point of land that extends out into the ocean is called Laniloa.  According to legend, this peninsula was originally a mo'o, or giant lizard, standing upright ready to kill any intruder.  After Kana, a legendary warrior, and his brother rescued their mother from Moloka'i and had taken \her back to Hawai'i, Kana set out on a journey to kill all the mo'o in the islands,  In time, he arrived in La'ie where the mo'o had been killing many people.  Kana easily defeated the mo'o, taking it's head, he chopped it into five pieces and flung them into the ocean.  the pieces of the lizard's head can still be seen today as five small islands lying off-shore, their original names where Kihewamoku, Molua'aniwa, Pulemoku, Malualai, and Keauakaluapa'a'a."

2011 Auto Show

i'm not even gonna try to remember the names of these cars....

touch screen!

fueled by water!

MY DREAM CAR! MAZDA 2!

More from Under the Sea

Cigar Wrasse

Adult Hawaiian Dascylus

Stocky Hawkfish

Juvenile Hawaiian Dascylus

Iridescent Cardinalfish

Sea Hares

From the MLCD:

Mat Zoanthid

Lined Sea Hare

Small Sea Hare

9.1 Earthquake

Japan was hit hard!  The biggest earthquake in their history!  

Here's the tsunami map, headed right to Hawaii.  We were blessed to not have been hit hard.  From what I hear for O'ahu, only Ke'ehi Lagoon, Hale'iwa, and Kahalu'u were hit the hardest (there's a whirlpool of boats and docks in La Mariana, which is pretty much destroyed).

REEF Survey at Bowls

Did you ever wonder what was under the water at Bowls?  I did!  Take a look!

Portlock

Ryan and I needed to waste some time, so we investigated the tidepools at Portlock!  I don't know anyone else who would have so much fun looking for tiny critters!  Haha!

The little shells that I wanted but couldn't keep because someone found them first....