Mahalo!

Aloha!

The Murphy Family went to Hawaii!

We got Lei'd at Honolulu Airport.

(I'm not in the photos because I'm taking them)

On Christmas we left for Hawaii, a graduation gift from some friends. This was a very generous gift and at first I felt guilty accepting it as we need the oven and the clothes washer fixed. But I got over my guilt and decided to just accept it and relax. We left our cell phones at home.

We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com
in a timeshare and took a tour but did not buy one for ourselves. It is on Waikiki beach!






I took a lot of photos, some haven’t been developed yet but thanks to my digital camera I have some to post here.

On our first day we just got used to the 4 hour time difference and explored the area and beach. Here's a photo of Tina on our balcony (Diamond head is just to the left of Tina). We had ocean, mountain and city views!

We went to Pearl Harbor which was very crowded and a long line. The boat trip out to the USS Arizona was quick and the water was clear so we could make out the sunken vessel. We spent the rest of the day at the beach.






Thursday, we went to Hanauma Bay, an area that is the result of a volcano. The Hanauma Bay Crater is a relic of the volcanic activity on Oahu Island. It is a protected nature preserve and a Marine Life Conservation District, rather than a beach park.

Hanauma Bay is known for its abundance of Green sea turtles, also known as the Honu and is a breeding ground for the turtle because of its abundance of foods and protection from predators. It is also known for its abundance of parrotfish. Tom and Tina went snorkeling and saw many varieties of fish.





On Friday we went to Diamond Head, the most famous volcanic crater in the world, located on the South-east Coast of Oahu at the end of Waikiki overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There are two sets of stairs, one with 99 steps and the other, 76 steps. There is also a 225-foot unlit tunnel. The hike is hard but certainly worth the breathtaking, unparalleled view. Since my ankle was hurting I let Tom and Tina go on their own to explore, they took their disposable cameras and those photos have not yet been developed.

Then we went to an open air market at a local community college. We tried poi and taro, local foods, as well as local fruits. We meandered around and for the first time I really felt like I was on vacation.

That night we went to a Polynesian celebration that lasted for hours and ended with spectacular fireworks on the beach, most photos didn't turn out since it was dark but here's Tina meeting some dancers from the show. It was a great event – truly incredible! What a day!

Here's another photo at our resort (right), so lush and green!

Saturday was another beach day. We went to the lagoon, multiple pools and of course, Waikiki. We also went to the shops where I bought Tom and Tina t-shirts. We also went to a bakery that made cookies with coconut, papaya, pineapple and other local ingredients, oh and they had samples!


We bought a box for our neighbor Ron who was watching our poodle, Isabella, back in Texas.

We had dinner at a restaurant on the beach where Tom and Tina had tropical, non-alcoholic drinks.

Tom bought sunglasses, I think he looks like a cop with the sunglasses on.


That night we went to another Polynesian show that lasted for hours and the music just sunk into us.

Sunday we went on a boat trip to a submarine.

The submarine trip took us to see a plane on the bottom of the ocean as well as sunken ships.

In the sub Tina's red sweater turned purple when we descended! We saw many types of fish, big turtles and some sharks!

We knew this was our last day on this fantastic vacation.

We slept most of the flight home.







I know my friends who provided this incredible vacation want to stay anonymous but please know how much we enjoyed this vacation, there are not sufficient words to express my gratitude!

Mahalo!

PS We don't know who visits our blog, please leave a comment!