Hawaii

 Another day and we still have the rental car so head off around the island to explore what we can find.  As we wind our way thru the middle and back over to the small town where we had lunch the other day, we head out around the coast road through the tiny villages that remind me more of Raro than Hawaii,

She's windy again today and this side of the island is catching the full blow.  The mountains are ominous and apparently where parts of King Kong was filmed.

Hawaii - Pearl Harbor 2016

Part of coming to Hawaii was so that Daryl could visit Pearl Harbor - this year is the 75th anniversary of that fatal attack.

 We chose to buy our own tickets and went for the full package, so it was an early start as we made our way across town to Pearl Harbor.  After a slight tiki tour we arrived in time to catch an early boat out to the USS Arizona. 

USS Arizona Memorial

This is a very respectful and eerie place where we learn more about what took place that day.  Looking in the water, oil still rises from the sunken ship which they called tears of the dead sailors who went down with the ship and remain there.

Very windy day!

Next we jumped a bus out to the Mighty Mo - USS Missouri, where the peace treaty was signed to end WWII. 

 Daryl playing gooseberry!




The marching bands were here for the celebration also playing as we toured the ship,

Next stop was the air base museum, which we were a little disappointed in but we have seen so many fantastic air museums on our travels, the last being the National Air & Space Museum in Ohio which was huge, so hard to compare.




Back to base where the final tour was a submarine which has a delightful lady working on board who took lots of photos of us for fun!

Some very tight spaces in there - not for the claustrophobic.

She wasn't a bad photographer - think she has done this before!  We do not have too many photos of the both of us so it was lovely to get these.

 

A big day out, a moving experience that we can recommend to all to see.





Back at the hotel we head out to the night markets and something easy for dinner.

Hawaii

We rent car for a few days and this morning  head off around the island to see what we can find.

 We stop at the local beach and then on to the blowhole before heading into the town further around the island.  
Had a fantastic Thai lunch here before heading down to the beach.  The day is a bit overcast and windy but still warm enough to enjoy.

 



If it had been a sunny day, this would have been really nice with stunning blue seas and foreboding mountains.

We go up to the Look Out as pass over island - very windy up there!

The view from the room across the city - beautiful lights at night too.

Later that night we discovered a parade was on with multiple marching bands on the island for a competition.

We head down to the beachfront to watch the parade go past.

This parade had everything and anything in it.....

The kids marching bands were extremely good and wonderful to watch.

The bands had already won competitions to get here and were here also for the anniversary of Pearl Harbour.

Some of the more colourful characters.

Even Santa was surfing the parade!

A room with a view...............

day and night.

Ventura

We head over to the coast for a couple of days to enjoy the last of the summer before heading home and while waiting for the title for our new ride to come through.

Had a great day looking around the second hand shops before going down to the beach for a walk down the boulevard. 

Later we walked down town for a couple at the local bar with these interesting light fittings....before going to our favourite Italian restaurant for a fantastic dinner - yum.

The next day we drove up to Avila Beach, another favourite spot before heading to Santa Barbara for a look around the art show on the beach and then onto the wharf.