8/3/24
Our day started very early again. The bus was pulling out at 7:00 a.m. and we had to be all packed up and checked out of the hotel because we were going directly from a tour to the ship. Because this was a Cruisetour, NCL gave us luggage tags to attach to our baggage. We had to leave the suitcases by the door of our hotel room, inside the room. That luggage was then transported directly from the hotel to the cruise ship. We were only allowed to bring a small carry on with us on the tour bus. Most people just had a backpack. It was dropping us off at the cruise port directly after the morning tours.
The itinerary for today:
- Scenic South Shore
- Byodo-In Temple
- Kualoa Ranch
- Punchbowl Crater
- Drop off at the cruise port
The tour started with a drive through the scenic South Shore, Diamond Head area. So many beautiful houses with a gorgeous view! I didn’t get any pictures because I wanted to enjoy the drive. This part was just a drive through tour with narration from our driver. He pointed out where several celebrities live/lived. There were so many surfers in this area!
Our first stop was the Halona Blowhole. The drive to get here was just gorgeous! The coastline was amazing!
Here you can see the tiny blowhole.
We got back onto the bus and Gar had DELICIOUS malasada donuts for us! This thing was amazing, and I’m sad I couldn’t have more than one.
We continued our drive up the eastern shore. Our next stop was Byodo-In Temple.
The views in Hawaii are absolutely BREATHTAKING everywhere!
Taken from the wesbite: The Byodo-In Temple, located at the foot of the Ko’olau Mountains in Valley of the Temples Memorial Park, welcomes people of all faiths to worship, meditate or simply appreciate its beauty and history as a non-practicing Buddhist temple. Built in 1963, the Byodo-In Temple is a Hawaii state landmark and one of the states’s best kept secrets.
Everyone (almost everyone) lined up to ring the bell. This was supposed to clear the mind of negativity, etc.
Everyone had to remove their shoes before entering the temple.
There was a Koi Pond, and there were so many koi fish!
The grounds were just beautiful!
We also saw this little guy crossing the path to get into the pond.
We also saw a peacock but I didn’t get a photo.
This part of the cemetery was for the people of Japan. It was so interesting to see the different tomb markers.
We continued on with our tour, and stopped at a macadamia nut farm. We were able to sample all of the flavors of those and different coffees.
From there we continued on to Kualoa Ranch. Kualoa is known as the “backlot of Hawaii.” We were dropped off right near the entrance and walked to a special tent area for our lunch.
We had a little bit of an education session and introduction to the ranch, as well as a little bit of Hawaiian dancing by Sonny. After that we had lunch before beginning the tour. We had preordered what we wanted, so distribution was fast and easy. Our tour guide/bus driver had previously given us this little sheet to complete and hand in a few days before this tour.
It came box lunch style.
We each ordered something different!
Chicken Pesto Wrap:
This was my favorite of them all!
Smoked Ham and Cheese:
Smoked Turkey and Cheese:
Those were both standard sandwiches.
Mediterranean Vegetable Wrap:
This was my second favorite!
The lunch also came with bottled water, chips, fresh pineapple, a homemade brownie, condiments and cutlery. They did announce that if you had anything that was unopened that they would collect it back and then donate it. They also were big on recycling everything that could be.
Overall, we were very happy and full! They gave us some time to go to the restroom, and then we started loading up on the buses for the tour. They used two different buses for our entire group.
We had the best, friendliest, most enthusiastic tour guide/driver. He was very knowledgeable about the entire ranch. Our first “site” was this gate that was seen in Jurassic World. He stopped here and showed us the scene on his iPad!
Even the views on the ranch were amazing!
We saw so many different types of tours going on…horseback, ATVs, specific Jurassic Tours, etc.
All of these are locations that were in either a movie(s) or television show(s).
(taken from the website)
Some of the many productions that have utilized Kualoa locations include:
FILM
- Mister Roberts (1955)
- In Harm’s Way (1965)
- Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)
- The Karate Kid II (1986)
- Revealing Evidence: Stalking the Honolulu Strangler (1990)
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- A Very Brady Sequel (1996)
- Escape From Atlantis (1996)
- George of the Jungle (1997)
- Mighty Joe Young (1998)
- Krippendorf’s Tribe (1998)
- Godzilla (2000)
- Pearl Harbor (2001)
- Windtalkers (2002)
- Tears of the Sun (2003)
- Along Came Polly (2004)
- Fifty First Dates (2004)
- You, Me & Dupree (2006)
- Tyrannosaurus Azteca (2007)
- Heatstroke (2008)
- You May Not Kiss the Bride (2011)
- Soul Surfer (2011)
- Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)
- Battleship (2012)
- Jurassic World (2015)
- Snowden (2016)
- Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)
- Kong: Skull Island (2017)
- Snatched (2017)
- Jumanji – Welcome to the Jungle , early 2018
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
TELEVISION
- Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982)
- Hart to Hart (1984)
- Hawaiian Heat (1984)
- Island Sons (1986)
- Blood & Orchids (1986)
- Dolly – My Hawaii (1988)
- Raven (1992)
- The Byrds of Paradise (1994)
- E.R. (2002)
- Warriors, Episode 10 Islands of Blood (2009)
- Off the Map (2011)
- Last Resort (2012)
- Amazing Race (2012)
- Amazing Race France (2012)
- The Biggest Loser, Episode 1312 (2012)
- Amazing Race Israel (2017)
- Hawaii Five-0 (1968-1980)
- Magnum P.I. (1980-1988)
- Tour of Duty (1987-1988)
- Jake and the Fatman (1988-1992)
- Island Son (1989-1990)
- One West Waikiki (1994-1996)
- Fantasy Island (1998-1999)
- North Shore (2004-2005)
- LOST (2004-2010)
- Hawaii Five-0 (2010-present)
CONCERTS & MUSIC VIDEOS
- The Big Mele Festival (1993)
- Carlos Santana: Far East & Hawaii Tour (1994)
- The Big Mele Festival (1996)
- The Big Mele Festival (1998)
- Surf & Roots Festival (2007)
- Nicki Minaj – Starships (2012)
- Halsey – New Americana (2015)
We also drove past Battery Cooper Bunker.
Taken from the website: Following Japan’s infamous attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States military mobilized to fortify O’ahu in the event of another ambush. With particular concern for the Hawaiian island’s windward coast, the military rented prime coastal land from the family-owned Kualoa Ranch, a now eighth-generation cattle ranch, nature reserve, and recreation center located approximately 25 miles from O’ahu’s capital of Honolulu.
Built in 1944 to overlook and protect O’ahu’s Kāne’ohe Bay, Battery Cooper Bunker, named after an Avery J. Cooper, served for five years as one of three local defenses. Strategically positioned within a soft volcanic cliff face, the bunker’s 150-foot concrete tunnels were relatively easy and cost-effective to construct.
Overall, this was a fun tour. It was neat to see where some very popular movies were filmed, and you could tell the staff was excited about Hawaii, and sharing it with others.
We headed back to the bus to get ready to go to our next drive-by location, Punchbowl Crater. Punchbowl Crater is an extinct volcanic cone in Honolulu, that is the home of the National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific.
From here, we headed to the port so we could board our cruise on Norwegian’s Pride of America!
Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures 