25th Anniversary Adventure - Day Five

Saturday morning we were up early and put our bags out to be collected and taken to the ship. Then we boarded the bus for one last day of touring on Oahu. 

Our first stop was a natural rock formation on the shoreline called the Halana Blowhole. It was super windy on the coastline as you can see by our hair. There's a couple of videos showing the way the water comes up into the air through the rocks. 

Then our next stop was the Byodo-In Buddhist Temple, way back in the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. It was so gorgeous and peaceful to stroll around and pray. And I got to ring the peace bell. 

Then it was back in the bus. We had a quick shopping trip at Tropical Farms that sold macadamia nuts. 

Then it was time for our main destination of the day - Kualoa Ranch. This is the largest privately owned estate on the island at 4,000 acres and includes mountains, valleys, cattle ranch and coastline. Some of these pictures may look familiar because Kualoa Ranch has been featured in over 70 movies and TV shows including Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, Lost, 50 First Dates, Godzilla, Hawaii Five-O, Jumanji and Kong Skull Island. It was breathtaking!!!! 

Before we boarded the bus for the tour, we had lunch under their big tent and then got a little Polynesian history lesson and of course some more hula. 

This is part of the tree stump where Dr. Grant and the kids hid 

from the dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park. And then some of the other props left behind from shooting that movie on the ranch. 

These big dark "holes" are actually Godzilla footprints made for that movie. 

On our way back to downtown Honolulu, we saw some more interesting coastline. 

We made one last stop at the Punchbowl: the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The statue here was featured in the original Hawaii Five-0 intro. 

Then it was time to go to the port and board our ship for the rest of the trip - NCL's Pride of America. It is the only Hawaiian cruise of the islands that starts and ends in Hawaii. 

The main lobby and guest services area was all decked out like Washington DC and then there were some Hawaiian touches on board too. 

Our room was on deck 8 at the front of the ship. We booked a balcony room so we could always enjoy the view. We loved having breakfast delivered to the room and eating out there most mornings. 

We explored a bit as the ship was getting ready to leave harbor.