{Travel} Oahu - Day 6 - Coffee Farm, Dole Plantation, Local Food Trucks, Surfers, Waimea Waterfall & Luau

 Day 6

This was a jam packed day for us. We had a full day of sightseeing planned with our gang. One of them had planned our whole itinerary which was wonderful! This was another view from our room.

 

We had to make a decision about our flight out on Sunday night because it looked like it would probably be cancelled (this was Friday morning). We re-booked our flights before picking up our rental car (another Jeep!) and were running late with the group.

They were leaving Green World Coffee Farm as we got there so we said we'd meet up with them at the next stop. We grabbed a quick coffee and a look around before heading out to meet at stop #2.

Stop #2 was the Dole Plantation.  We spent some time looking around the grounds and the store (where I found my cute pineapple socks).

We *had* to try the Dole Whip here. They have a self serve kiosk system and you can pick all kinds of toppings. We shared one with raspberry sauce. It was good but I think Disney does it better!

We purchased tickets for the Pineapple Express Train Tour.

It was a fun 20 minute train journey through the plantation and very interesting.

The bromeliads were bromeliading. 

The scenery was breathtaking.

If you zoom in on this photo, you can see the baby pineapples growing in the field. It was so cool!

They get you at the beginning for a professional photo. It cracks me up!

Our next stop was the food trucks for lunch on the way to the North Shore and this was the only photo that I took. Chickens everywhere, just like in Kauai!  We had a nice outdoor lunch and the food prices were super reasonable. It's a good idea to get off of the resort areas and try the places that the locals eat.  

Our next stop was the Banzai Pipeline surfing area at the Ehukai Beach Park on the North Shore.  We parked on the street and found an entrance to the beach. Nothing is marked so you just have to look for beach access.

This is a world famous surfing destination known for the barrel shaped waves. 

{not my photo, someone else in our group captured this shot!}

From November-March it is extremely dangerous to swim here but perfect for brave surfers.  I could watch them all day. They were setting up stands for a competition so the conditions were perfect.   We were chatting with a surfer from South Africa and asking how they knew when to take on a wave, he said there's a line out there and locals have preference.

The sand was very deep and rough.

Our final stop was at the Waimea Valley to go see the Waimea Falls and attend the Toa Luau.

We took the short hike down to the falls. It's about 1.5 miles round trip.  The hike has lush beautiful botanical gardens as well as Hawaiian history stops along the way. It's mostly shaded too which was nice.

 Waimea Falls is a 45 foot waterfall.

There are lifeguards and life jackets if you care to swim at the bottom. We skipped this part and took the hike back to the visitor center.

We took our time and enjoyed the botanical gardens. I thought these Acanthaceae flowers were so vibrant.

We had time to freshen up and change into our luau outfits.

We were all ready for a lava flow by this point!

We made our way over to the Toa Luau area where we taken to our seats and given leis.  We had VIP tickets so we were seated near the front of the stage.

We were encouraged to learn some Hawaiian crafts and games and were treated to a cooking demonstration and an amazing tree climbing demonstration.

Dinner was served and then the show began. The entertainment was a 10/10! The food was just ok.

We really enjoyed the show and learning about the Polynesian culture.

Of course Mr. Click made a friend!

Are you still with me? Phew, that was a LONG day but a good one!

to be continued...

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