The Best of Hawaii – January/February 2026
January 24 (a pre-trip day to get over jet
lag
We arrived in Hawaii (Honolulu on the island of Oahu) on a very smooth flight from San Francisco. That is to say, Pippi Longstock and I arrived! But she got the welcome lei,
We settled into the Royal Hawaiian hotel, also known as
the “Pink Palace of the Pacific”, which is set on the white sand shores of
Waikiki Beach.
The grand entrance!
Tauck organized for our group to have oceanfront views!
Travel days are always a bit exhausting and so…
January 25 (Tour Day 1)
Early breakfast on Waikiki beach as the sun comes up.
But… Kind of hard to swallow after the latest ICE killing in Minneapolis. It’s difficult to ignore the terrible things
happening in the USA; even a lovely place like Hawaii does not insulate us from
the bad news.
January 26 (Day 2) In
Honolulu – Iolalni Palace, Downtown Honolulu, O’ahu Scenic Tour
Well, it is the tropics, and so of course it rained. I mean, the rain comes sideways and with
force. So although our day was to
include a trip to the famous Punchbowl Memorial Cemetery, and the Hu’uanu Pali lookout, that just wasn’t to be. If
you are a tourist, you’d be disappointed, but if you are a TRAVELLER,
then you shrug off such changes.
We did brave the rain to run across the park to the tour
of the Iolani palace. A very
worthwhile few hours which provided a look at how the last Hawaiian kings and
queens lived. Built in 1882, this
National Historic Landmark reigns as the only official state residence of
royalty in the United States.
(the dinner gown on the rightis adorned with peacock feathers!)
Our tour around the Southeast part of the island of
Oahu today included a stop to look at the beach where the movie “From Here to Eternity” featuring a
torrid (for that time) scene was filmed. Today you can walk down from the
highway to enjoy the beach yourself.
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| Just a reminder that every single inch of Hawaii is volcanic… |
January 27 (Day 3) in Honolulu – features
Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri
The feature today was a
trip to the Pearl Harbor area. It’s a bit difficult to get tickets to go see
the USS Arizona memorial, which requires a boat ride out and back to the white
memorial building which is located on top of where the still-sunken ship
rests.
However, the tours of the USS Missouri are quite
accessible and extensive, and it is pretty thrilling to stand on the deck where
the emperor of Japan surrendered and ended World War II.
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| All aboard the USS Missouri! |
I stood on this very same deck, during my tour of the USS
Missouri!
The sunsets on Waikiki Beach are really stunning, and
Pippi Longstocking will miss the lush footage of Oahu. Tomorrow we fly to the
big island!
We flew on Hawaiian airlines from Oahu to Hilo
International airport on The Big Island.
Did you know – this is actually the youngest of the Hawaiian
islands? It is home to Mauna Loa and
Kilauea, two of the world’s most active and accessible volcanoes. The Tauck briefing: In 1866, when Mark Twain saw the sizzling
lava of Kilauea, the wrote – “Here is room for the imagination to work!” UNESCO named the park and international
Biosphere Reserve because of its outstanding scenic and scientific values. The park protects a wide diversity of
ecosystems and hjabitat for native Hawaiin plans and animals. It is also rich in cultural and historic
sites.
The feature of the
day was the Volcanoes National Park.
Almost immediately upon arrival, we drove for about 90 minutes to reach
the park. There was a big eruption on Saturday, January 24, and while we were
there, we saw that there was still quite a lot of smoke (“bog”) coming from the
crater and blanketing the area. Sometimes the bog can actually contain a small
pieces of glass, so as a precaution, most of us wore face masks when we went on
our short walk.
To see the continuing eruption, scan this QR code
Or go to
https://www.facebook.com/592039044/videos/pcb.10166378116469045/1234049795336402
Our Tour Director noted that when she was here the
previous week, the ground along the walking trail was brown ; now, it is
covered with small pieces of lava.
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Volcanoes National Park -
from the observation point, can you tell where the lava stopped during a past
eruption? The trees in the green area have a root system which pulverizes lava;
birds spread the seeds from these trees to the other areas, and ultimately the
surrounding area is regenerated.
We did not see the big eruption that occurred the
previous week, just its aftermath, with the lava bits at the sides of all the
roads. The eruption spewed lava bits so
heavily in the area that park roads were closed for two days while they were
scrapped clean, said our guide.
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January 25, Day 5
Pippi relaxes after breakfast at the Hapuna Beach Resort. We just enjoyed the resort and its features
today! A cultural presentation done in
the hotel was Aina Mo’olelo “Stories of the Land”
January 30 (Day 6),
In South Kona on The Big Island, we visited the
painted church which shows the handiwork of a Benedictine father who built
this church plank by plank in 1899, carrying the remnants of a church in a
nearby area up to this high point in the town of Captain Cook. Using remnants
of house paint, he created famous Bible stories on the walls as instruction for
his parishioners, many of whom could not read. One famous feature is the
so-called “peekaboo Jesus” who looks out from behind the altar, reminding
parishioners to be good people all the time because their every action is known
by the deity. For more info: https://thepaintedchurchhawaii.org/
Tour of the Kona Historical Coffee Farm. This living history farm shows how a
typical coffee farming family of the early 20th century lived and
worked. . It took so much hand labor for these small farmers to produce
Kona coffee. This visit is quite interesting and gave insight to the daily
lives of these farmers, many of whom were of Japanese ethnicity.
Actual Kona coffee is
very expensive- $30 or more per pound. It’s important to look at the label,
because many producers will place 10% of Kona coffee into a blend and declare
it to be Kona coffee. A little deceptive… But our group went to a roaster who
produces the real thing.
January 31 (Day 7)
We arrived after a short flight on the island of
Kauai, known as the Garden Isle. Our bus stopped for a short time at an
overlook. Volunteers are doing a humpback whale count — and it’s going
on at several other Hawaiian locations. Data is fed into a NOAH database. Great
demonstration of citizen science!
Beautiful scenery on our drive in Kauai as we stop to
admire Opaekaa Falls
We had lunch at Kilohana Plantation in the town of Lihue. This place is a bit touristic, but food was
decent and the hula demonstration was interesting. An original working plantation homestead,
Kilohana was home to Gaylord Wilcox who operated Grove Farm Plantation. It was
the center of a 27,000-acre sugar plantation and the hub of Kauaʻi business, cultural and
social life. The 35-acre estate now
features tropical gardens and an old plantation village. The lunches are famous for their rum drinks..
and there is a rum tasting room on premises.
(photo credit Travel Weekly magazine~ https://www.travelweekly.com/Hawaii-Travel/Kilohana-Plantation-Roots-of-the-sugar-boom-)
We checked into our hotel on the south side of Kauai, the
Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, in the city of Koloa. Another incredible first class hotel with
views of the ocean!
February 1 (Day 8)
Today’s featured activity was an hour long helicopter flightseeing
adventure over the rainforests and mountains of this lush “Garden Isle”. We saw topical rainforests, jagged mountains,
sea cliffs, beaches and craters.
February 2 (Day 9) to Maui
We fly to the airport in
Kahului, Maui today. (Maui is named for
an ancient god, said the Tauck literature.
But AI expanded this theme: “Māui
is not named after another ancient god; rather, Māui is himself the famous
demigod and culture hero in Polynesian mythology. According to Hawaiian
tradition, the island of Maui was named after Māui's son or a navigator named
after the demigod himself, while other legends state his father ʻAkalana
named the island directly in the demigod's honor”). Famous Exploits of Maui are
1) Slowing the Sun: He snared the sun with a magical rope to lengthen
the days so his mother could dry her kapa cloth; 2) Pulling up Islands:
He used a magical fishhook (Manaiakalani) to pull the Pacific islands up
from the ocean floor 3) Discovering Fire: He journeyed to the underworld
to learn the secret of fire for humanity.
Regardless, this is a really wonderful island, and when I
come back to Hawaii, Maui is where I would come.
Our big activity for the day was to visit the Maui Ocean
Center. It’s a great introduction to
Hawaii’s unique undersea ecosystem, which is populated by rare species that
exist nowhere else. Our tour of the center
started with a lecture on some of the research being done there.
And then a look at sea turtles and other inhabitants of
shallow reefs.
This ocean center is a great place for families too. Who can resist shaved ice?
We then went to our hotel, the absolutely marvelous Fairmont
Kea Lani! It is located on the Wailea
Coast. Pippi loves it!
February 3 (Day 10)
Within the confines of the hotel, we did an Art and
Culture Tour with Sculptor Dale Zarrella.
He is a
Here is one of his famous sculptures, commissioned by the
hotel and a major art piece in the lobby.
I also spent some time at the cultural center within the hotel, learning about elements of historic dress, instruments, and much more.
A video about the feather leis…
Scan the QR code for the explanation by the culturalist
Or go to: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1592600639245799
And to see a video showing some very traditional hula with traditional instruments… scan the QR code below this photograph...
Or go to: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1466103212233790
February 4 (Day 11)
Today we visited the Haleakala National Park, following
narrow and winding roads up to the 10,023-foot-high rim of Mount Haleakala
(meaning: “house of the sun”).a This is
the world’s largest dormant volcano ~ two centuries since its last eruption,
and the park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
The crater is more than 7 miles across, and it hosts a beautiful
endangered plant species, the silversword.
To see the video and go on the crater-viewing walk, scan
this QR code:
Or go to: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1057785463736264
In the evening, our farewell dinner was a fun
luau on the Pacific Terrace of the hotel grounds.
The first entertainment was the fire dancers…
To see the video of this performance, scan the QR code
below
Or go to: https://www.facebook.com/592039044/videos/pcb.10167518114489045/1611808380292948
Then, our group was treated to a wonderful hula with
music!
To see the video of this performance, scan the QR code
Or go to: https://www.facebook.com/592039044/videos/pcb.10167518114489045/2259186751580172
February 5 (Day 12) -- And
so, Farewell Hawaii! Beautiful memories,
fascinating history, friendly people!
(Okay, well some of the food choices at the airport were,
in my opinion, questionable. Or would
exotic be a better word?)
