Honolulu - Celebrity Eclipse Honolulu to Vancouver Land Cruise Trip - May 8, 2023

Paul and I started the morning early to catch the sunrise from Ala Moana Beach, right next to the harbor where we would board a boat for an early snorkeling excursion.

Then we checked in for our Turtle Canyon snorkel excursion booked through Living Ocean Tours.  Our boat was the Coral Kai.  It was really neat to swim with some turtles that were quite friendly but the waters were not as clear as I had hoped.  I also had an issue with my underwater housing for my iPhone fogging up.  This was only the second time using this underwater housing and each time I am learning a few more tricks to get it to work well.  My goal is to be fully comfortable with how it works before our Galapagos trip in the fall.  

We then returned to the hotel and had a late breakfast at the IHOP across the street, they had butter pecan syrup Paul loves!  This evening was our luau on the west coast so before heading west, we thought we would check out Hawaii's State Capitol Building.  It is a really interesting, open air building with an open courtyard in the middle.  The building has some nice views from the top floor.  The legislature wasn't in session so the building was pretty quiet.

After our visit to the Capitol Building, we started our journey to the west coast.  We drove to the end of the road on the northwest side of the island and then slowly made our way south.

Hawaiian Electric Power Plant

While we were at the Hawaiian Electric Beach, a pod of spinner dolphins gave us a show in the distance.

It was then time, to head to Paradise Cove to check in for our luau.  We had booked the Deluxe Royal Box Luau so were given priority getting in, greeted with orchid leis and a Mai Tai, and show our box seats.  We then had time to wander and enjoy the festivities happening on the grounds before the big show.  There was hula dance lessons, a market, revealing the pig, and live music.

My first Mai Tai

Our box seats were right in the middle and raised above everyone else which gave us a great view.

Sunset was just before the show started

After a great dinner and show, we headed back to the hotel.  We still had not fully adjusted to the time zone so our bodies felt like it was very late.