East Shore of Oahu

I am still trying to play catch up with the Hawaii pictures.  This posting includes pictures that I took while driving along the east shore of Oahu.  My friends, Barb and Tom, had never driven this stretch of road despite their numerous trips to the island to spend at their timeshare.  The scenery was incredible.

But first a picture that my friends took of me while I was giving a talk at the Honolulu rock and mineral club.

 

One of the club members gifted us with Hawaiian leis made out of natural flowers.  When we arrived back at our hotel, we put them on a plate with water to keep them fresh.

 

 

I heard about chickens that run wild around some of the Hawaiian islands.  I saw my first one in a shopping center parking lot.  I'll include more information about these chickens in a future posting.

 

 

In one of the ponds near the Marriott resort there are black swans that hang out in the pools.  The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic conditions. Black Swans are large birds with mostly black plumage and red bills. They are monogamous breeders that share incubation duties and cygnet rearing between the sexes.

 

 

 

As we drove to Honolulu on the way to the east shore of the island, I captured the following photo of Diamond Head.

 

 

The photo below is also of Diamond Head -- but from a close range.

 

 

Then we drove along the east shore of the island.  It was incredibly beautiful.