Hawaii - Day 2

We started the day today with a drive to the central part of the island to the Dole Plantation. It was pretty to see all of the pineapple fields but we were a little disappointed in the plantation itself. It was much more of a shop for Dole versus teaching us about farming pineapples. We did learn that it takes about 18 months for a pineapple plant to reach it's first fruit. The plants produce three different pineapples before they are pulled and new ones are planted. A few pictures from the plantation:
Probably the best part about the plantation was the garden area. There were some beautiful hibiscus plants.

We left the pineapple plantation and headed up to the North Shore. This is an area that is famous for its surfing. The weather today had some nice swells coming in so there were quite a few surfers out. We drove along the shore and enjoyed the view and ended up stopping to just sit and watch the surfers for a bit. The balance the surfers have is just amazing to me we had a good time watching them. If you double-click on the second picture below you'll see four surfers catching the same wave.

After leaving the North Shore we drove along the coast and headed back down to Waikiki. When we planned the trip we had a couple of friends ask us why we were staying on O'ahu for more than a day. We figured there would be plenty to see and do but have quickly realized that this is not the beautiful part of Hawaii. We're hoping that the next week on the Big Island brings us much more of the beauty that we have seen and heard about Hawaii.

On another note, today is our 11th anniversary. Woohoo!