Aloha,

On the shuttle from Honolulu airport to our hostel it actually felt like we hadn't left LA. Honolulu and Waikiki were much bigger than I expected. I obviously knew that Hawaii was a part of the states but I just imagined it to be smaller!

We arrived at our hostel which was in a great location only one block from Waikiki beach where we were met by possible the most useless reception staff. We've managed to check in to Hotels in San Pedro Sula with no mutual language and had no problems but for some reason 'Sylva' couldn't split our bill in two. Anyway eventually we managed to talk him through the complex math and we got our key!

In the morning the sun was shining and all worries were lifted. It became easy to look past the buildings and see the golden beaches and azure waters. If Waikiki (one of the busiest beaches) looks like this imagine what the rest of the island looks like! We quickly made friends with some girls over breakfast and decided to start our day of with a walk to the top of the Diamond Head Crater which was only a 10 minute taxi ride away. The walk up to the top was a bit of a killer with hundreds of steps split up by dusty switchbacks and the midday heat wasn't helping. The reward of a 360 view at the top mad it worthwhile and what a view it was. In the afternoon we headed to the beach for some swimming and sunbathing with Penny (New Zealand) and Rena (Germany). That night the whole hostel went out for drinks, lots of drinks.

I was keen to get to the USS Arizona memorial so the next day Rena, Liann and I (feeling a little delicate) caught the bus to Pearl Harbour. After a sleepy hour bus ride we arrived at Pearl Harbour at about 11am to find that the daily 4000 tickets had sold out! We had no idea that it would be that popular. As we sat trying to decide what to do we bumped into some guys that we had befriended the night before. It was the last day in Hawaii for Patrick, Emily, and Olivia and they had missed out on the Pearl Harbour tickets too. Patrick was driving and offered to squeeze the three of us into his car to drive up to the Kanè Oha Temple on the north of the island. The Japanese temple is set amongst peaceful gardens surrounded by Hawaii's steep rainforest clad mountains. The ponds thrived with Koi and there were birds literally eating out of our hands. The is a definite air of tranquillity around the temple, that us apart from the huge prayer bell which people take in turn to gong.

The guys had to leave so Patrick dropped the three of us in a nearby town where we could get some dinner and catch a bus back across the island to Waikiki. We got off the bus a little early to explore the Capitol District of Honolulu before heading back to our hostel.

The next day Rena, Liann, Penny and I went to Hanuma bay. A hugely over popular snorkelling beach! I was pleased that they run a compulsory reef awareness video, warning people of the damage that can be caused to the coral but at the same time a little saddened. How did I get here from the perfect secluded reefs of Belize and Nicaragua? The coral was in a pretty bad way, it's hard to say for sure that it is just the effect of tourism but with the water being so shallow and people clambering all over it (despite the video) that 's where I'd place my money. Nevertheless we had a good time with plenty of species to spot from Spotted Morays to Green Turtles and I did manage to find one huge Brain Coral that was actually in great condition.

We spent so long in the water that by the time we got out and sorted, we had missed the last bus back to Waikiki. We started to walk down to the next town in the hope that we would be able to catch a bus from there. As we walked I stuck my thumb out and in no time a pickup truck with some surfer 'dudes' picked us up. They were only headed to the town but one guy was at a loose end and offered to take us all the way to Waikiki. Perfect, maybe we got a little good hitchhiking karma from Raven.

Now it was time for us to get our own wheels again. This time as there was four of us sharing the cost we decided to 'splurge' a little and rented a convertible Camero. Cruising through the streets of Waikiki with the top down and music blasting was awesome. It was my first time driving such a noticeable car and I liked it! Sadly most of the roads in Hawaii are pretty slow with harsh limits but I still managed to 'open it up' on the freeway and beach roads. Spotting a tunnel ahead I had to do the Top Gear thing and put the pedal to the metal to listen to the growl of its obscenely big American engine. We had the car for three days and it wasn't all pointless cruising. On our first day we headed to the North Shore to the Polynesian Culture Centre. The $70 entrance was a bit steep but we spent the full day there learning about the similarities and differences between Hawaii, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti and Ataroea (New Zealand). The day was topped off with a buffet meal and a live show based on Hawaiian folk law. The next day we made it back to Pearl Harbour, this time we were early enough to get tickets! The Arizona memorial building is actually built directly over the wreckage of the USS Arizona so there is a boat shuttle that takes us from the shore over to the memorial building. At first it's hard to grasp the scale of the wreckage but then your eyes are drawn to the buoys marking the bow and stern of each ship that was sunk by the Japanese attack. Small blobs of oil are still leaking out of the Arizona and you can see the rainbow of colours caused by these 'Sailors Tears'. Talking to the guide there he explained that the Japanese attack didn't totally destroy the ships and that large amount of supper structure and the big guns were removed after sinking to be used to re build the fleet.

Like any war memorial there is a sombre feel but it is a beautiful way for people to remember and mourn those who lost their lives on December 7th 1941. There has also been a number of survivors that have since passed away who were given the honour of being returned to the Arizona to lay to rest.

Heading away from Pearl Harbour we circled the entire island stopping at the many beautiful beaches and views. Lanaki beach in the North East was by far the best, the baby powder like, soft white sand and clear waters seemed undiscovered by the hordes of tourist back in Waikiki. This was probably the best beach I have ever been too, and I've been to a lot of beaches! Driving down the west coast watching the sun set in my mirrors was a fitting end to a beautiful days driving around the magnificent island of Oahu. That night we had to say goodbye to Rena who was flying to LA to continue her travels so after dropping her at the airport Liann, Penny and I went for a Mai Tai in the Hard Rock Cafe. Not sure if I've mentioned it but since St. Louis, Liann has been collecting Hard Rock pins!

Our time in Hawaii was also coming to an end but I couldn't possible leave without squeezing in a couple of dives! A fairly normal Wreck and Reef two dive morning but made extra special as I managed to tick off a new species! A huge Frog Fish, I've only seen photos before and assumed that they were tiny so I was quite shocked when I spotted the highly camouflaged 30cm fish nestled amongst coral and wreckage. The second dive went a like wrong (I wondered off and lost everyone) but in my defence there was a shark in the distance and I had to get closer to see what it was. It turned out that it was 'only' a white tip reef shark and he was camera shy so shot under a ledge making a pretty poor photo opportunity. Not to worry because seconds later a huge turtle, maybe 5ft glided past and actually led me right back to the others. Thanks buddy! A beautiful morning of diving to top off a spectacular 10 days in sunny Hawaii.

The hostel which at first seems a little odd and unorganised had grown in our hearts and we were a little sad to be saying goodbye to all the fantastic people we had met.

It's a strange feeling moving on from one country to the next, a mixture of 'post holiday blues' and sadness to be leaving but also 'pre holiday excitement' for the next adventure. Fiji here we come!