Monday 28th April

The alarm went for 2.45am and we quickly dressed and jumped in the car making for the summit of Haleakala a 10'000ft dormant volcano in the middle of the isle. We arrived at the park entrance at around 4amish getting to the summit just before 5am and joined the rest of the people waiting for the sun to appear over the clouds. It was freezing cold and we made of the best of what we had with us not expecting to need any cold weather clothes. The sunrise was amazing watching the different colours as the sun got higher and higher (let the pictures do the talking). Afterwards back to the hotels we didn't have to check out till 12 so we hit the pillow around 8am and were rudely woke up by the maid wondering what time we were checking out at 8.10am!

Once check out time came after some more sleep we packed for the return flight to Oahu and went for a sandwich and drink at a nearby cafe. The airport wasn't far away and after a quick flight we were back in Oahu and in another rental car. We stopped off in wall mart and bought an ACER laptop for £280 not bad.

Tuesday 29th April

Not much got done today as we had loads of washing to do, a bit of food shopping and a bit of sunbathing with Corinne getting bitten by the ants. Wolfie went to the Waimia valley community centre and to a Gerry Lopez (famous old school surfer, pioneer in short boards) got his new book signed and listened to some stories.

Wednesday 30th April

We drove up the furthest point we could north on the island as you need a 4x4 to get any further and had a look around to see if we could see any more monk seals no good though. On the way back through Haleiwa we got a few bits to get the box of goodies we'd purchased ready to send home and had an ice cone. Wolfie went for a surf in an area with lots of sea turtles, you're sat there on your board and they pop up all around you crazy!

Thursday 1st May

Bit of an early start at 7amish as we arrived at Haleiwa harbour and boarded the north shore shark tours boat. We headed around 3 miles of shore and anchored after only a couple of seconds the Galapagos sharks started to appear ranging from 4ft up to 12ft in length. Wolfie was second into the cage and the sea was a little rough to say the least, in the cage we were getting bashed about your leg or arm would occasionally pop out but apparently their friendly sharks (if there are any) so wouldn't bite. Corinne was having loads of fun on the boat taking pictures as the skipper feed the sharks off the side. Wolfie swallowed a load of sea water and was eventually sick eeeeeeeeeeeeee chummed the water for the next group. Apparently the sharks appear because they think it's the crab boats (bearing in mind the water was over 300ft deep) and come up from the deep blue sea.

After some lunch we went to pearl harbour the site of the infamous Japanese attack on the American navy that pushed the yanks into war, it was very moving reading the accounts of the people involved from both sides and that tragedy of the loss of life. We watched a video and learnt that if radar warnings had been listened to the attack may not have been as severe. Out onto another boat ride to the Arizona memorial the boat lay were it was sunk and is a tomb for those not able to be rescued on time, the memorial stretches across the bow of the ship and you can see it just lying under the water. Inside the memorial is a list of the people who lost their lives on that day including brothers, fathers and sons serving at the time and probably the most moving part is those who survived and since passing on have been buried in the ship to rejoin their friends.

Afterwards we went shopping in Waikiki and Honolulu and bought some more bits for the box as there was a bit of room left in the box.

Friday 2nd May

Wolfie not feeling great today according to john the owner off the place that we were staying its because of the sea water swallowed gets stuck in your sinuses and gives you flu like symptoms. Spent most of the day on the couch and finally made it up to go snorkelling with Corinne and one of the younger girls staying with us Maisy.We seen lots more fish and feed them some frozen peas which they apparently love, we also seen another sea turtle it's just amazing how tame they are and don't swim away. We had us a BBQ and then wolfie felt ill again so watched Dr. Who on the couch before getting in bed and went to sleep really not well. Corinne stayed up chatting to the girls.

Saturday 3rd May

Bit of a mesh mash of a last day really wolfie a lot better having sweated buckets the night before we got the parcels sent of home, some sunbathing and lots of packing for the trip to New Zealand the following day.