Hawaii (Day 3) – Kualoa Ranch – Everyday Joyful Sky

The benefit of having jet lag was that we woke up early every morning (and usually passed out by 9pm), and this made the 1-hour drive out to Kualoa Ranch by 8am a relatively manageable task. We had booked the Kualoa Experience Package to spend a good portion of the day inside the Kualoa Nature Reserve. The package included three 90-min. tours + buffet lunch. There are many different tours to choose from, and we selected the Jungle Expedition, the Movie Sites Tour and the Ocean Voyage.

(The famous dinosour scratch marks from ‘Jurassic World’)

(I absolutely love these dome-like trees all over the ranch…anyone knows what they are called?)

(The valley has been the filming location for so many movies)

(View from Kaneohe Bay – I could stare at these mountains all day!)

There was a little bit of haze that day due to the smoke coming over from the volcanos on the Big Island. But it was still a beautiful day to soak up all of the amazing views that my iPhone just does not do its justice. This tour package was certainly not cheap for a family of 4, but I think it was well worth the money to be able to spend the day with local guides sharing with us their history and stories. We even saw a couple of giant sea turtles swimming in the ocean during the catamaran ride. Unfortunately it was so unexpected that we didn’t get to take a picture. But what a nice surprise/treat for us nonetheless since it was harder to find sea turtles close to shore during the winter months due to high surfs.

Upon returning to the hotel, we went out for a walk around Waikiki beach and watched the sunset. This leisurely pace in paradise was really growing on me. Can we stay forever please?