Pineapples and gardens at Dole Plantation

2008 Guinness World's Largest Maze at Dole Plantation in Wahiawā on Oahu. The foreground is landscaped to look like a pineapple fruit from above. Apparently China has the record now with a maze covering more than double the area of this one.

There are many bromeliads in the landscaping here, which is fitting because pineapples are in the bromeliad family.

Upon entering the maze, visitors walk into this garden area groomed into a giant pineapple when viewed from above. Shown here is the top of the pineapple. The garden is surrounded by a maze of walkways defined by tall pink hibiscus hedges. While finding the starting and ending point is not so difficult, the greater challenge is to find all eight display boards within the maze as fast as you can.

Riding the Pineapple Express is another must do activity if you like trains. According to the Dole website, there are three trains that shuttle visitors on a twenty minute narrated loop tour.

On the train, the recorded narrator talks about the history of the pineapple industry in Hawaii as you ride past small fields of pineapple.

You pass plantation workers in the fields, and learn who Dole was.

There are also small fields of cut flowers and rows of tropical fruit trees.

There is an agroforestry project where I believe young cacao saplings are intercropped with something larger that I am guessing is a nitrogen fixer whose branches are being used like mulch to keep weeds down, retain water, and replenish the soil.

The signage said this is Tanada Reservoir. I wonder what the history of that is. Who was Tanada? There is another pond where people feed koi fish.

After exiting the train station, you walk through a garden of different pineapple varieties.

Most of the pineapples I saw were pretty small. This is the best photo of a pineapple I got. I'm guessing it's an ornamental one because of the vibrant pink color.

Resident chickens are a welcome sighting.

The Pineapple Maze again. This is a fun activity for kids of all ages, and it also makes for a nice walk, especially if you treat yourself to Dole Whip (like a pineapple frozen yogurt or soft-serve) first. The third attraction is the Plantation Garden, which I haven't made it to yet, but can't wait to see.