We've spent the last 6 days on Oahu and it has been pretty spectacular. The water has even been warm enough for me to go swimming. We are staying in an Air BnB in the town of Kailua about 30 minutes drive from the beach, Honolulu, and PearlHarbor.
We spent two days driving the perimeter of the island. On the first day we drove north to the North Shore, stopping to swim at Ahupua'a O'Kahana State Park. The park was uncrowded with beautiful clear blue water and just enough surf to ride the waves in to shore. We then continued to drive along the coast to the North Shore and snorkeled in the calm waters of "Shark Cove". The cove is a natural pool full of tropical fish. We swam around the algae covered rocks seeing many colorful fish. Rory and Luci even swam with a sea turtle! The cove was next to Sunset Beach which is famous for its 20 ft waves during the winter. During summer, the ocean is very calm, its hard to imagine surfers crowding it in a few months. We dined on North Shore shrimp from a food truck and then settled in to watch the sunset, our 4th of July fireworks.
The next day we drove west to the leeward side of the island going from tropical greenery to deserty tans and browns. The surf was much rougher as the landscape became more desolate. We stop to snorkel in the choppy waters of Hawaiian Electric Beach Park, sitting in the shadows of an electric generating plant. We saw a few fish but nothing special. We continued on our journey and ended up at the end of the road, Kaena Point State Park. My plans of circumnavigating the island were foiled by the fact that no road connects the Leeward to the North Shore. Instead we went to pay our respects to the Shark God, Ka-moho-ali'i, in his cave. We then wandered down the lava field onto the shoreline littered with tide pools and rusted out cars. After meditations on what it all means we were back to the apartment, with a stop off at Kailua beach for a refreshing dip.
The next day was off to Honolulu with stops first at Diamond Head for a quick hike up the crater and then a snorkel session at Hanauma Nature Preserve. We arrived at Diamond Head before 8:00 Am to find the parking lot already filled up. I dropped off the family so they could hike up and went to find a parking spot farther down the hill. Merry, Luci, Rory, and Nana hiked to the top of the crater for 360 views. After their hike (and a smoothie) we were off to the Nature Preserve to swim with the fishes. On our first pass, the parking lot was full but when I turned around the lot magically opened and we were able to go in. The Preserve is a bay that was created by a volcanic crater that part of the cone has collapsed and filled with water. There are many fish and turtles (or so we were led to believe) and also many snorkelers. While we did see some fish, and two Hawaiian Monk Seals(!), there were more fish and less people at Shark Cove. We went back to the apartment, changed, and were off to Honolulu.
We first stopped at the Art Museum and took a look at the Hawaiian Art and some Modern Art and then off to Waikiki. Honolulu is like any other big city except it seems with less parking. We finally find a spot and did our duty and went shopping. We never actually saw Waikiki Beach except for a glimpse out the car window. From what I saw, I prefer the parks that we visited.
The next day, yesterday, we were off the Pearl Harbor. While you cannot go on the USS Arizona Memorial, you can still watch the documentary about December 7th 1941 and then take a boat ride out to the memorial. It is a very moving experience. The park service does an excellent job of bringing home the brutality of war. I was surprised (but really shouldn't be) at the number of Japanese tourists that come to Pearl Harbor. The day we were there, we toured with a great number of Japanese High School students.
We saw where the war started and then we toured where it ended, the decks of the USS Missouri. The battleship was huge and we toured the decks, including the "surrender deck" , below decks, and the navigation decks. hearing about how devastating the guns are, I can't believe anyone ever survives during a war. There is an interesting story about the time a kamikaze pilot hit the decks of the Missouri, there are photographs of the attack and personal recollections - the bomb he was carrying did not explode so the only fatality was the pilot. I find it interesting that when the pilot's body was found, the Captain of the Missouri made sure that he was buried at sea with military honors, the signalmen of the Missouri even sewed a Japanese Rising Sun Flag to send him to accompany him to the deep. Hearing McArthur's speech that he gave during the surrender ceremony shows the stark difference between the political climate of the 1940's, one of reconciliation and cooperation, even after the atrocities of the war, and the climate that exists today.
After this sobering and moving day, we went in search of shave ice.
On Shave Ice: we have had 4 different versions of Hawaiian Shave Ice, at the Kailua General Store, at Island Snow (Obama's supposed favorite on the island), Island Vintage in Waikiki, and Wilson's General Store in Kailua. Sorry Mr. President but Island Snow was our least favorite (Thanks, Obama) with hard ice and dull flavors. Kailua General Store was the least expensive and the fluffiest with good flavor saturation (and three flavors on one cone!). Wilson's General Store was also very good with fluffy ice and good saturation (but only 2 flavors and more $). Island Vintage was a different animal. It was much more expensive but had natural flavoring and included puree-like syrups on fluffy ice. I think I like Hawaiian Ice more than Italian Ice - but I will need to do more research on the Big Island.
I just realized that my iPhone is saving pictures in a format I can't open on my computer... When I figure out how to change back to jpegs I will upload more pictures...
Thanks for reading!
We spent two days driving the perimeter of the island. On the first day we drove north to the North Shore, stopping to swim at Ahupua'a O'Kahana State Park. The park was uncrowded with beautiful clear blue water and just enough surf to ride the waves in to shore. We then continued to drive along the coast to the North Shore and snorkeled in the calm waters of "Shark Cove". The cove is a natural pool full of tropical fish. We swam around the algae covered rocks seeing many colorful fish. Rory and Luci even swam with a sea turtle! The cove was next to Sunset Beach which is famous for its 20 ft waves during the winter. During summer, the ocean is very calm, its hard to imagine surfers crowding it in a few months. We dined on North Shore shrimp from a food truck and then settled in to watch the sunset, our 4th of July fireworks.
The next day we drove west to the leeward side of the island going from tropical greenery to deserty tans and browns. The surf was much rougher as the landscape became more desolate. We stop to snorkel in the choppy waters of Hawaiian Electric Beach Park, sitting in the shadows of an electric generating plant. We saw a few fish but nothing special. We continued on our journey and ended up at the end of the road, Kaena Point State Park. My plans of circumnavigating the island were foiled by the fact that no road connects the Leeward to the North Shore. Instead we went to pay our respects to the Shark God, Ka-moho-ali'i, in his cave. We then wandered down the lava field onto the shoreline littered with tide pools and rusted out cars. After meditations on what it all means we were back to the apartment, with a stop off at Kailua beach for a refreshing dip.
The next day was off to Honolulu with stops first at Diamond Head for a quick hike up the crater and then a snorkel session at Hanauma Nature Preserve. We arrived at Diamond Head before 8:00 Am to find the parking lot already filled up. I dropped off the family so they could hike up and went to find a parking spot farther down the hill. Merry, Luci, Rory, and Nana hiked to the top of the crater for 360 views. After their hike (and a smoothie) we were off to the Nature Preserve to swim with the fishes. On our first pass, the parking lot was full but when I turned around the lot magically opened and we were able to go in. The Preserve is a bay that was created by a volcanic crater that part of the cone has collapsed and filled with water. There are many fish and turtles (or so we were led to believe) and also many snorkelers. While we did see some fish, and two Hawaiian Monk Seals(!), there were more fish and less people at Shark Cove. We went back to the apartment, changed, and were off to Honolulu.
We first stopped at the Art Museum and took a look at the Hawaiian Art and some Modern Art and then off to Waikiki. Honolulu is like any other big city except it seems with less parking. We finally find a spot and did our duty and went shopping. We never actually saw Waikiki Beach except for a glimpse out the car window. From what I saw, I prefer the parks that we visited.
The next day, yesterday, we were off the Pearl Harbor. While you cannot go on the USS Arizona Memorial, you can still watch the documentary about December 7th 1941 and then take a boat ride out to the memorial. It is a very moving experience. The park service does an excellent job of bringing home the brutality of war. I was surprised (but really shouldn't be) at the number of Japanese tourists that come to Pearl Harbor. The day we were there, we toured with a great number of Japanese High School students.
We saw where the war started and then we toured where it ended, the decks of the USS Missouri. The battleship was huge and we toured the decks, including the "surrender deck" , below decks, and the navigation decks. hearing about how devastating the guns are, I can't believe anyone ever survives during a war. There is an interesting story about the time a kamikaze pilot hit the decks of the Missouri, there are photographs of the attack and personal recollections - the bomb he was carrying did not explode so the only fatality was the pilot. I find it interesting that when the pilot's body was found, the Captain of the Missouri made sure that he was buried at sea with military honors, the signalmen of the Missouri even sewed a Japanese Rising Sun Flag to send him to accompany him to the deep. Hearing McArthur's speech that he gave during the surrender ceremony shows the stark difference between the political climate of the 1940's, one of reconciliation and cooperation, even after the atrocities of the war, and the climate that exists today.
After this sobering and moving day, we went in search of shave ice.
On Shave Ice: we have had 4 different versions of Hawaiian Shave Ice, at the Kailua General Store, at Island Snow (Obama's supposed favorite on the island), Island Vintage in Waikiki, and Wilson's General Store in Kailua. Sorry Mr. President but Island Snow was our least favorite (Thanks, Obama) with hard ice and dull flavors. Kailua General Store was the least expensive and the fluffiest with good flavor saturation (and three flavors on one cone!). Wilson's General Store was also very good with fluffy ice and good saturation (but only 2 flavors and more $). Island Vintage was a different animal. It was much more expensive but had natural flavoring and included puree-like syrups on fluffy ice. I think I like Hawaiian Ice more than Italian Ice - but I will need to do more research on the Big Island.
I just realized that my iPhone is saving pictures in a format I can't open on my computer... When I figure out how to change back to jpegs I will upload more pictures...
Thanks for reading!