Honolulu – Oahu

When we went to Oahu we stayed in downtown Honolulu for a few days before heading up the coast. There are tons of great restaurants and places to shop there. We went for a fantastic ride on a catamaran and saw our first green sea turtles and humpback whales! If you can visit Hawaii while the whales are there in season, I would highly recommend it. They’re so amazing to see. You can see a wonderful panoramic of Diamond Head while exploring Waikiki Beach and visit a statue of “The Duke”. Hanauma Bay is close by and a must for snorkeling. Driving is a nightmare though, so walking, if possible, is the way to get around. While the more local, laid back setting was what we were looking for on vacation it was a lot of fun getting to explore the city.

North Shore – Oahu, Hawaii

(In advance, I’ll say that not all the photos in this post are exactly from the North Shore region of the island, but it’s hard to categorize some of the random shots I wanted to share, so they’re stuck in here if they were relatively close by.)

One of my favorite places to visit on Oahu was the famous North Shore coastline. Brave surfers from all over the world come to this stretch to ride the gnarly Banzai Pipeline and experience the perfect barrel waves. We were visiting Oahu during winter so the surf was pretty big. Sunset Beach is along the coast there and it is easy to see how it got its name. Kualoa Ranch was a really neat place to visit. There we took both a jungle tour of Hakipu’u Valley and a movie sites tour of Ka’a’awa Valley. The Polynesian Cultural Center is a great place to see demonstrations of traditional hula dancing and learn all about the rich history of the Hawaiian islands. Dole Plantation was another great stop we made. It was cool to see fields of pineapples growing, eat a delicious DoleWhip and check out the gorgeous rainbow eucalyptus trees. Kaena Point is the westernmost tip of the island and offers amazing views. We were lucky enough to see some monk seals at the end of our hike there too!

Makaha – Oahu, Hawaii

While we were in Hawaii we stayed in a great little rental house right on the water in Makaha, which is on the leeward side of Oahu. The house had amazing views with nothing more than rocks separating  us from the Pacific ocean. We were lucky enough to get to see “honu”(the Hawaiian word for green sea turtle) and watch humpback whales from the back lanai daily. Next to the house is Aki Beach, which is a small, private “locals” beach where the turtles like to sunbathe. Such a peaceful and quiet setting which was a nice change of pace from busy Honolulu. Being able to fall asleep and wake up to the sound of waves is what island living is all about.

Waimea Valley – Oahu, Hawaii

Waimea Valley is a historical nature park full of amazing flowers, native gardens and a beautiful waterfall you can swim at. There’s a paved path that winds through the grounds which makes it easy to stroll along and really take your time checking out all the different varieties of plants. They also have a huge collection of hibiscus flowers here including many hybrids and endangered species.

Pearl Harbor – Oahu, Hawaii

December 7th, 1941 – A day that will forever live on in infamy. 

Visiting Pearl Harbor while on vacation in Hawaii was a surreal experience. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to have been a witness to the awful events that occurred there, or worse yet, to have had to participate in the fight.

The battleship USS Missouri is open for the public to tour and is enormous and very educational. You quickly forget you are on a boat after wandering around its multiple decks. The written agreement of surrender from Japan was later signed on board this ship, marking the end of World War II.

The main feature to visit is the USS Arizona Memorial. Almost half of the casualties at Pearl Harbor occurred on the battleship Arizona. What is left of the ship is submerged in about 40 feet of water below the memorial. When you look down through observation holes you can see that the water is still somewhat slicked with oil. What is left of the almost 1.5 million gallons of fuel that was on board continues to slowly seep out to this day and adds to the somberness of standing above a war grave. After their death, survivors of the Arizona are allowed to have their cremated remains returned to the ships wreckage by divers. There is a plaque at the memorial that describes how divers feel a “pull” as they release an urn into what was once a gun turret area on board. They say that it is the ship accepting one of its own back.

I am thankful I had the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor and pay respect to the many who gave their life fighting for our nation.