travel – Capturing My Focus

Honolulu – Oahu

May 25, 2016June 27, 2016Leave a comment

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

May 13, 2016May 16, 2016Leave a comment

(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

May 11, 2016May 16, 2016Leave a comment

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

May 10, 2016May 16, 20162 Comments

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.