10. O'ahu, Hawaii

Dates: December 24-29, 2014

We have a BIG thank you to say to my generous, thoughtful friend Allie for our travel book, O’ahu Revealed. It was so well written and included everything we could have ever wanted to know to help us plan our days in O’ahu. Although we usually don’t do a lot of research well in advance to travelling, this resource was referenced many times a day! I was able to read it on the plane ride over, feeling totally ready for our days on the island when we got there!

We flew to Honolulu on December 24. Side note about Allegiant- I had been told that it was a minimalistic airline, but this was something else- we found that we were constantly having to pay for “extras”, including carry on luggage and boarding passes. They did not have any complimentary services on the plane, not even a drink of water on the 6.5 hour flight to Honolulu! There were no TVs and seats could not recline. I would possibly recommend Allegiant for Vegas, but not for any lengthier flight. Back to the good stuff J We got in around 2:30 pm and had no hassles getting our rental car from Alamo and getting to the place we were staying outside of Waikiki. We chose to try AirBnB rather than staying in a hotel or resort, and were really happy with our choice. The house we stayed in was beautiful and spacious, and our generous hosts were full of great information. One of the other great benefits of the house was having access to a fridge where we could keep food for breakfasts and dinner, saving us from having to eat out all of the time. I really love travelling, but I get tired of restaurant food quickly, so having healthy food from the grocery store at the house worked out so well. 

In the evening, we went down to Waikiki and explored the shops and beach. It was a funky spot, but was so busy! We later found out that the population of all of the Hawaiian islands put together is around 1.4 million, with 1.1 million living on O’ahu (mostly in the Waikiki/Honolulu area). Especially after just being in Vegas, Waikiki wasn’t a favourite for us, but we were happy to see it and have a night out in the town. We had been told that with everything being so busy, we would want to be out to the beaches early in the morning, so we changed our routine from late nights/mornings to early! The next day was Christmas, and we kicked the day off by hiking to the top of Diamond Head crater first thing in the morning. It was steep in parts, but had stairs a lot of the way. The view was great from the top, and we even had entertainment from a santa-hat-wearing-ukelele-player at the top. We then went to Wakapu’u and hiked to the top there. Another fairly easy hike, this one complete with a paved path to the top, making it another busy one. We then ventured down to the water to see the Dragon’s Nostrils. This was such a cool spot to hike down to. When the water crashed along the rocks at the edge, the water would also come shooting out from these blowholes in the rocks, creating the effect and sound of a breathing dragon. It was not very busy at all, which was also a welcome change! We stayed there for quite some time. We then hit Sandy Beach for some lunch and a chance to watch the waves and body surfers. We came back to the house to make a few Christmas phone calls and it was so great to talk to our families. We then did a lot of circling around for parking in Waikiki in order to go for dinner, and after finally finding some, went for a big walk and then dinner at a buffet with Polynesian entertainers. We were shocked to see how many people were out in the streets and restaurants on Christmas day- we even saw a food court that was packed at dinner time! We have spent one other Christmas away from family, but this one wasn’t as tough. Even though it was strange not being with family and surrounded by snow, we were really busy all day and had fun exploring. We ended off every day here with Hawaiian beers out on the porch, which was lovely! 

everything is built too small for this guy

we opened our Christmas cards at the top of Diamond Head

lunch spot!

dinner entertainment    

for those who know about my thing about food touching on a plate, I found the plate to solve all my problems! 

And this other picture is a food court on Christmas night- it was bizarre how busy it was!

We spent the next morning snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It was not as crowded feeling as I thought it would be, and it was really beautiful. The snorkeling was great in the bay, really clear and we were able to see a lot of different kinds of fish. We went out a couple times, spending our morning at this great location. We had the huge benefit of having my uncle’s awesome underwater camera, so we were able to get lots of pictures! We then went to the Koko Marine centre for lunch and drinks, then drove up the East coast, stopping at Kailua beach for a great, long beach walk and then drove up to Kualoa beach to see Chinaman’s Hat (island) and a great coastal view. We then came back along the H3 highway, an incredible road with a huge tunnel going right through the mountains. 

these guys were everywhere!

The next day we headed straight for the north shore, hitting a Hurley surf competition right away. The waves were not as big as we had hoped, and the wind was going the wrong way for great surfing. However, we saw some surfers and body surfers on Hale’iwa beach and Waimea Bay beach, ending with the best ones at the infamous Bonzai Pipeline. We then walked Sunset beach and out to La’ia Point, where (as our amazing guide book explains), “a tsunami literally punched a hole through the island”. We both had delicious lunches back in Hale’iwa- Macky’s shrimp truck has the absolute best shrimp I will ever eat (it might have had something to do with the garlic butter…). We also tried Shave Ice, a Hawaiian specialty. We then drove down to the Kane’ohe area and hiked to the 30 ft. Wailee waterfall. 

a Hawaiian rainbow!

Our final day had us on the west coast. We started off with a hike to the 160 ft. Manoa waterfall which was really close to where we were staying. We then headed off to the Ko’Olina lagoons, where we snorkeled a few times and enjoyed some beach time. After lunch we went further up the coast to Electric beach, where we had the absolute best snorkeling of the trip. The water was fairly rough and did a great job pulling me out (I hoped that all of my swimming was payment for a couple of my ice cream treats), but the water was very clear and we saw lots of fish and coral. We then drove past a few busy, beautiful beaches before settling on the very last one, Yokohoma. The waves were really big here, so it was great to watch. Our final stop of the day was a large mall downtown for a few hours. 

The highlights from our fish finding:

Our last morning found us saying goodbye to our hosts and the island and hopping back on the plane! What a great introduction to Hawaii- we will definitely be back to explore some of the other islands!

The Burgess Duo