Ryan and I were lucky enough to get to travel to Hawaii at the end of 2015, as I had a conference in Honolulu the week before Christmas. As we didn’t have too much time after the conference ended, we decided to spend the entire trip on Oahu. No regrets! We’ll have to make another trip for the outer islands another time 🙂
For the first week we stayed right on Waikiki beach at one of the conference hotels.
It was nice to be right in the center of all the action for a few days at least. Ryan was overjoyed with the selection of seafood, and ahi poke became a daily snack. I was less enthused, but managed to find a few things to nibble on. Waikiki beach itself was nice, but really quite crowded. I didn’t usually get down to the beach until near the end of the day, by which time it was actually a tad chilly. We didn’t actually do too much swimming that first week, but we certainly enjoyed the sunshine, and plenty of beautiful sunsets.
Throughout the week, whenever I had some time to spare, we tried to hit some of the key sights around Honolulu. This included Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, and Manoa Falls.
Pearl Harbor was a real treat, and so much larger than I thought. Our uber driver accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up on the bridge into what I think is an air base. Some friendly gentlemen with very large guns turned us around. The museum at Pearl is fantastic. I really didn’t know much about the oil sanctions or US-Japanese politics prior to the attack at all. Always nice to learn something when you travel.
The views from diamond head were spectacular. My mum says she had a similar picture of my brother and I from back in 1985 or 1987. I’d love to see a comparison! Our driver took us on the scenic route around the coast to approach diamond head from the back. Well worth the extra 10 minutes.
The hike up to Manoa falls was super easy, and well worth the trip. We were lucky that it was quite dry that day, apparently the area is prone to flash floods. The falls were of course gorgeous, but Ryan and I were both amazed by the sheer size of the trees along the path.
Once the conference had finished Ryan and I opted to get out of Honolulu and a bit further away from the crowds. We rented an apartment about 30 minutes north-east of Honolulu in the small village of Waimanalo Beach. There’s about 6 blocks in Waimanalo beach, and two cross streets. It was so incredibly quiet, we only saw a handful of other tourists the entire time we were there. Waimanalo Beach itself was just about the most perfect stretch of beach I’ve ever laid eyes upon. Miles and miles of perfect sand and clear water, all nearly deserted. Walking on this sand was like what I imagine walking on clouds, or in soft marshmallows (without the stickiness) would feel like. The waves were big enough for boogie boarding, and jumping around (my favourite beach activities!) but not so huge that you had to fear for your safety. We visited the beach, a minutes walk from our apartment, every day I think. Our apartment also had a gorgeous mountain view. I would come back here in a heartbeat.
We rented a car for the last 5 days of our trip, which gave us a bit more flexibility to explore the island. There were a few mid-sized towns a 10-15 minute drive from our apartment, which gave us plenty of more restaurants to try out as well. Over the last five days we drove around almost the whole island. We snorkeled at turtle cove up to the north, and visited the pipeline, where the big wave surfing competition had taken place just a few days earlier. We drove through the interior, but unfortunately didn’t get a chance to stop at the dole pineapple plantation, which I would have liked. These are an assortment of photos from around the island.
We did a bit more hiking, and a lot more swimming. Have you ever been boogie boarding in 80 degree weather on Christmas morning? I thoroughly recommend it. Can’t wait to go back.
