The Beautiful Island of Oahu🌴

I returned recently from a lovely two week trip to the beautiful island of Oahu, and am finding it somewhat challenging to be back in what is being called a Bomb Cyclone, Arctic Freeze or Polar Vortex with the coldest temperatures in a generation! The wind chill here right now is -32, and Hawaii was 80 degrees consistently every day. But instead of feeling sorry for myself I’m focusing on being grateful for a fantastic two weeks.

A couple of lines about the history of the Hawaiian Islands. They arose from the Pacific Ocean around 70 million years ago from lava. Oahu is not the oldest of the islands but it’s growing days are over. Translation - no more active volcanos unlike the newest island - the Big Island of Hawaii which has made the news lately with not one but two active volcanos helping it to continue to grow.

I have been to Maui, Kauai and the Big Island previously, but had only landed in Oahu previously to change planes. Like a lot of people I thought of Oahu as just being Honolulu and Waikiki - neither of which sounded great. After further research when planning this trip it seemed there was much more to the island and I definitely found that to be true. Honolulu is definitely a big bustling city but the rest of the island is spectacular with gorgeous beaches and two mountain ranges providing some great hiking. With two weeks we had plenty of time to visit all parts of the island and still manage lots of relaxation at the beach in cabanas or lounging at the pool. My friend Julie came along for the two weeks and my son and his wife joined us for the second week. A fun group that got along great!

We stayed at the Marriott resort at Ko Olina. Ko Olina is about 20 miles up the coast from Honolulu on the leeward side of the island. It’s a more private area with 4 resorts one of which is the Marriott. Each resort has a lagoon that creates an amazing calm beach great for swimming. You can even snorkel right by the rocks of the lagoon and big turtles and monk seals were spotted in addition to lots of fish. With 4 resorts and a shopping/restaurant area it offered us lots of food and meal options.

It’s hard to remember Christmas is right around the corner when you are surrounded by palm trees, but they made an effort to be festive in a tropical way. A beautiful Christmas tree with a large fish coming through it!

They offered sunrise yoga on the beach every morning at 7AM and I took advantage of it almost everyday. What a great way to start the day! One morning I was greeted by a rainbow as it had rained a bit during the night. Every morning was beautiful and special in its own way.

I celebrated my birthday on the island - how lucky am I? The resort had a fun water area at one of the multiple pools and it had a great water slide. I figured if I went down the slide that would prove I wasn’t really that old. 😂 Here is proof!

Tom and Anna treated Julie and I to a beach cabana for the day. We took full advantage and thanks to the cover this very fair skinned person was able to spend the entire day on the beach. So lovely! Thanks Anna and Tom!

I also discovered I really like Piña Coladas! Tastes like beach vacation in a glass! Yumm! I’m still willing to try new things.

Now onto the activity part and exploring the rest of the island! We did a couple of nice hikes. Diamond Head is the iconic volcano crater that defines the Honolulu skyline and most likely the most popular hike to do on Oahu. It’s about a 2 and a half mile hike and takes roughly an hour and a half. Lots of fairly steep stairs at the end to get to the top but worth it for the view extending for over 20 miles. You do need a reservation to get in to do the hike so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Here’s the view from the top!

Hike number 2 was just Julie and I before Anna and Tom arrived and we hiked to the top of Makapu’u Head located at the easternmost point of the island. Said to be one of the most likely places to see whales at the correct time of the year - December to April. Another hike of about 2 and a half miles but very easy to walk on a nicely paved trail. Eagle eyes Julie spotted a whale right off the rocks which was so fun! Very hard to get a picture but in the upper right is my best shot. We watched the whale frolicking and flipping their tail in and out for awhile and then continued on. The two islands in the picture on the lower left are Rabbit Island (larger of the two) called that because a local resident used to raise rabbits there in the 1880’s and Kaohi-ka-ipu Island (smaller island) which looks dark and burnt most likely because it was formed from the last lava flow and so is relatively “young” by lava standards. Bottom right pic is the beautiful view of the windward side of the island from the top of the hike.

It’s hard to think of Oahu and not think of Pearl Harbor. History and in particular World War II is an interest of mine for quite some time now, and I have read quite a bit about many areas involved. Visiting Pearl Harbor was a priority for me and everyone else wanted to spend a day there as well. So I did the research luckily and booked our visit a month in advance. You can easily spend an entire day there. The USS Arizona Memorial is the single most popular site on Oahu and there are just 1300 tickets available per day. The memorial is free but the tickets are timed so get online and reserve your tickets well in advance. Another popular site there is the USS Missouri Battleship. The deck of the Missouri is where the Japanese signed the surrender agreement bringing the fighting in the Pacific to an end. Lots of other places to visit and see but the rest costs money. You can pay per site or buy the Passport to Pearl Harbor for one price which is what we did. We learned so much and it really made it real for us. The memorial is a very somber place resting over 1,177 young promising lives cut short in the attack of 1941.

Here are pictures from the USS Missouri Battleship. It is the last battleship ever built. The picture top right is the spot on the deck where the surrender agreement was signed. Until you are up close it’s hard to imagine how big those guns are!

Julie and I really like cemeteries so took a couple of hours another day to visit the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. Another very moving place where 45,000 men and woman killed at Pearl Harbor and other conflicts in the Pacific Ocean are buried. At the end there is a giant statue of Columbia holding a laurel branch with a moving quote from Abraham Lincoln that he wrote to a mother of five sons killed in the Civil War. A moving tribute to so many that gave their lives for freedom. The bottom left is a view from the cemetery as it sits on top a hill overlooking Honolulu.

Jurassic Park was filmed on Oahu and if you want to see why take the H3 Highway that cuts through one of the mountain ranges getting you quickly from one side of the island to the other. In the middle you go through a very long tunnel and depending which side you started on the weather could be totally different at the other end. Sunny on one end and raining on the other! And you will be looking for dinosaurs for sure.

I had read about what looked like a very cool Japanese Temple so talked the group into making a trip there. Noticed that in the same basic area there was a botanical garden. We decided to stop at the garden first and we’re glad we did because it turned out in our opinion to be better than the Japanese Temple. Wish we would have stayed there longer and skipped the temple but that’s just our opinion. Here are a few pics from the Ho’omaluhia Park Botanical Garden on the windward side of the island. So many beautiful trees and plants.

The Byodo-In Temple. A replica of a 1,000-year-old Buddhist Temple in Uji, Japan. The cemetery it’s in was pretty cool to see but the temple itself just took a few minutes to get through. Luckily my people didn’t hold it against me as the drive was pretty and the garden very nice.

Julie and I drove up to the North Shore to see what are considered the biggest waves on the island in the winter, and where the best surfers hang out. We did see some pretty big waves but not the gigantic ones that you hear about. You have to pay close attention and monitor the information sites to time it for that but they were still bigger than any others we saw. And it’s a very local area with just a two lane road and cars parked every which way. Tiny local restaurants so a whole different vibe. This picture is from a video I took trying to capture the waves and surfers and I’m the first to admit not my forte. The surfer is on the far right.

Other fun things: out for a walk and saw some men climbing the palm trees cutting down the coconuts - most likely so that they didn’t fall on our heads! Seeing them climb the trees with their spikes, cut the branches with a machete and then slide down the rope to the ground was fascinating! And then they would cut the tops off the coconuts and give them to anyone that wanted one to drink the milk. Yes that’s what I call fresh 😊

Animals we saw: Chickens and roosters all over the place. Often right at your feet when you were in a restaurant. Lots of noisy birds especially at sunset. And the mongoose. At first I thought they were odd squirrels (or less scary rats😱), but then found out they were mongoose. Introduced to many of the Hawaiian islands from India to control rats in the sugarcane fields. They weren’t super effective against the rats (not a problem now because they grow very little sugarcane anymore) but very effective in killing snakes. So no snakes to worry about. They really seem to be afraid of people so you just see them running from bush to plant but I did read if cornered they will attack. So clearly I left them alone! Here you go in case you’re curious what they look like.

Much more pleasant was seeing monk seals lounging on the beach. They are well protected so as soon as one is sighted the volunteers are called out and immediately rope off the area so they aren’t bothered or people don’t get too close. They just rest all day and then in the evening roll back into the ocean.

Usually I take lots of pictures of the food I eat in great detail. If that’s your favorite part of my trips you will be very disappointed. We ate lots of good food but it wasn’t really my focus. Fish tacos, fish sandwiches, great fresh salads and lots of fruit. We had a kitchen so kept food there for grab and go which worked out great. The thing I remember most were these amazing açaí bowls right down the street in an amazing coffee shop. I wish I had one right now😋

Tom had read about a great hot dog place outside of Honolulu so we decided to stop after our Diamond Head hike. Featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives apparently - why not? Turned out to be great!

But my most favorite place of all and totally a reason to fly 12 hours again was Leonard’s Bakery serving Portuguese donuts called Malasadas. LIFE CHANGING! I can almost taste the cream filled with plain sugar coating!

Where did I get all my great info? This book right here! The best books if you’re going to any of the Hawaiian Islands! Guaranteed!

It was a fantastic two weeks. Watching the sunset every single night was magic. Every one was different but beautiful in its own way. Thanks Anna, Tom and Julie for being my great companions. Memories I will cherish forever💕 Olaha🌴