Aloha!
This past Saturday was an extremely long travel day. We left Anna Maria Island at 3:30 AM. Drove to Tampa and caught a 6:05 AM flight to Nashville. From Nashville it was a nearly five hour flight to Oakland, where we had a six hour layover before a five and a half hour flight to Honolulu. Given the challenges the airlines have faced the last few weeks there were plenty of opportunities for things to go wrong. Thankfully, other than a few saddle sores, there were no delays or cancellations. About 22 hours after leaving Anna Maria we were settled into our rental studio condominium in Honolulu.
We've enjoyed quite a few visits to Hawaii over the years and have spent time on O'ahu, Kuai, Maui and the Big Island. When we planned this particular adventure we booked stays on O'ahu and the Big Island (our favorite), but we've already adjusted our plans and added a couple of more days so we'll also be soaking up some sun on Maui. Retirement offers some nice flexibility!
After a surprisingly good nights' sleep, and in spite of the five hour time zone change, we were recharged and ready to go. We decided to forego the rental car for the most part of day one and enjoyed simply strolling around the Waikiki Beach area. Tom, the property manager for the rental unit gave some great tips of some of his favorite local eating spots. One of his breakfast recommendations was the Liliha Bakery, which was a nice kick start for the day.
Early afternoon we drove a couple of miles to Ala Moana Beach Park. We had been here previously and prefer it over Waikiki Beach. The beach is wider and is more popular with the locals than with the "tourists" (yes, I realize we're "tourists"!). We enjoyed a chilling but refreshing dip in the cool Pacific waters before watching the sun sink slowly in the westward horizon. Since he was one for one on recommendations, we chose another of Tom's recommendations for dinner. He was two for two on the day! The beachfront, inexpensive Steak Shack was excellent. The menu (all takeout) was simple, steak, chicken or steak and chicken on a bed of rice with a salad. It was so good, we made plans to eat there again before we even finished our meal.
Our plans for Monday were to get out of Honolulu and tour the island. On previous trips we have visited the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, snorkeled Hanauma Bay and hiked up Diamond Head (with Richard White and his family). All of these are highly recommended if you are visiting O'ahu but since we had "been there, done that" we concentrated our efforts on some other areas of the island.
We drove south, past Diamond Head and Hanauma Bay on the Kalaniana'ole Highway. There were numerous stops at scenic points including the Halona Blow Hole, which thanks to calm seas, wasn't blowing. We had a great hike on the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail. This trail, which is a little over two miles in length (round trip) is along a paved path that is listed as easy to moderate in difficulty. We were in agreement that it leaned more toward the "moderate" level because of the nearly 700 foot elevation change on the way out to the observation platform. It was a great hike which was enhanced even more when we spotted several humpback whales swimming slowly along just a few hundred yards offshore.
As we continued along the coastal drive on the Kahehameha Highway toward the North Shore we passed through numerous small towns and villages that were quite a contrast to the city of Honolulu on the other side of the island. Another of Tom's recommendations was Giovanni's Shrimp Truck in Kahuku. We have no trust issues with Tom and his recommendations! The long line moved fairly quickly and soon we were enjoying fresh garlic shrimp scampi at a picnic table. We struck up a conversation with a gentleman and his daughter who were kind enough to share their table with us. He works for the PGA Tour (the tournament is in Honolulu this week). He told us that he has made the trip to Honolulu every year for the past fifteen years and that his visit always includes a stop at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.
We stopped briefly at the Ehukai Beach Park on the North Shore. This is the home to the Banzi Pipeline that is famous in the surfing world. Although the waves were huge, the conditions weren't right for surfing. We were entertained by an expert kite surfer who was effortlessly skimming across the rough waters.
We started our last day in Honolulu with, you guessed it, another of Tom's recommendations. This time it was breakfast at the Barefoot Beach Cafe at Queen's Surf Beach. It was an easy twenty minute walk along Waikiki Beach to the outdoor, waterfront cafe.
The day turned out to be a spectacularly laid back day, simply enjoying the sights and sounds of Waikiki Beach and working on extending our time in Hawaii to include a visit to Maui. We topped off the day with a second delicious beachside meal from the Steak Shack before heading back to the condo to get ready for the next part of this Hawaiian adventure.........the Big Island!
