Fran had been to O'ahu when she was young, and we both stayed over one night during our last trip to Hawaii (which focused on Maui and the Big Island). So this was a chance to really see the most populated of the 7 main Hawaiian islands.
We stayed at the Aqua Palms Hotel, which used to be the Aston Waikiki Parkside. The hotel had recently renovated their rooms, which gave it an advantage over the dozens of other run-down hotels that dominate the island. Of course there are more expensive places to stay, but we were going there to see the island (and do some work), not stay in a room.
My customer was in the Aiea area, about 30-40 minutes from our Waikiki hotel. While I visited with them, Fran explored the local beach, shops and other interesting places.
In the evenings, we sampled a wide range of food including Cheeseburger (in Paradise), Thai and Chinese.
Honolulu by night.
The Hilton across the street has several places to eat (including a New York style deli) and plenty of shops. Every Friday around 8pm, they launch fireworks right from the beach. It was a beautiful sight to see.
On Saturday we headed out early to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial. Tours go on regularly until 3pm, but they only allow 150 people at a time. And lots of people line up to go. We made it in group 4.
Approaching the memorial by boat.
Before you go to the actual site (which floats above the remains of the Arizona and the 900 crew buried with her), you get to watch a movie about the history leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, and the details of what happened on Dec 7, 1941.
The base of gun turret three of the USS Arizona.
We had a quick lunch, then headed over to Diamond Head, a dormant crater on the southeast end of the island (past Waikiki). You can walk/hike to the top of the rim (about 1.5 hrs round trip) and get a great view of crater and surrounding area.
Ascending to the top of Diamond Head.
The view from the top.
After that we headed up the Pali Highway, stopping at the Pali Overlook. This was where King Kamehameha forced the leaders of a defeated army off a cliff to their deaths.
Pali Overlook.
We continued up to O'ahu's North Shore, veering west onto Route 83, Kamehameha Highway. 83 took us past beautiful coastlines and beaches. We stopped at Kualoa Ranch, where movies like Jurassic Park were filmed. We were too late for any tours, so we continued on. They recommend booking in advance. Good advice.
The northwest shores of O'ahu are famous surfing spots, including Sunset Beach, Waimea and Hale'iwa. I learned about this from Riding Giants, a great documentary about the pioneers of big wave surfing.
O'ahu is also the location for the TV show LOST. All the scenes from the mysterious island, plus a few other places, are shot here. To find out where, check out Lost in Oahu.
Our flight was scheduled to leave Sunday afternoon, so we took a stroll around Waikiki Beach that morning. We saw a cool store with a supersized aquarium inside. And yes, there was Starbucks. But we ended up having coffee and a delicious muffin at a Honlulu Coffee Co. store.
We really enjoyed our stay on O'ahu. Honolulu is definitely the most developed city area of the islands we've seen so far. The traffic was horrendous. Fortunately there's plenty you can walk to around Waikiki. We still want to come back again, to get to the places we missed like Kualoa Ranch.
Until next time...
