Hawaii Islands - O'ahu, Waianae
In 2017 we visited the islands of Hawaii for 17 days. Snorkeling, driving, hiking, exploiring everthing that the islands of O'ahu and Kauai had to offer. To make things easier to read and write, we have grouped everything in our travels into city locations and not exactly by time. We visited Hawaii before, back in 2012, where we traveled around Maui for 8 days. You can read about our Maui adventure here! We landed in the Island of O'ahu, where we stayed for 4 days then flew to Kauai for a longer visit. We ended the trip in O'ahu again before flying back home.
* O'ahu, Waianae - (Yokohama Bay, Kaena Point State Park)
* Kauai, Hanalei - (Tunnels Beach, Cannon's Beach, Makua Beach, Ke'e Beach)
* Kauai, Hanalei part 2 - (Kalalau Trail, Na Pali Coast)
* Kauai, Polihale - (Polihale State Park, Queen's Bath, Waimea)
* Kauai, Kappa
* Hawaii, Kauai - (Helicopter Ride)
* Hawaii, Honolulu Snorkeling - (Maunalua Bay, Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve)
We arrived in Honolulu late in the morning around 11AM and with a two hour drive from the airport to our Airbnb place in Waianae we wanted to set out right away. Unfortunately, there was a mistake made with our rental car, and we were stuck waiting around for a car for almost 3 hours.
After picking up the car, our first stop was a bit of grub at Sushi Bay, a conveyor belt sushi place. We picked it for its reviews, and we were all craving some quick sushi. Unfortunatly the food was lacking, heavily seasoned with mayonaise sauces and other sweet sauces that overpowered the dishes.
The Airbnb place we rented was an oceanfront house, only a few miles from the very famous Yokohama Bay. The house was everything we were promised, large, with a backyard that was right up on the ocean, with breathtaking views and the crashing of waves at night drifting through your bedroom door to coax you to sleep.
We learned quickly that the houses in Hawaii didn’t come with air conditioning, and this was the first time we were vacationing in the summer, in the middle of June. Luckily, the windows to our rooms were facing the direction of the cool ocean breeze and there wasn’t many problems with the heat here.
We spent several hours sitting outside in the backyard just admiring the ocean views and reading in the hammock between the palm trees.
One of our better meals was at Coquito's Latin Cuisine, an amazing Cuban resturant that served fresh Cubano Sandwhiches, rice, chicken, and empenadas! Highly recommend taking the time to stop here if you are in the area.
The first places we all agreed we wanted to go to when we were planning was Yokohama Bay, a gorgeous pristine white sand beach with crystal clear waters as far as the eye can see. Surrounded by lush green mountains in the background, it gave the impression of being serene and peaceful. Our visit there was just as we had hoped, having almost the entire beach to ourselves despite being one of the busiest times for tourist on the islands.
If you are wondering about the Brazilian flag towel, our travel companion for the adventure was a lifelong friend, whom is currently teaching in Brazil.
Our first turtle sighting!
Walking along the rocks we found several fish stranded in small pools of water.
Weasels!
Tacos & More Mexican Kitchen, was one of the very few mexican food resturaunts we found in the area we were in. We were hoping to find fish tacos and local mexican seafood, but we found the food pretty generic and a bit more tex-mex than mexican. The fish tacos came in hard shells, with tomatoe and lettuce, and their nachos covered in nacho cheese spread instead of just shredded cheese.
Our next adventure was hiking Kaena Point Trail, a 4 mile round trip to the Northern Western point of O’ahu. We started out super early and were the first on the trail!
We are pretty sure this Red Robin followed us around for most of our trip.
Our first "fancy" meal was at Kahumana Organic Farm & Cafe , a local place that farms local produce, and gets meats and fish from the local fishermen and farmers. The atmosphere is very pretty, and they have a wondeful location deep inside the islands away from the ocean. The foods were colorful and had a lot of potential but unfortunatly lacked any seasoining, and despite the fresh ingredients were a bit bland.
The last meal we had in Waianae was at New Spicy House. It was had decent thai food, and great service.
After 4 days in Waianae, we made our way back to the airport to fly to Kauai
After picking up the car, our first stop was a bit of grub at Sushi Bay, a conveyor belt sushi place. We picked it for its reviews, and we were all craving some quick sushi. Unfortunatly the food was lacking, heavily seasoned with mayonaise sauces and other sweet sauces that overpowered the dishes.
The Airbnb place we rented was an oceanfront house, only a few miles from the very famous Yokohama Bay. The house was everything we were promised, large, with a backyard that was right up on the ocean, with breathtaking views and the crashing of waves at night drifting through your bedroom door to coax you to sleep.
We learned quickly that the houses in Hawaii didn’t come with air conditioning, and this was the first time we were vacationing in the summer, in the middle of June. Luckily, the windows to our rooms were facing the direction of the cool ocean breeze and there wasn’t many problems with the heat here.
