You are hereBlog / Hawaii, pt. 2
Hawaii, pt. 2
(Continued from here, full trip log here, photo album here.)
On Monday, we went across the street to the Hilton's beach to swim and read. We took some photos with disposable underwater cameras (which I'll develop soon in Boston). Then we went to dinner at Duke's Canoe Club, a restaurant-bar highly recommended in our guidebooks. Named for and decorated with memorabilia of Hawaiian Olympic athlete and surfing pioneer Duke Kahanamoku, the place was a little too loud for conversation, but the food was great and was followed with a live music duo.
On Tuesday, we rented a Jeep Wrangler and drove up the H1 freeway to the town of Haleiwa on Oahu's North Shore. There we went to the Coffee Gallery for some freshly roasted Hawaiian-grown coffee and brunch. Then we drove to the beach and boarded a boat with a cage on back, which took us a few miles out into shark-infested waters. We put on snorkels, the cage was lowered and let off the boat, bloody fish bait was thrown into the water, and we climbed into the cage to swim with the sharks. There were dozens of them all around, big Galapagos sharks and smaller reef sharks. Four people went in the cage at a time, for 20 minutes or so, and the sharks mostly ignored us, except when one snapped its head in at the bottom, hit the bars and snapped it back out. (Lots of underwater photos and a video with the sharks coming soon.)
Despite much sunscreen before and after swimming, we got sunburned on the boat back to shore. We drove back to the shopping plaza in the center of Haleiwa (which, despite being the "capital" of the North Shore, seemed to be comprised of two streets), and had lunch at a Mexican place called Cholo's. Chickens strolled around our outdoor table and inside the restaurant. We also visited some art galleries, including one with beautiful glass sculptures. Then we got back in the Wrangler and drove east along the shore to the Polynesian Cultural Center, which supposed to be a must-see attraction that can take all day to experience. The closing time listed in our guidebook was unclear, however, and the park had already closed, with only the [overpriced] dinner show still available. It was already getting dark, and we wanted to take the long route back to Honolulu (clockwise around the island instead of back down H1), so we started back. As it turned out, it got dark too early to see most of the way back, which included H3, a beautiful elevated highway and the most expensive highway per mile in the country.
Wednesday morning, before returning the car, we went to the flea market ("swap meet") at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. It had tent shops full of cheap Hawaiian shirts, souveniers, produce, etc. We returned the car with a few minutes to spare, and as we walked back to the hotel, we bumped into a breakfast joint with pancakes, eggs, and bacon for $2.99, not the greatest food in the world but definitely the cheapest meal of the week (except the hotel's "free" continental breakfasts). Continuing through Waikiki, we stopped at another tourist-trap flea market, where I was harassed by a Chinese stand keeper who spoke just enough English to try to force me to buy an overpriced Zippo lighter with a Hawaii/motorcycle design. (The tag said $65, I might have bought it for $10, I bargained it down to $30, said it was still too high and walked away, she grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go...so I had Tristyn pulling me on one side telling me to walk away and this woman on the other...anyway the stall next to hers had a tag price of $25, so it's good I didn't buy it.)
We were soon picked up by a very fancy minibus, which took us to the outskirts of Hololulu Airport for a 45-minute helicopter tour of Oahu. Our pilot alternated between radioing various flight signals (many more than I expected) and narrating the tour. This was my first time on a helicopter, and I found it feeling much less stable than an airplane, as if it would drop out of the sky if the rotors stopped, unlike a plane which has natural lift. Helicopters are more conducive to slow, low-altitude sightseeing, however - especially with the 360° canopy - and it was a lot of fun. We covered much of the same ground from the air as we had already seen on the ground, including the H3 highway which we had missed the night before, and the USS Arizona memorial. We also flew over Sacred Falls, a beautiful waterfall and mountain pass that has been closed on the ground due to a lawsuit against the state for a hiking death there. Naturally I took many photos. (See the full album here.)
Back at the hotel, we set out on foot in search of a pizza place - pizza apparently being scarce in Hawaii - and reached the distant location only to find that it was closed for the mid-afternoon. So we walked back to Waikiki and had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, which was probably better than the first place we were looking for anyway.
To be continued...
Despite much sunscreen before and after swimming, we got sunburned on the boat back to shore. We drove back to the shopping plaza in the center of Haleiwa (which, despite being the "capital" of the North Shore, seemed to be comprised of two streets), and had lunch at a Mexican place called Cholo's. Chickens strolled around our outdoor table and inside the restaurant. We also visited some art galleries, including one with beautiful glass sculptures. Then we got back in the Wrangler and drove east along the shore to the Polynesian Cultural Center, which supposed to be a must-see attraction that can take all day to experience. The closing time listed in our guidebook was unclear, however, and the park had already closed, with only the [overpriced] dinner show still available. It was already getting dark, and we wanted to take the long route back to Honolulu (clockwise around the island instead of back down H1), so we started back. As it turned out, it got dark too early to see most of the way back, which included H3, a beautiful elevated highway and the most expensive highway per mile in the country.
Wednesday morning, before returning the car, we went to the flea market ("swap meet") at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. It had tent shops full of cheap Hawaiian shirts, souveniers, produce, etc. We returned the car with a few minutes to spare, and as we walked back to the hotel, we bumped into a breakfast joint with pancakes, eggs, and bacon for $2.99, not the greatest food in the world but definitely the cheapest meal of the week (except the hotel's "free" continental breakfasts). Continuing through Waikiki, we stopped at another tourist-trap flea market, where I was harassed by a Chinese stand keeper who spoke just enough English to try to force me to buy an overpriced Zippo lighter with a Hawaii/motorcycle design. (The tag said $65, I might have bought it for $10, I bargained it down to $30, said it was still too high and walked away, she grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go...so I had Tristyn pulling me on one side telling me to walk away and this woman on the other...anyway the stall next to hers had a tag price of $25, so it's good I didn't buy it.)
We were soon picked up by a very fancy minibus, which took us to the outskirts of Hololulu Airport for a 45-minute helicopter tour of Oahu. Our pilot alternated between radioing various flight signals (many more than I expected) and narrating the tour. This was my first time on a helicopter, and I found it feeling much less stable than an airplane, as if it would drop out of the sky if the rotors stopped, unlike a plane which has natural lift. Helicopters are more conducive to slow, low-altitude sightseeing, however - especially with the 360° canopy - and it was a lot of fun. We covered much of the same ground from the air as we had already seen on the ground, including the H3 highway which we had missed the night before, and the USS Arizona memorial. We also flew over Sacred Falls, a beautiful waterfall and mountain pass that has been closed on the ground due to a lawsuit against the state for a hiking death there. Naturally I took many photos. (See the full album here.)
Back at the hotel, we set out on foot in search of a pizza place - pizza apparently being scarce in Hawaii - and reached the distant location only to find that it was closed for the mid-afternoon. So we walked back to Waikiki and had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, which was probably better than the first place we were looking for anyway.
To be continued...