Trip to Oahu - Day 1

There were a couple of tourist-ey things I wanted to do just to say I was there, Shawn wasn't always happy about doing these things, but oh well. The first tourist stop was the Dole Plantation. We were there for 40 minutes and we didn't even stand in line for the pineapple ice cream, the line was too long and Shawn was whining. The gift shop was probably the most exciting part of the visit, deciding what to buy was the hardest part. We did take the 20-minute train ride, which was semi-interesting and mostly boring. We did learn that EVERY pineapple is picked by HAND! That's crazy! An experienced and efficient pineapple-picker can pick up to 10,000 pineapples per day!

"The Man" started his pineapple plantation in 1900.

Acres and acres of pineapples! The soil is red due to the high amount of iron.


That's the Dole Plantation in a nutshell. Honestly, it was cool for the brief period of time we were there, but definitely not the highlight of our trip.

On to the better part of Day 1 - the North Shore! Does "Eddie would go" mean anything to you? If you're from Hawaii, it probably means a great deal to you, but I didn't even know who this Eddie guy was before reading about him. Eddie Aikau (pronounced eye-cow) was "a pure-blood Hawaiian big-wave surfer from Oahu". He was a lifeguard at Waimea Bay who was credited with saving hundreds of lives. On a side note, Waimea Bay is big surfing mecca, where in the winter months, waves can easily reach 40 ft high! To make a sort-of-long story short, in 1978 Eddie was chosen as a volunteer to serve as a crew man on a voyage to Tahiti. The voyage was planned to prove that Polynesians can navigate a canoe using only the stars. While the launch of the voyage was successful, Eddie and the other crew members soon encountered bad weather. The hatches on the hulls were not shut properly, water quickly filled the canoe and the canoe capsized. Their safety equipment was completely flooded and the crew was unable to communicate to get help. Eddie volunteered to paddle on his surfboard to the nearest island, but at first the captain advised against it. The following day, Eddie insisted on paddling again and the captain reluctantly agreed. The crew knew that if anyone were to go, Eddie could do it. Without a life jacket (Eddie said it would slow him down), Eddie paddled, he was never seen again. The rest of the crew was eventually rescued. "Today the name Eddie is synonymous in Hawaii with trying, going for it, risking it for your friends" Cool story, huh? All over the island, you'll see bumper stickers, shirts, signs, and all sorts of stuff that say "Eddie would go".

Eddie Aikau

Every few years the biggest big-wave surf contest is the Quicksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau contest. It hasn't happened for the last 4-5 years because the waves have not been big enough. We were very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time because this very contest was happening the day we planned to visit the North Shore. Adam told us that the waves were crazy huge, so we had to take a peek. One person we talked to said the waves were 50 ft high at 3am! By the time we got to the contest the waves were about 20 ft high. There's only a two lane road to/from Waimea Bay and traffic was bumper-to-bumper, no really, it was. We drove in traffic to as long as we could take it, then we parked and walked the rest of the way. It was worth the walk though. It was easy to the see the waves because they were so big, but the surfers were so far away that it was a little tough to see completely clearly without binoculars or a ridiculously huge camera lens.

A guy with a ridiculously huge lens

A couple of those guys in front were in the contest and I believe that ones of those dudes was this guy Bruce who won the contest.

A big wave, not huge, but big enough. It's hard to appreciate the actual size of the wave without comparing it to something. My lens was certainly not long enough to get a good picture of one of the surfers.

It was definitely cool to have been lucky enough to go to the contest. It's just mesmerizing to watch the waves and to realize how powerful they can be.

Later that day we met up with Adam for dinner and walked around downtown Waikiki. There's a main strip with high end shops (Tiffany's, Gucci, Fendi, Prada, and alike) and a bunch of restaurants. I was beat in the evening. The sun is hot and exhausting and I still had to get used to the time difference.

Our Trip to Oahu - Intro

Aloha!

We took a trip to Oahu from December 7-17. Shawn and I wanted to visit Adam and we figured we should take advantage of the time we have alone before we start a family. I booked our stay at the Hale Koa, an all military resort directly on Waikiki beach. The trip started with our plane from Philly leaving an hour late and we barely made our connecting flight from Houston to Honolulu. The flight to Honolulu was soooooo long, but it was pretty cool to see the island from the plane window after sitting in an uncomfortable seat for nine hours.

We chose to visit Oahu because Adam is stationed at Pearl Harbor plus we were able to get a good deal at the Hale Koa resort. Even though there are inter-island flights, we chose not to visit other island as there is so much to do in a short amount of time on just one island. We did a lot, but didn't come close to doing everything you could do.

Oahu, the third largest island of Hawaii is also the most populous. Did you know that Honolulu is the 12th largest city in the U.S.? I didn't know that either, but that is clearly evident while trying to drive to or from Honolulu during rush hour.

A family member recommended a guidebook to us for our Hawaiian travels and it was extremely helpful. The author also wrote guidebooks for the Big Island, Maui and Kauai. The book is called Oahu Revealed. The author spent about 2-3 years researching the island for his book. Honestly, the book was our bible for the vacation, we took it EVERYWHERE. If we really didn't know what to do for a few hours, we could just open the book, drive to an area we hadn't visited yet and find something cool that the book talked about. It included maps, driving directions, information regarding the hawaiian lifestyle and language, and unbiased feedback on beaches, restaurants, etc.

Adam was also helpful in guiding us to the right places around the island. So with our awesome guidebook and Adam's advice, we had good ideas of how to plan our vacation.

One of the first pictures I took, I was waiting for Shawn to get the rental car.

The Hale Koa resort from above (I did not take this picture). We stayed in the tower on the right with wonderful views of the ocean.

The view from our hotel room, looking out at Waikiki beach.

Inside our hotel room. We ended up with 2 double beds, but NBD because Shawn had a sinus infection for the better part of our vacation and he slept by himself several nights.

Our rental car, a Honda Fit. I loved this car and I would trade my Corolla in for a Fit but Shawn won't let me. I drove the entire time while Shawn was my co-pilot and navigated us through the streets of Honolulu and throughout the island. The streets were often poorly marked and the freeways were confusing at first.

I will be organizing our trip by days (day 1, day 2, etc.) and I hope to incorporate a little bit of history throughout.

Enjoy & Mahalo!

We're baaaaaack!

Aloha!

Shawn and I are back from Hawaii and my new project for this weekend is to document our travels on my blog. Stay tuned, I have some cool stuff to share.