Hawaii Adventure: All the Details

I'm finally getting this post together with all the details from our Hawaii adventure. It's almost too much to put into one post, but I do love to document the places we stayed and ate so I can pass it on to the next adventurer.

Let me preface by saying David booked the whole thing (he did a fab job) and he choose family-friendly resorts. In fact, I think his search keyword was "resorts with water slide" in Hawaii.

Monday - Friday: Oahu

• After an 9-hour flight, we checked into the Hilton Waikiki Beach, which is on the island of Oahu, in the city of Honolulu and a block away from Waikiki Beach.
• Honolulu has a bustling main street with shops, resorts and restaurants. This was great, because we had lots of choice for meals and could wander and shop -- but not the relaxing, tranquil vacation I was looking forward to. However, Waikiki Beach is known for great surf and watching surfers catch waves quickly turned into my favorite pass-time. 
• We would recommend eating at the Maui Brewing Company, Roy's (a Hawaiian staple), and Tucker & Bevvy's where we got fresh sandwiches and smoothies after leaving the beach.  
• We hung out on the beach and floated around, the girls learned to boogie board (if we ever come back, I'm buying a few and bringing them with me) and getting first-day sunburns. 
• We rented a Jeep Wrangler for two days and drove to Waimea Bay and jumped off the huge rock into the clear blue water. We LOVED this beach. And stopped by the Dole Plantation for lunch before getting caught in some traffic on the way back to the hotel. (Traffic!) 

Waimea Beach

• The next day we drove to Hanauma Bay, which is a protected marine life conservation area but it was kind of a disaster.  First, parking is full about 30 minutes after it opens, so we had to walk a few miles up the road from available street parking. There's a fee to enter, and a line for tickets. There's a mandatory 20 minute video presentation about how to respect the precious ecology before you can walk (or take a $1.50 shuttle) down a steep road to get to the bay -- which is super over-crowded. There is just NO WAY they can keep this bay pristine with all those visitors. The water was murky, clearly too many people and sunblock and snacks, etc. 
• In my opinion: they should sell advance tickets and only allow a limited number of visitors in each day. It was just too many people to preserve the marine life. Just a thought. 
• After snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, we had planned to hike up Diamond Head for the views, but after the crowds and general mess at Hanauma Bay, we ditched that plan, got lunch in Kona Brewing Company and ices nearby. 
• Pearl Harbor is also in Ohau and though we're not big WWII buffs, we decided to walk around the site and talk history with the girls who will no doubt study this at some point. You could pay a fee and get an in-depth, two-hour tour, including a ride around the harbor, but we opted for the free self-tour and use of the bathrooms. 

Friday - Sunday

• We flew over to The Big Island or Hawai'i and checked into a very large resort Hilton Waikoloa Village. This island felt remote -- there's not much to see from the tiny airport to the resort but lava swirls and either the mountain or ocean. The resort pools with slides and waterfalls, an ocean lagoon for paddle-boarding and snorkeling, a dolphin experience and restaurants. We stayed in the Princess Tower, which we'd highly recommend, as the other buildings are not updated and I heard were "smelly." 
• Our stay was short, so we tried to hit all the resort attractions and just relax. I finally got my book out and collapsed pool-side while the girls swam. 
• Dave got us tickets to the luau experience, which was AMAZING. We ate roasted pig from a pit in the ground and it was DELICIOUS. And watched the most awesome Hawaiian dancing (hula!) performance complete with a crazy fire dance at the end. We completely loved it. 
• One downside is the resort didn't have the best food options. And without our own car, the off-resort options were too far. Luckily, this was a short stay, so we made it work. 

Sunday - Wednesday

Poelua Bay Near the Nakalele Blowhole

• Our last island was Maui. We stayed at the Honua Kai Resort & Spa on the west side of the island. We decided, last minute (at the airport!) to rent a car and we're so glad we did. 
• This resort was the most family-friendly resort on the trip. The rooms were well-stocked suites with kitchens and washer/dryers. We had access to several pools and the ocean just beyond. I kept thinking it was perfect for large family groups -- e.g. grandparents vacations with kids and grandkids. 
• We had no trouble finding parking and went off resort for most of our meals, though we were so lucky that the property had a Duke's Beach House because the food was so delicious. We also would recommend Slappy Cakes (design your own pancakes at the table griddle), Miso Phat Sushi (but eat there), and Monkeypod. There's also French Street nearby with lots of shops and restaurants that we didn't discover until our last day.
• We really hit our stride at this resort, getting lots of relaxing time by the pool and ocean. We snorkeled a bit. We all napped on lounge chairs by the pool.
• On our last day we drove up to Nakalele Blowhole on the north side of the island. There's a little hike to get there but it was so worth it. The views of the Maui cliffs and Pacific, and then the waves hitting the blowhole and shooting up like a geyser were awesome!

Overall, Hawaii was as I expected in many ways, and not in a few ways. We expected it to be expensive, and it *really* was. And it was gorgeous and had incredible views for days. I thought the scenic spots would be more accessible, and some weren't. And I didn't expect some of the tourist attractions to be mobbed in the way they were. I also didn't factor in all the tourists from Asia, Japan primarily, and Australia. But it makes sense now that I think about it. 

And with island-hopping we got to see a lot more than had we stayed at one resort, which I think was good, as our vacation changed themes from exploring to full-time relaxing.

I'll agree with everyone who told me "it's so great to be so far away, but still be in the US and use the same money and language." Which, after all our European trips, would agree. Though, it did feel very foreign at times and very much like the little island that I'm from ... Tenerife. 

If we were ever to go back (maybe in another five years, it's so expensive) we would want to: 1) charter a boat to get to these more remote bays to snorkel and swim. Avoid some crowds. 2) And probably do more nature walks into preserves and waterfalls that we missed out on this trip. 3) I want to see whales! (It wasn't the right season.) I'd figure out the most comfortable way to whale watch (I get seasick).  

Happy traveling! 

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