When the kids were younger, we went on serious, long-term family vacations pretty frequently. One year we took our trusty Honda Odyssey minivan (r.i.p.) 7,000+ miles across several weeks in South Dakota, Montana, southern Alberta, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico before returning to Texas. Another year we focused on Rocky Mountain National Park before coming home the same way. A couple years after that we flew to Seattle and then spent two or three weeks primarily in British Columbia and Alberta. Unfortunately, for the last six years the combination of kid health problems (initially), a move, expanding work responsibilities, increasingly complicated kid schedules, and another move put a serious damper on these things. This year I decided that we should try to get the band together one more time. We've never been to
eastern Canada, so I thought it would be great to go to Newfoundland and Labrador. Because I don't run a dictatorship, however, we (meaning the rest of the family) settled on Hawaii.
After an uneventful flight to Honolulu on Thursday, we picked up the rental van, headed to Snorkel Bob's (where Paige and I rented gear 20 years ago), and headed to our digs on the east side of the island. Our house is about 20 miles north of Waikiki and sits right on the water about a third of a mile down from Coconut Island. Coconut Island is a research facility run by the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology that is maybe 100 yards from the mainland. More importantly, Coconut Island is the island shown at the end of the opening credits of Gilligan's Island. The fact that the kids were thrilled by our proximity to this landmark gives me great pride, particularly since Hollis told me a few weeks ago that his friends haven't even heard of Gilligan's Island. Seriously? What kind of upbringing is that? Anyway, the house is fantastic, so if you're ever headed to Oahu and want a place in a terrific location that could sleep 7-8 people comfortably, let me know.
On Friday, we got a very early start for Huanama Bay. The first picture below is of the sunrise from Lanai Lookout. You have my permission to set it as your desktop wallpaper. The second is from the top of Huanama Bay, probably 15 minutes later. If you've been to the bay at any time other than early in the morning, I think you'll appreciate how completely deserted it was. We snorkeled for about three hours and by the time we left things were really picking up on the beach and hundreds of people were filing in from off-site parking. Obviously I felt superior. Anyway, we all really enjoyed the bay. When Paige and I visited 20 years ago, we were lucky enough to see some sea turtles in one of the big holes on the edge of one of the reef areas. This time, despite spending a fair amount of time floating in 20-25 feet of water, we never saw any turtles. We did, however, see loads of different types of fish. The kids had never snorkeled before and Huanama Bay definitely is a great place to get someone started. You get a tremendous amount of fish-viewing bang for your buck and the crowds are avoidable.
After eating like complete idiots at Koa Pancake House, we headed west to visit the Pearl Harbor National Historic Site. The USS Arizona Memorial was closed for construction, which was unfortunate, as we really wanted the kids to be able to have that experience. However, we did spend a couple hours on the USS Missouri and in the Pacific Aviation Museum. Everyone was appropriately appreciative of the position of both Pearl Harbor and Ford Island in U.S. history, and I must say that it was impressive to be able to stand on the very spot (on the Missouri) where Japanese leaders, various representatives from other countries, MacArthur, and Nimitz signed the Instrument of Surrender that ended World War II. There are a couple of large pictures in that area of the ship that show the participants and certain background features (a ladder mounted to the wall, a vent, etc.) that are still hanging where they were 73 years ago. It provides a very interesting perspective. We spent the rest of the day and evening eating Thai food, hanging out, and resting for Saturday.
On Saturday, we left the house long before first light to drive an hour or so to the far northwest corner of the island. Our goal? Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve. From the south, Kaena Point is reached by an out-and-back hike of about six miles that runs between 50 and 100 feet above the ocean. You can also hike to the point traveling west from the north shore and save yourself two miles (but really, why would you do that?). I have no idea what things look like from that approach, but I'm guessing it's probably about the same. Anyway, the Kaena Point website states that the Reserve is "a remote and scenic protected area harboring some of the last vestiges of coastal sand dune habitat on the island, and home to native plants and seabirds. Whales frequent this shoreline during the winter." We had also heard that monk seals visit during winter. We didn't see any whales on our hike, but we did see seals in three different places. So that was an unexpected and much appreciated bonus. Beyond that, the hike itself is terrific, with waves crashing up against the volcanic rock walls for the entire span from the parking lot to the point. Highly, highly, highly recommended, but best in the early morning both to avoid people (always the #1 goal) and to keep from getting too hot.
After getting a bite to eat, we then headed to Makaha Beach. Makaha Beach is about 20 minutes south of the Kaena Point trailhead as you make your way back down Highway 93 toward Honolulu. There are several beaches along this stretch of road, but I had read particularly good things about this one. We were not disappointed. The waves were good for bodyboarding but most of the area was still suitable for snorkeling. Plus, even at noon on Saturday it was completely uncrowded. We stayed there for about two hours and Reagan and I spent probably 90 minutes of that time snorkeling in water that was between 10 and 25 feet deep. It wasn't as fishy as Huanama Bay, but there was more than enough there to keep us interested. Hadley and Hunter joined us for part of the time, but mainly everybody just swam and looked around in shallower water and hung out on the beach. While we were there, a seal swam down the beach about 15-20 yards offshore. So that was pretty cool. Anyway, Makaha is a really nice beach with a lot going for it, so if you're here and you have an occasion to be really far north on the western side of the island I highly recommend it. It definitely is a good spot to cool down after doing the Kaena Point hike. Oh, we also got shave ice for the first time here, thereby ruining us forever on the concept of sno-cones.
To close the books on our first two days, we went to a Mexican restaurant ... Don Goyo's. The entire seating area at Don Goyo's is about as big as our kitchen. The place is run by a Mexican woman and her husband, and a random but super-nice central European woman who buses tables and handles drink orders. Hunter dubbed the Mexican woman -- who was impossibly built -- Silicon Carne, which was the cleverest thing I'd heard in a really long time. At any rate, the food was authentic and quite good (the chili verde was very much on point). Plus, if you need to use the restroom you literally have to leave the restaurant, walk around the back of the group of buildings of which the restaurant is a part, open a creaky gate, find the service entrance to the restaurant's kitchen (an open door through which you can see the husband and a cook), open another door to the right of that door (but not two doors to the right, because that one provides access to a supply closet), and there you are. Good Mexican food in a place with a built-in treasure hunt? I don't know what else you want.
On Sunday, I made the not-at-all-easy decision to ditch our planned Monday flight to Kauai where we were going to spend a couple days doing hiking / exploring stuff. The forecast had gradually gotten worse such that there was an 80% chance of storms all day both days with relatively heavy rain, so instead of risking going and having to stay inside and be unbearably cranky I opted to cancel those plans (insert discussion of sunk costs), adjust to spending all of our time on Oahu, and only be semi-cranky. So ... on Sunday we drove around the east and north shores of the island and had a laid back day. Pretty early on, we stopped to see a monk seal that was lounging on an eastern shore beach. The monk seal protection team was there and had roped off the area, so Paige chatted up the team members and got the lowdown on their operations. We then completed the circuit, had lunch in Haleiwa Town, and saw entirely too many people (which probably is typical for a summertime north shore Sunday).
On our way back to the house, we cut back through the center of the island to make an obligatory stop at the Dole pineapple plantation. If you've not heard of the Dole plantation, think Disneyland for pineapples. Interestingly, the kids had envisioned a dreary tour of an operation with warehouses and conveyer belts and workers in white suits (don't ask me why), so they were pleasantly surprised to find that it's an outdoor, walk around at your own pace, eat pineapple ice cream type of thing. Touristy? And how. But it still maintains a certain appeal.
When we got back to the house, Reagan and Hunter took a couple of the kayaks out into the bay, Hollis worked on his snorkeling skills in the pool, and the rest of us did a lot of nothing. Reagan and Hunter actually ended up kayaking all the way to Gilligan's Island. I honestly think that will be the highlight of their entire vacation. I'm not passing judgment, because I think it probably is the coolest thing that they've done as well. Plus, while kayaking they were visited by a seal and a sea turtle, which made Hadley hate them (bonus points). The plan for tomorrow is to snorkel a couple of north shore spots in the morning (weather permitting) and then head to our digs in Waikiki for the remaining two days. We'll see how all of that goes.
Peace
Mike
