Aloha Part 2

On Day 4 (if you missed Days 1-3 you may find them here), we headed back to the north shore to snorkel at Kuilima Cove. The cove is probably only 300 yards across and 200 yards back-to-front before it hits open ocean, and it is almost entirely protected. We went to Kuilima primarily because almost all of the south and west shore beaches were under high surf advisories. The fish-watching was pretty good -- not as good as the other spots we'd been, but better than I expected (given that it's sort of a novice beach). While we were there, Hunter rescued a five year-old girl who was on the verge of getting carried out to sea on her boogie board, so that was cool. The family was from Idaho and rewarded him by giving him a can of Hawaiian soda. I guess that's better than a potato. Seriously, they did thank him profusely and now the little girl has a story to tell for the rest of her life. After leaving Kuilima Cove, we decided to go see if there were any turtles at Laniakea Beach (the best turtle-spotting beach on the island). We ended up seeing 20 or 30 hanging out in the waves just offshore and another one sunning itself on the rocks.

We hung out at Laniakea Beach for a while and then headed back to Honolulu to return our snorkel gear, eat at a hole-in-the-wall place with authentic island food, and check in at our new digs between Waikiki Beach and Diamondhead. Thursday evening we had dinner right in the middle of Waikiki and spent an hour or so walking around and people-watching. Hadley and Hunter also visited this random parrot guy, and I honestly think that was the highlight of Hadley's week. It's kind of amusing that, while the kids definitely appreciate my role as tour guide extraordinaire, they will remember kayaking to Gilligan's Island and holding parrots more than anything else they did during our stay. As usual, the unexpected parts of a trip are the best.

Our last day began with a stop at Leonard's Bakery, an institution for malasadas since 1952. If you are ever in Honolulu, you need to go there. The end. Our next destination was the Manoa Valley for the Manoa Falls Trail (MFT). Given that the MFT is one of the most popular and easiest trails on Oahu, one would think that I would want to avoid it. And one would be dead right. But I wanted to give everyone at least a little exposure to hiking in a setting that would be somewhat comparable to the things we missed out on by not going to Kauai. The MFT is OK, but if I were you I would skip it. I would particularly skip it if you can't get there by 8 a.m. By the time we were coming back down the trail around 9:00 it was already beginning to stack up a bit and I can only imagine how awful it would be slopping through the mud with hordes of other people ... especially when the viewing area at the falls only accommodates maybe 30 people. So, my advice is to skip Manoa Falls entirely and, instead, continue up the same road about a quarter of a mile and visit the adjacent Lyon Arboretum (run by the University of Hawaii). It's in the same valley, covers 200 acres, has extensive and very well-maintained trails, is blissfully void of people, and honestly was my favorite part of the entire trip -- gorgeous settings, parrots, ridiculous trees, and even more ridiculous flowering plants. We were only able to stay for about 45 minutes but I could've easily hung out there for most of the day.

After finishing up at the arboretum, we returned to the hotel and headed to Waikiki Beach. The kids voted it the worst beach we visited by a substantial margin, and I have to agree. Even though we were on a section of the beach with a bottom that is less rocky than most, it was still pretty awful. The western and north shore beaches are far better.

Our final destination was the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). Hadley wanted to go to a luau so I did some research over the weekend and saw that the PCC (a) has luaus and other activities and (b) is run by the Mormons. Thus, our choice was made. The PCC feels like the Epcot Center of Polynesia. The grounds cover about 50 acres and have distinct areas representing various different islands (Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa, etc.) As one might expect, given the Mormon sponsorship, everything is clean as a whistle, very well thought out, and done to perfection. We had picked up some rather fantastic attire on the strip in Waikiki the evening before, so it was an all-in experience. I tried to channel my inner Mike Brady, ala the 3-part trip-to-Hawaii episode (circa 1972), and everybody else was into it as well. Anyway, at the luau itself, the food was decent and the entertainment was fine. The post-luau Ha: Breath of Life show, however, was fantastic. I'll admit to not being super-excited about it initially, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Overall, my assessment is that, while something like this absolutely is the ultimate stereotypic tourist activity, if you've never done it before and you've already done everything else you wanted to do, it's a worthwhile way to finish your visit.

And with that, I'll close. Returning from vacation is always thoroughly awful and I think that in this case it will be particularly thoroughly awful. The good news is that the kids had a blast (as did we) and they are already talking about our next island adventure. We'll see how things go ...

Peace,
Mike