Summer Vacation 2014 - HAWAII!!!

We had the great fortune of spending 10 days in Oahu, which offered a huge variety of things to do.  We began our trip in a rental house in a more rural part of the island, on the eastern (or windward) coast, near Oahu's famous North Shore.  Chinaman's Hat, pictured above, was just a couple of miles from the rental house, which offered 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and equipment to borrow, including snorkeling gear and boogie boards.  After getting groceries and settling in on our first day in Hawaii, the kids boogie boarded on some turbulent waters within walking distance of the house.

The next day, our first full day, we drove to the most southeastern part of the island to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, a marine preserve.  

Hanauma Bay is a stunning protected cove, and we did enjoy decent snorkeling there, but it is very  crowded as it's Oahu's leading snorkeling destination.  This was Luke's first time snorkeling, and he was excited to see the rainbow colors of the tropical fish, but we would come to find even better snorkeling on the North Shore.  On our way back to the rental house, we stopped in Kailua at Island Snow, which offers the island's best shave ice -- and is a popular stop for the Obamas whenever they are in town.  At Island Snow, you have the option of starting your treat with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the bottom or of having it "snow capped" with what I think is sweetened condensed milk.  Luke and I are purists, and stuck to shave ice, plain and simple, in flavors ranging from lilikoi (passionfruit) to boysenberry.

Later that afternoon, back up north, we went to Kahana Bay Beach Park, which offered some of our best boogie boarding. It's interesting how different the beaches are from one another.  Kahana Bay is surrounded by emerald green hills and in that way is reminiscent of a beach in the South Pacific.

That night we endured one of the most intense storms I've ever experienced as Tropical Storm Wally passed through.  Lightning was so loud it felt as though it was cutting through you, and rain poured down at a rate of 4 inches an hour.  Unfortunately, the rental house was in poor condition to handle the storm -- or any rain at all.  The pond flooded, and broken gutters deposited rain in a waterfall at the foundation of the house.  Worse yet, rain leaked through the roof in the living area in innumerable locations! The wooden dining room table warped as a result of the leakage.  Rain coming in through the roof drew our eyes to the ceiling, and we noticed black mold in the house.  We notified the caretaker the next morning of all the problems we were encountering, as well as faulty wiring in the kitchen that caused the microwave to spark when it was used, but no efforts were made to do anything about the roof or mold.

The next day we spent most of our time out of the house -- first we went to the big resort on the North Shore, Turtle Bay, which offered a bit of snorkeling, and then we headed south, back to Kailua where Island Snow is, to spend time with Ken's college rowing friend, Nick Ondrejka, and his family.  Nick prepared dinner for us, and Bryn and Luke had fun playing with four-year-old Beau and 13-year-old Vina on their trampoline and later at the beach, which was within walking distance of their house.  (11-year-old Liam was out of commission on account of a hurt foot.)  As we were walking back to Island Snow for our second serving of shave ice in two days, Luke stepped on a purple Portuguese man of war that wrapped its long tentacle around his big toe.  Poor guy.  So our trip was not without its hiccups.

It rained again that night, although not as hard.  Nevertheless, rain still came in through the roof, and it was apparent that we needed to find another place to stay.  In the meantime, we enjoyed a wonderful day exploring the North Shore beaches.  We stumbled upon the best snorkeling of the trip at Pupukea Beach where not only were there tons of beautiful fish and the water crystal clear, but the coral was vibrant, too.  The coral looked as though it had been "splatter painted" (Bryn's words) with periwinkle and chartreuse paint as a result of the kinds of algae growing on the coral.

 From there we went to Haleiwa, Oahu's most famous surfing town, which is on the national list of historic places.  It's hard to believe that Haleiwa sees 30' waves in the winter; look how calm it was when we were there:

While in Haleiwa, we got shave ice, but it wasn't as good as that of Island Snow, which is flakier and less like a snow cone that you might get stateside.  Finally, on this day of touring Oahu's North Shore, we stopped at a beach where turtles often congregate.  You could see green kelp in the water.  On the way back to the rental house, we ate at North Shore Tacos -- one of the best meals of our time in Hawaii.  We finished off the meal with lilikoi or passionfruit mousse.

Another highlight of visiting a tropical place is the fresh fruit that you can't get back home.  We stopped at a roadside stand and tasted small bananas, called "ice cream bananas."  We also bought guava and tasted our first fresh passionfruit.  The owner, a man named Mahe (pronounced Mah-hay), has a son who was a punt returner for the Philadelphia Eagles for 4 or 5 seasons!  

The next day, we packed up as Ken found a room for us in a hotel in Waikiki for the last 6 nights of our trip.  Well, not just any room.  A penthouse!

With air conditioning!  The rental house did not have air conditioning, and I have learned never to stay in a place in a tropical climate without air conditioning.  Seeing this room for the first time ranks among Bryn and Luke's Top 5 Highlights from our trip.  The unit even had a washer/dryer!  As soon as we arrived it was time to eat lunch, and Nichole had been dying to go to Marukame Udon, just a 4-block walk from the hotel.  There is ALWAYS a line outside this simple udon shop, and upon tasting the udon -- made on site in front of onlookers, we understood why.  This was the best udon I have had outside Japan.  And it was cheap!  To my disappointment, despite having a Japantown, there isn't an udon shop in San Francisco that makes its own noodles.  Marukame was so special we ate there a second time later in the week.

That afternoon we went to Pearl Harbor.  We didn't visit the USS Arizona, which requires ferry tickets that are distributed first thing in the morning, but we did tour the USS Missouri, a battleship from 1944 upon whose decks the Japanese signed the treaty that ended WWII.  

On the red phone -- direct line to the President:

It's hard to conceive that this same ship was used 50 years later in the Persian Gulf War.  It was the last battleship ever commissioned; air craft carriers have made battleships obsolete.  

Here's the USS Arizona, which is a floating memorial over a sunken ship:

That evening we had a surprisingly good meal at Hula Grill, right on Waikiki Beach.  Ken and I both got salads with baby asparagus so small it looked like an herb! 

The next morning we went to Chinatown, which is very different from San Francisco's Chinatown, which is comprised mostly of stores selling junk from Hong Kong.  Honolulu's Chinatown encompasses many Asian cultures, and the focus is on fresh fruits and vegetables and food vendors.  

Upon leaving we got a take out order of tofu Banh Mih from a trendy Vietnamese restaurant called The Pig and the Lady.  It was the best Banh Mih I've ever had, so we went back another night for dinner -- arguably our best meal of the trip.

The Pig and the Lady

The next morning we stopped at Leonard's Bakery, a Honolulu institution.  Leonard's Bakery sells a Portuguese doughnut called Malasadas, and an aide at Luke's school who is from Oahu had told me about Leonard's. 

Then we headed back east to the Windward Coast to Waimanalo Bay.  The beaches on the windward coast are much less crowded than Waikiki and absolutely picturesque. 

Unfortunately, however, the beach was covered with purple Portuguese Man of War.  A lifeguard told us that the full moon brings them ashore, and it was a problem afflicting the entire windward coast.  Given Luke's incident earlier in the week, none of us wanted to chance it.  So we got back in the car and drove 45 minutes to the western part of the island.  We went to Ko Olina where Disney and Marriott both have resorts.  This part of Oahu was impeccably manicured, but it was designed for vacationers who come to Hawaii and never leave the resort.  We enjoyed better snorkeling than we had anticipated at one of the four lagoons upon which the Marriott is set, but Ken and I were glad that we opted not to stay in Ko Olina despite the recommendations of two sets of friends who had recently vacationed there.  Ko Olina simply didn't offer as much as the beaches of the North Shore and the vibrancy of Waikiki.

Despite our efforts to apply sunscreen every hour, we all got sunburned in Ko Olina, so the next day we tried our best to stay out of the sun.  We went to a small aquarium in Waikiki where one of the most interesting exhibits was of dwarf seahorses -- just an inch tall and in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the slowest fish. On the walk back to the hotel, the kids stopped to swing from the roots of a large banyan tree.

Luke had brought a bad case of poison oak with him to Hawaii, so Ken and Luke spent part of the afternoon at a health clinic where they were able to get a prescription cream.  

The next day we got together with the Ondrejkas again -- this time in the North Shore at Waimea Beach where there is a famous "jumping rock."  Vina helped to lead Bryn and Luke to the lower jumping off point -- about 8 feet from the water.  The kids jumped a few times before Ken gave it a try.

With confidence under their belt, Bryn, Luke and Vina made their way to the higher part of the rock -- about 11 feet from the surface.  Bryn and Luke both jumped twice before 13-year-old Vina found the courage to do so.  

Concerned about getting too much sun, we left around lunch time.  In packing up, Nick accidentally locked his keys in his car.  AAA never answered, and he was looking to call a locksmith when a tow truck magically pulled into the beach parking lot!  So for $40, and 60 seconds of work, Nick's car door was jimmied open.  Phew.  We returned to North Shore Tacos and then back to Kailua where Nick lives for more shave ice at Island Snow.  After saying good bye to Nick, we stopped at the Whole Foods in Kailua to pick up dinner.  I thought the Whole Foods in Mill Valley was nice, but it has nothing on the Whole Foods in Kailua where there's a brick oven for pizza; noodle bar; bar with at least 20 beers on tap; and more.  Ken aptly referred to it as "the community center" because it really did bring everyone in town to one location.  

The next day was our last full day and night in the hotel.  We started the morning with a surf lesson in world-famous Waikiki.  

Royal Hawaiian Hotel, aka "Pink Palace" 

Diamondhead

Bryn and Luke's instructor was a 40-year veteran named Willy.

Both Bryn and Luke had a lot of success in their hour-long lesson; they wiped out only about two times each.  Very impressive!

Towing Willy back to shore at end of lesson:

That afternoon we headed back to Waimanalo Bay, where we had been unable to swim on account of Portuguese Man of War that had washed ashore.  There the kids tackled 4' waves with their boogie boards:

[Having technical difficulties getting video to upload so will try back…]

Waimanalo Bay is only about 20 minutes from Kailua, so you know what that means?  A return trip to Whole Foods for dinner and Island Snow for shave ice!  It's very fitting that Ken got a souvenir t-shirt from Island Snow as that was one of the highlights of our Oahu vacation; we went there 4 times in 10 days!

[Insert pictures from Koko Trail that Ken did.]

Finally our last day was upon us.  We flew the red eye home, so we had the entire day in Hawaii.  We drove up north back to Pupukea Beach where we had experienced our best snorkeling.  This time, Bryn and Ken saw a silvery eel with black dots swimming in the open water!  

We got lunch in the surf town of Haleiwa, and Bryn found a cool souvenir t-shirt as the rest of us had already found shirts in other parts of the island.  

All in all, despite the problems with the rental house -- and we are still fighting for a refund, the trip was awesome.  Oahu offered such variety in its beaches -- some were great for boogie boarding while others were great for snorkeling.  Waikiki, though busy with tourists -- and LOTS of Japanese tourists, was vibrant and was close to Pearl Harbor and Chinatown and the aquarium -- cultural attractions that other island destinations wouldn't offer.  The kids had a blast, and they say the highlights, in no particular order, were:
1.  Island Snow Shave Ice;
2. Snorkeling;
3. Boogie Boarding;
4. The penthouse, which we had for 3 nights; and
5.  Rock jumping in Wailea.
Even they can't choose just one!