Hawaii: O'ahu Day 5

August 1, 2010

Today we drove around the South-Eastern loop of the island. We went snorkeling at Wanauma Bay, O’ahu fish sanctuary and nature preserve. There was more colorful coral here than the day before, with some pink and blues, along with some yellow and purple. Again we saw lots of fish. I saw a spotted eel and a green sea turtle, some foot long parrot fish, and this one black fish with an irredescent line along its upper and lower fins which it used to move rather than side fins. The water was choppy so visibility wasn’t great and there were surges coming in from the South.

After snorkeling, we had to fight a rip tide to get back to the beach. We’re all experienced swimmers, and we were warned about the rip tide, but I’ve never experienced anything like it. I was seriously concerned about raking my body across coral as we tried to fight through a 10 foot gap. But we made it back to shore eventually.

Stopped at Kona Brewing Company for lunch.

We continued along to various lookouts. You could see waves crashing over rocks. We also stopped at the blowhole. Apparentaly we missed Johnny Depp and the crew filming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides by 2 days. It’s featured in the scene where Jack is blindfolded and various other scenes in “the wilderness”. Waves weren’t huge so it was only moderate in height, but still pretty cool to see. Went to the Atlantic Seafood Company for dinner. I had a very nice Mahi Mahi in a macadamia nut crust.

Hawaii: O'ahu Day 4

July 31, 2010

Today we drove around the Northern loop of the island. It was very windy as we drove through the mountains. I was literally blown backwards at one of the lookouts. We stopped along several of the Eastern beaches, complete with incredible blue Hawaiian waters. Why can’t the East Coast of the Mainland look like that? At Sunset Beach, we stopped and snorkeled. There wasn’t much for vibrant coral, though it was beginning to come back in some places (dead from sugar cane runoff), but the fish were great. We saw damselfish, baby parrot fish, sea cucumbers (which I HATE), pencil fish, blue tangs, rhino fish, and lots of little ones I don’t know the names of. I also saw an anemone that over a foot long!

We drove by Bonsai Pipeline, though it wasn’t in season, so all the big waves were off in Australia (same thing happened when we were in Australia). There were places that we could jump off large rocks, but they were crowded so we didn’t try it ourselves. Hawaiian beaches are long, but aren’t very wide from the road to the ocean.

As we continue, we stopped at the Dole Plantation, which sprawls throughout the center of the island. The plants were extremely colorful. We walked through the main garden which gave us a general look at what Dole grows. There is also a train ride throughout the fields.

On our way home, we stopped at the Yard House for dinner, the place with over 100 beers on tap that we had stopped at for drinks the other day. There was a wait, even calling ahead, but the food was excellent. I had swordfish topped with crab cake, and wasabi mashed potatoes. To drink: sugar rimmed homemade lemonade.

Hawaii: O'ahu Day 3 - Honolulu

July 30 Continued.

After leaving Pearl Harbor, Kioa took us to the Hawaii National Cemetery (featured in Saving Private Ryan).  We didn’t stop and get out, but drove through and heard a few stories. One that stuck with me in particular was about one row of graves that were brothers the entire way down. There was also a story about two friends who wished to be buried on either side of an unknown soldier so that he too would always have a friend by his side.

We also went through downtown Honolulu and saw the Capital, Library, Legislature, former post office, and the only Royal Palace in the United States. The Capital building was interesting because of the symbolization in the architecture. The building is surrounded by a reflecting pool, which symbolized the Pacific Ocean. The columns around the outside are built to resemble royal palm trees. There are eight on either side of the building, representing the either main Hawaiian Islands. It’s built with an open-air design and the center, usually a rotunda, is left open to the sky. Bonus points if anyone can guess the 90’s anime cartoon Drew and I kept referencing upon seeing the King’s statue.

Back at the hotel, we hung out by the pool for a couple of hours. We had dinner at Cheeseburger Island. They had pretty good burgers, but not much for seafood. I think this was the only night I didn’t eat fish.