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Published: February 11th 2008
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Sunset Beach
From my first best day Rather than document every day of the two weeks Eleanor and I enjoyed in Hawaii I’ve decided to write about the five best days or as one of my Pommy work mates would say - my five besties. These days are in chronological order, it’s hard to pick an absolute best day but by the time I’ve finished writing this I may have made this decision.
My first best day was our trip to the North Shore of Oahu; this day has to be included as it was a visit to the famous surfing spots of Sunset Beach and Pipeline. I was a surfer in my younger years and grew up watching these spots in numerous surfing movies. In many ways the trip this day for me was like a pilgrimage. We started the day with breakfast at the Ingredients restaurant in the Sheraton, this was a real value for money place to eat and the food was good. Because the serves were so large we shared Eleanor’s breakfast and had mine packed up for our lunch - a delicious sandwich. We then took a bus to the Ala Moana Centre and changed to another bus (52) for the North
A friendly life guard
Taken at Sunset beach Shore, it was a reasonably long trip, about 75 minutes. We’d bought a four day bus pass for $20 each so our fare was already covered. The real convenient thing about having a four day pass is that you don’t need change for the bus - drivers like you to tender the correct fare which is $2 regardless of where you want to go. Our first stop was Sunset Beach; the surf was pretty good though it was a bit windy, probably at least 6-8 foot on the sets. We shared our sandwich here then walked along the beach to Pipeline - this took about 25 minutes at a leisurely pace stopping for photos. Pipeline was a bit blown out but there were still guys out, you could see the barrel shape of the wave though. After leaving Pipeline we took the bus to the shops at Haleiwa (aka Surf City), we had a look around the shops then got the bus back to Waikiki.
My second best day was our trip to Hanauma Bay. This is a marine preserve with a very picturesque beach and friendly fish. We got the bus (22) again; the trip took about a
Hanauma Bay
From the second of my five best days half hour or so. The entrance fee was $5 each with another $6 to rent snorkelling gear. I was the first in the water and had a good snorkel around the reef. The coral wasn’t very good but the fish were plentiful and quite colourful. We took a sandwich from Ingredients again and enjoyed this on the beach. After lunch we took the bus back but got out at the Diamond Head State Monument, we then walked to the start of the hiking trail that leads to the observation station at the top summit of the Diamond Head crater. I decided it was best to buy some water (actually that was Eleanor’s idea) before starting our climb, with this done we commenced our hike to the summit. It took us about 45 minutes to climb the 1.3 km, in all we ascended 171 metres. The view from the top was worth it though, great views over Waikiki and beyond.
My third best day was our second day in Maui (1st Feb 08), we had an early start as we had to get a taxi to the Maui Prince hotel in Makena; about a 20 minute ride costing $US25 including
a $US3 tip. The reason for the early start was that we booked a snorkelling trip to the Molokini Crater and we needed to meet at the beach in front of the Maui Prince at 6.15am, everyone on the trip (14 booked) made it on time except two people who were staying at the hotel. We departed at 6.30am and on the way out enjoyed a Maui sunrise over Haleakala. It took about 20 minutes or so to reach the crater, we then had 30 minutes snorkelling, the visibility in the water was incredible, there were lots of fish and the corals on the edge of the crater were quite impressive. The next stop was Turtle Town where we got to snorkel with the turtles. I only saw three but was able to get quite close. We arrived back at 8.30am and after looking around the Maui Prince hotel we caught the hotel shuttle to the nearest bus stop, we then got a local bus to Lahaina. Originally we thought of renting a car but Eleanor wasn’t keen on us driving, some of the roads in Maui are very narrow, particularly on the east coast and it’s hard to enjoy
Sunrise over Haleakala
From the third best day the trip if it’s a stressful drive. The alternative was to book tours, use shuttles and local buses, this turned out to be a good choice for us. We needed to change buses at the Maalaea Village in order to get to Lahaina; it’s an old whaling town and has lots of quaint shops and restaurants. We enjoyed a very tasty lunch there, we both had a Ceaser Salad with a local tuna done in a traditional way and washed it down with a Margarita - the bill was about $US38. We then had a look around Lahaina and caught the bus back to our accommodation in Kihei.
The fourth bestie was our day trip to Hana. This was another early start as the trip to Hana on the east coast of Maui is a long one. I was glad I wasn’t driving as the road had a lot of twists and turns with a heap of narrow single lane bridges. We booked with Polynesian Adventure Tours and can recommend them, the bus wasn’t too big and the driver made a lot of stops so we could take photos. We had quite a lot of rain during the day
Lahaina
Taken at the wharf, there was a small surfing break here. and consequently the waterfalls were really gushing, there were also a few spots with some good waves and some interesting black sand beaches and one red sand beach. One of the places we went past was close to where the largest recorded wave was ridden, it was called Jaws; the break is quite a long way out and surfers have to be towed there by jet-ski. On the way to Hana we also visited a place called Keanae; it was destroyed by a tsunami in 1946 with the only surviving building an old stone church, after we stopped for some banana bread that was delicious. We had lunch at Hana; Eleanor and I both had the lunch special - roast turkey, macaroni salad and rice, it was a big serve and good value at $US8 each. The bus driver loved to talk about his favourite music and this was played throughout the trip. We arrived back in Kihei after 6pm, a long day but a good one.
The last best day was our last full day in Hawaii. We were back in Waikiki staying at the Ilima hotel. We had stayed there on our first night in Hawaii and
On the road to Hana
From the fourth best day liked it so decided to spend our last two nights in Hawaii with them. It was located about two blocks back from the beach, the rooms were bigger than most hotel rooms with a small kitchen and it was very clean and quiet. Our day began with a buffet breakfast at Dukes, our table was overlooking the beach and the food was great. I had an omelette, eggs Benedict, bacon, sausages, pudding and fruit - about four or five times what I’d normally eat for breakfast. After breakfast I needed to work it off so I rented a surf board and surfed Waikiki. I was able to get one decent wave and work off the breakfast. After some shopping we had a drink at the Yard house that has about 130 beers on tap then dinner at a restaurant called Roys, it was one of the best meals I’ve had in my life. This was perhaps my bestie.
Eleanor and I both enjoyed Hawaii and would love to go back.
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Jenny
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things
what do you need to bring to Hawaii?