Honolulu, HI

For first-time visitors to Hawaii, the luau is almost considered a rite of passage. My wife and I have been to several luaus since we have been living on Oahu. Each has its own unique blend of food, entertainment and setting. There are many different luaus on the island of Oahu, but I will writer here about three of the more popular ones. My wife and I recently attended each of these luaus with friends and family.

Whales! We were about three miles offshore from Waikiki Beach—the pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel was visible as a small dot in the distance. Outside on deck, people were pointing toward shore. A Humpback mother and her calf cavorted not far from our boat. Then the mother slapped her huge tail (called a fluke) against the water, before diving beneath the surface. Cameras were clicking like crazy. Suddenly the mother Humpback erupted from the water—a full breach—leaping into the air! People screamed, and I was lucky enough to point my camcorder just in time to catch it.

No, I don’t mean whitewater rafting, as in the adventurous kind. I’m talking about relaxing, lay out on your inexpensive, 1-person-dayglo-green or pink raft as you float just off the beach in the gentle near-shore waters of Waikiki. My wife and I enjoy this activity (especially my wife), when we want to go to the [...]

Then, promptly at 8:00: boom! The first fireworks lit up the night sky with blazing reds and whites. There were some really impressive explosives—firecrackers, rockets, pinwheels and what have you—which can be heard throughout Waikiki. A few boats also lead fireworks cruises and could be seen bobbing not far from shore to witness the spectacle.

The most commonly kind of shark seen was called a sandbar shark. These are your typical gray, predatory-looking sharks-on-the-prowl. We were also lucky enough to see a couple of large Galapagos sharks. Every now and then, the boat crew told us they see the much bigger (and more dangerous) tiger sharks, and even less frequently than that—the mighty great white, but we didn’t see any of those on our trip. It was really cool to watch the sharks thrashing around and cruising on the surface of the water while we waited our turn for the cage.

On May 10, 2008, my wife and I went to the 16th annual Filipino Festival in Waikiki. There was also a parade which ran along Kalakaua Avenue, but we only attended the festival part of it, which was in Kapiolani Park, across the street from Queen’s Beach. We arrived at the park at around 11 AM and the festival was already in full swing. The park was filled with people celebrating Filipino culture: a musical group performed on a stage with dancers, vendors of all sorts sold food and drinks, arts and crafts, while families and people of all ages walked around experiencing it all.

Looking to the left, there is sort of a shallow bay area leading up to a high stone wall fronting another beach mansion. There is a small footpath that winds its way out through the rocks to this wall, and while we were there we saw a group of Hawaiian kids taking turns jumping off the wall into the water below. It looked like fun, but my wife and I preferred to remain on the main, sandy part of the beach.

We spent one of Waikiki’s famous sunny afternoons at Honolulu Zoo. My boss had given me two passes to the zoo. His friend donated to the zoo on his behalf as a Christmas present. He didn’t care to go to the zoo and I like the zoo. I went with my boyfriend who’s lived on the island for two years but hasn’t seen the zoo. Since the day was still hot we decided to refresh ourselves with ice cream from one of the many ice cream shops along Kalakaua Avenue. We were passing it by on the way to the zoo.

A friend of mine recently invited me to spend an afternoon at Ala Moana Beach Park with her and her family. It was the day of their annual family picnic, and she promised I’d have a great time.

Once down the hill, it was a pleasant ride through wide, tree-lined streets until we reached Waialae Beach, about twenty minutes after we had left Waikiki. There is a beach park here with green grass, and a parking lot with a small foot bridge spanning a canal that leads to the beach. We parked our scooter-cars in the lot and crossed the bridge to the beach.