Honolulu, HI

On a recent trip to the North Shore with a few friends of mine, we decided that we would trek through Haleiwa town, something any of us done since transitioning into the career world of a twenty-something. We traversed through the little town that has much preserved its uniqueness and I was reminded of its innate beauty that both tourists and locals alike have fallen in love with.

My friends and I decided, shortly after the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall came out on DVD, that we wanted to go to Turtle Bay and goof off for a day. So, we made the trek all the way to Kahuku and we spent the day at the Turtle Bay Resort.

I was happy to discover on a recent Glass Bottom Boat (or the “G Double B” as I like to call it) tour through tropical Kaneohe Bay, the boat was of course not only very safe, it offered a very unique underwater viewing experience. The kind where you don’t even have to get wet!

When my wife and I go to Hamauma Bay, we like to walk all the way down to the far end of it, where there are few—sometimes no—other people, even when the main beach is crowded (which is most days). Hanauma Bay is the well-known marine preserve on Oahu’s east end, popular with snorkelers. If you would like to know more about the main beach and getting into the preserve itself, then please see this post on Hanauma Bay in general, since I won’t duplicate that information here; I will just cover our experience with the far end of the bay.

After checking out the indoor exhibits, we headed outside where the aquarium’s larger exhibits are. We saw the intertidal tank, which is a long, waist-high tank right against the edge of the aquarium property, with an awesome view of the real ocean right behind it. Mangrove trees line this tank, and swimming in its waters are colorful reef fish such as needlenose butterfly fish, yellow tangs, raccoon butterflys, various corals, crabs, shrimp, sponges, and many more creatures! Also out here was one of the aquarium’s star attractions: the monk seals. These seals are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, meaning that they are from here and found nowhere else on Earth.

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.

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.

We decided to start the day with breakfast at his friend’s restaurant and walk down to the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach Hotel to watch my canoe club race in the OHCRA or Oahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association McFarlene 4th of July regatta at Waikiki Beach.

I have the utter privilege to house sit my friends’ place and their miniature schnauzer. It’s an extreme pleasure simply because they live in Harbor Court, smack dab on the waterfront across from Aloha Tower Marketplace and on the edge of Chinatown and downtown Honolulu. This is most fortunate for me because Chinatown and downtown Honolulu is great for walking, great for sightseeing and great to mingle with people.

It was a Friday when I stepped off the plane in Honolulu, back from four months in the Vegas desert. I am a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and nothing was better than being at home for the summer.