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Josiah's Hawaii Travelogue 3
December 2012
Hawaii Travelogue 2
December: Back in Hawaii

If you've been reading my news posts lately, you should know that I'm once again in Honolulu, Hawaii. This time, I'm visiting my parents, who are taking advantage of their new condo to avoid most of the winter back home in Colorado. Considering that I've already done two travelogues on the area when I came here last winter and over the summer, I wasn't planning and doing one this trip. However, I've done a few things worthy of travelogue entries so, while I'm not going to be giving a day by day account, I figured I'll go ahead and keep a brief travelogue of the highlights.
Before getting to the first main entry, here's a couple photos from a hiking trail at Round Top that I went on with my dad and brother, and a nice view of Honolulu we got on the road up there.

Thursday (December 20th): Ko' Olina
While the plan is to keep this trip fairly laid back, my family did plan a couple of larger outings. Today, my mom, brother, his girlfriend, and I headed over to Ko' Olina, on the west side of the island. I'd never been to that area before, but I'd heard that it's the dry and deserty part of Oahu. And it is...though you'd never know it from Ko' Olina, which has been turned into a resort area lined with several high end hotels and a set of idyllic little beach inlets. We were there for a snorkeling tour but we arrived a bit early so we stopped in the Marriot to see their impressive collection of tropical fish and other sea life. We also took a stroll though Disney's new resort, which looks really nice. I'm not sure what the rooms are like, but the outer area is amazing, with beautiful landscaping, a fish filled artificial coral reef, the nicest pool chairs I've ever seen, and enough pools and other water attractions to fill a small water park.
After that, it was time to head for the marina. My mom had booked us on a snorkeling tour with Ko' Olina Ocean Adventures, mainly because she got a discount on Groupon. Fortunately, it turned out to be far more than a just a good deal. This wasn't my first time snorkeling, or even my first snorkeling boat trip, but it was the best by far. We headed out on the boat and were greeted with beautiful blue ocean and nice views of the coastline. As a note, the boat captain and other crew members were great. They knew what they were doing and were both helpful and entertaining.
Out first stop was a coral reef not that far away from the island. Unfortunately, I don't have an underwater case for my camera (maybe next time), so I don't have any pictures but there were lots and lots of colorful fish around and water was as clear as I've ever seen, giving excellent visibility underwater. Even better, the reef doubles as a hang out for sea turtles who want to get their shells cleaned off by the local cleaner fish. No sooner did I look underwater than I saw a pair of them hanging out on the ocean floor. A bit later on, one of them came up and floated around just beneath the surface for a while, sticking its head out of the water from time to time to get a breath. Really cool.
On the way to our next stop, we spotted some whales in the distance. The captain decided to spend some time chasing after them and we got some great views. They even breached (jumped out of the water) a couple times. Unfortunately, predicting where they would surface was really difficult and, as a result, I wasn't able to get a lot of pictures. This is really the best one I have. It's a nice enough tail shot, but I wish I could have gotten a photo of a breach...
After a bit of unplanned whale watching, we arrived at our second destination, a spinner dolphin hangout. There were somewhere around 15 or so of them and they seemed to like swimming by the boat. We were also able to hop in the water with them. And while we didn't exactly swim with the dolphins (no grabbing onto them or anything like that), we got to watch them swim around underwater. Oh, in case you're curious, spinner dolphins are a bit smaller than the more common bottlenose variety and they get their name from the way they jump.
Finally, it was off to one more reef for a bit more snorkeling. While this one didn't have the turtles, it had an even larger variety of fish and coral. Once again, I wish I had some pictures to show you but you'll just have to take my work for it, the snorkeling was fantastic. Between that, the turtles, whales, and dolphins, if you want to do some snorkeling while on Oahu, I really can't recommend Ko' Olina Ocean Adventures enough.

Friday (December 21st): Foster Botanical Gardens
My dad and I stopped by the Foster Botanical Gardens this morning. While it's far from the only botanical garden in the area, it's a bit unique in the fact that it's right in the middle of Honolulu (on the edge of China Town, actually). While it's not especially large, it's really pretty. It's also got some rather unusual plants, like this giant tree from Central America. Though it's got nothing on the cannon ball tree. It's so named because of its fruit(?), which is roughly the size and shape of a cannon ball and pretty hard and heavy as well. There were signs all around warning visitors to watch for falling cannon balls. Though, as you may have noticed from the picture, the tree can get very thorny as well, so you really don't want to get too close to begin with. It has cool flowers though. Naturally, there were lots of other flowers as well. Especially different types of orchids. Overall, I'd say it's worth a visit.
On the way back, we passed by the large set of Christmas displays the city does at this time of year. As a note, what's shown in the photo is only one of many displays arrayed along the road and in one of the nearby buildings. We also passed some signs for various food trucks, including a rather interesting one... So, if you want to visit a maid cafe but can't make it to Japan, you know where to go. Not sure how well that would work as a food truck though. I mean, maid cafes are much more about getting served by cute girls than the food itself.
And to wrap the day up, here's a couple rainbow pictures from the deck of the condo.

Saturday (December 22nd): Waimano Falls
As a note, I think this hike (and possibly the falls themselves) have a couple of different names. Anyway, my family (plus my brother's girlfriend and another friend) went on a hike in the mountains. While the weather had been pretty good lately, the trail was a little muddy in spots, but overall it wasn't too bad. The hike itself was pretty cool. Early on, we walked passed a number of wild guava trees with little ripe guavas we could pick and eat. And after that, the trail started getting a bit more challenging... That photo doesn't entirely do it a justice, but basically it turned into a rather steep climb down the mountain side. I like that kind of thing, so it was a lot of fun. Though going back up on the return trip was a bit less so. The falls themselves are set in a ravine of sorts at the bottom. There are a couple of pools there as well. The water was a pretty deep and there were a bunch of people jumping in from the nearby rocks. Here's a photo of myself, Noah (my brother), and Hannah (his girlfriend) getting ready to jump from the lower spot. The water was a bit cold, but it was nice and refreshing after the long hike. Wish I'd brought an actual swimsuit though...

Sunday (December 23rd): The North Shore
Sunday morning began with a surfing lesson. After the lesson I took back in the summer, I wasn't so sure I needed another one. I'm no expert by any means, but I have the basics down fairly well. Providing I stick with relatively mild waves, the only real challenge in going by myself would be timing it right so I catch them. However, my brother and his girlfriend wanted a lesson so I ended up joining in. They thought the place I went with last time (Hans Hedermann Surf School) was a bit expensive and, after some searching, found a deal for lesson with Willis Bros. Surfing.
The lesson took place on a beach on the north shore of the island. That made be a bit wary, since that's where the really big waves are this time of year, waves that you need a ton of experience to surf. However, we ended up on a nice little beach with reasonably sized waves. But the really cool part is that sea turtles like to hang out there sometimes. In fact, there was one floating around the shoreline when we arrived. After quickly going over how to paddle the board, catch a wave, and stand, we headed out into the water. On the one hand, I was right, I didn't really need another beginner lesson (I didn't have much trouble riding the waves and even managed to lay back down on my board post-wave without falling most of the time). On the other hand, the instructors were friendly and gave me a couple of good tips and it's nice to have someone helping you catch the waves.
As a surfing location, it was a good beach. It wasn't too crowded (though the instructors said that it's usually busier), the waves were nice, and there was a convenient wave free channel of sorts in the middle which made it much easier to paddle back out after riding a wave in (so my arms and shoulders didn't end up nearly as sore as last time). Here's a pic of my brother and I surfing (I'm the one in the center with the black shirt and swimsuit, he's on the right in the white and gray). And, since my mom was around to act as camera woman, here's a few video clips of me surfing. Overall, it was a lot of fun. I'd definitely take up surfing (casually, anyway), if I lived in a good area.
As for Willis Bros., the instructors were great and we got a fairly long lesson for a really good price. All in all, it was just as good as Hans Hedermann Surf School, for a much lower price (though the location could be a problem if you don't have a car). The one area that didn't quite stack up was the photos they took. One of the instructors offered us a discount and we got their photos of all three of us for $20 (I think the normal price is $20 - $30 per person). However, the photos I got from Hans Hedermann in the summer were around the same price (can't remember if it was $20 or $30) and they gave me all the photos from the entire session, regardless of who was in them, so I got a whole lot more (both of myself and the group in general). Plus, while the photos from the Willis Bros. had decent composition (though there was a noticable lack of zoomed in shots), they were seriously compressed so the image quality wasn't all that great. Unless they improve a lot, I'd highly recommend bringing a friend or family member to take pictures for you.
The surfing lesson was fairly early in the morning and, since we'd already driven up north, we decided to make a day of it. Our next stop was the town of Haleiwa. It's a nice little town with a much more old fashioned vibe than places like Honolulu, Ko' Olina, or Kailua. It's also the home of Matsumoto Shaved Ice, the most popular shaved ice place on the island. They have a ton of flavors and a wall of photos featuring all their celebrity visitors, including some of the cast of Lost and members of Japanese pop group AKB48, to name a few.
After walking around Haleiwa for a while and getting some lunch, we began to drive east along the coast. On a whim, we decided to stop at Waimea Valley, a botanical garden of sorts. You have to pay to get it, but it's worth it. The valley is absolutely beautiful and features a wide variety of different plants and scenery. And, of course, lots and lots of neat flowers. The ginger garden was a personal favorite. It wasn't all plants either. The valley is home to a lot of birds (some of which are pretty rare) and I even spotted a few wild pigs (which unfortunately ran off before I could get a picture). While there were a number of side trails, the main path eventually ended at the Waimea Falls. Jumping off the rocks isn't allowed, but you're free to swim up to and under the falls.
After that very pleasant interlude, we continued our drive, with one last stop at that stone arch my parents showed me last winter. As a side note, the coast there is also a very nice place to watch the waves crash against the rocks.
Overall, it a was a great day and I'd be up for both returning to that beach and the Waimea Valley in the future.

Tuesday (the 25th): Hiking in the Rain
The initial plan for Christmas Day was hiking. Come morning, the weather wasn't looking so great but my brother was pretty insistent so we headed for the Kuliouou Ridge. The hike started out well enough but before long it started to rain. I thought we should just call it a loss but I was over ruled and we kept going. And the rain got worse, and worse... Soon we were completely soaked. We kept going, rain, mud, and all, and got nearly to the end of the hike but, thanks to all the clouds, the view of pretty nonexistent so we decided to skip the final climb and head back down. Though we did get a little bit of a view once we got below the clouds. Weather aside, it was a pretty nice hike, and I'd totally be up for trying it again on a better day, but it's really not good on a rainy day.
On a side note, we later tried out a new Korean restaurant called Red House. It had a sort of modern artsy feel to the design, which was odd for a Korean restaurant, but the food was good and the K-Pop music videos they projected on the wall certainly kept the Korean vibe going.

Wednesday - Sunday (the 26th - 30th): Enjoying the Rest of the Trip
I didn't do anything for the rest of the trip that warranted its own travelogue entry, but here's the highlights.
I woke up Friday to see an extremely rare sight, a sky completely devoid of clouds. Later that morning, we decided to hike Diamond Head since my brother and his girlfriend hadn't done it yet. It was a great day for views and we got a nice group shot too. That evening, I headed down to Waikiki Beach to watch the sunset. I even picked up a lei while I was there (a school group was doing a fund raiser). So I sat, watched the crabs on the rocks, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset, followed by the Hilton's regular Friday night fireworks show.
Saturday, my family walked around the Hilton a bit to show Hannah the flowers, birds, and other animals there and finished up a bit further down the beach with another sunset. There was a nice full moon too.
Sunday was my brother and Hannah's last day here. We thought about renting a surf board for a bit but neither the waves or weather was that good. We eventually ended up visiting Sandy Beach off on the eastern part of the island. It had a lot of waves, but we didn't surf. The current is really strong and the waves crash right up on the shore, so it's a bad match. There were a lot of boogie boarders, but they didn't seem to be riding the waves so much as wiping out repeatedly. But just standing a little ways in and letting the waves crash around us was fun, though since the waves hit so close to the shore we really got sand blasted... Finally, since I won't be here on New Years, we went out for an early birthday dinner. We tried a Japanese place I've walked past a number of times but never gone in, called Izakaya Tairyo. It was a lot of fun, and I may give a proper review sometime in the future. Both the food and decor were great and they have some nice discounts too.
I'll be leaving tomorrow evening, so that about wraps it up for this trip. As with my previous visits, it was a great trip and I still really like Honolulu. Not sure when I'll be back but, thanks to the condo, it probably won't be too far off...

Hawaii Travelogue 2




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