2 weeks Oahu and BI trip report Part I
 

Thanks to many on here for their invaluable help with questions I asked when planning the trip. As a quick background, we are a middle-aged couple with a grown up son and we self cater as we can't afford to eat in restaurants as well as travel!

Day 1

We flew with American Airlines (for the first time - £600 cheaper than BA for the 3 of us …) from London Heathrow to Honolulu via LA. It was pretty uneventful and we didn’t (surprisingly) feel too tired when we touched down at Honolulu airport. We used the Roberts shuttle to take us into Waikiki, buying a return ticket. Can recommend – had no problems. Arrived at our condo at Ilikai Marina at around 9:00pm (having left England at 11:00am that morning – not bad!) and we were delighted with it. On the fifth floor, overlooking the marina – very clean, modern and comfortable. A king-bed room for hub and I and a (very comfortable) sofa bed for our grown up son. There was a McD and ABC store just around the corner, which were both handy. We slept like logs.

Day 2

Up early and, first, a stroll to the beach, past the Hilton lagoon. All was gorgeous. We returned to the condo for a while and then returned to the beach for lunch, before walking up to the Alamo car hire place on Ala Moana Blvd. The cost of our car hire was quite a shock. I thought I’d got a bargain, using the AARP (we joined) rate. But when they added on the insurance, it was extortionate. We then had to pay another $70 or something to park at the condo for the time we needed. This was well worth it though, as we could park on the same floor as our condo. By the time we’d fiddled around a bit more in the condo, most of the day was gone – but we decided to ‘do’ the Pali Highway and take in the lookout. Lovely. Later, we went shopping at Safeway to stock up our fridge.

Day 3

Up early again, so we drove to Pearl Harbor. It was about 10:00am when we arrived and there was no line for tickets – although we had to wait 1.5 hours for our USS Arizona Tour. We found it very moving, as we had expected to do. We then drove back to our condo and made a picnic lunch and headed off to the beach. We drove around the coastline, stopping at a couple beaches on the way, but basing ourselves for a couple hours at Kailua, which was just heavenly! The only problem was that the sand was so fine, it got everywhere!!

Day 4

Up to the North shore, via the Dole Plantation. Sure, it was touristy, but we enjoyed it! We had Dole whips (yummy) and took the Pineapple Express trip! Feeding the enormous koi there was interesting – talk about a feeding frenzy! We drove through Haleiwa and then stopped at a couple of beaches. We stayed on Sunset Beach for a while, although the ocean was too rough for swimming in. The drove up to the end (Turtle Bay) and then back to Haleiwa for shrimp from Macky’s.



Day 5

This morning we took the Atlantis Submarine trip. It was expensive, but we enjoyed it immensely. We saw loads of fish, including a stingray – and sharks and turtles. We then took a picnic lunch with us, back to Kailua, but it was real cloudy on that side of the island, so we returned to Honolulu and sat on Ala Moana beach, writing postcards, before having a good look around the enormous mall!

Day 6

Again we headed to Kailua with a picnic lunch and we were luckier with the weather this time. From there, we headed for the Byodo-In Temple and then continued up the Windward coast, stopping at Chinaman’s Hat. Although beautiful, and interesting, the weather wasn’t to good on the Windward side, so we turned off at the top and parked up at Waimea Bay for an hour or two. We were back in our condo to watch the Hilton fireworks from our lanai!

Day 7

There was the King Kamehameha Parade, this morning and we watched it from Ala Moana Blvd. It was our last day in Honolulu and we spent it by driving the Tantalus Road and shopping in the Ala Moana Mall, where we enjoyed Haagen Dazs Rocky Road Dazzlers! We got pizzas from the Harbor Bar, beneath our condo building and ate it on the beach, as the sun set. We loved Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu. We’d been a little worried after reading some comments about how busy and commercialised it was, but we didn’t find that at all and had enjoyed a very relaxing week.

Part 2

Day 8

The Roberts shuttle picked us up right on time and we only had a short wait from our Hawaiian Airlines flight to Hilo on Big Island, from where we picked up our second hire car (much cheaper). We’d intended to shop at Safeway, but we missed it and ended up having to buy groceries from a smaller supermarket at Pahua. No big deal though. Our rental house, down by Waiopae Tidepools was nice, but there was no air conditioning and it was stifling hot. Despite having all the fans going, the temperature in the bedrooms never got below 86 degrees F … We had our own tide pool in the yard, but the entry to it was a little unsafe. Anyway, we had to go off to see the lava hitting the ocean! We drove down to Kalapana, parked and hiked over the lava. There was plenty of steam coming up from the ocean, but we waited until dark for a more spectacular display. Actually, it was awesome. The hike back over the lava field, using flashlights was very difficult, but, hey, we were happy! Happy until we got back to the rental house and discovered the 3-4 inch cockroaches, that is …

Day 9
Volcanoes National Park today. Did the crater rim, Jagger Museum, Steam vents, Chain of Craters road – amazing to see all that new land down there. On the way back up the Chain of Craters road, we did the Thurston lava tube. All very enjoyable (to me, a geologist!) We then went into Hilo downtown and walked around before heading for Safeway and Macy’s. Back at the house, we discovered that the 3-4 inch long roaches can FLY! There’s no way our cute ‘house pet’ ghecko could cope with that size of roach! (We tried to set ‘Dorian’ the ghecko free several times, but he kept on coming back in!)

Day 10

Spent the morning in our private tide pool. Then we drove up to Waipio Valley lookout via Akaka Falls. All very scenic, but overcast. Panda Express for supper!

Day 11

Time to leave for the Kohala coast. We drove, via Volcano Village, firstly to Punalu’u Black Sand Beach, where we ate our lunch and were delighted to find 3 green turtles basking. We continued around and up, stopping at the Place of Refuge (where we bought books on Hawaiian birds and plants). From the south west corner, right up to past Kona, the vog was very bad. In a couple of places, you could actually smell the sulphur dioxide. But, everywhere, it was dark and dismal – very depressing. On arrival at South Kohala though, the vog was absent and there were clear blue skies. Phew! We had rented a condo in Kolea, Waikoloa and we were delighted with it. Walked down to A-Bay and around the Marriott grounds. We did feel rather sorry for the Marriott guests in their one room, which they probably paid more for per night than we had for our 2 bedroomed, very spacious condo! Then we had a look around the Queens shops.

Day 12

To Hapuna Beach. Lovely, but it was a bit windy, so we didn’t stay too long and drove up to Hawi, where it poured with rain! We stopped for an ice-cream and then continued to Pololu Valley Lookout and then back to the Kings Shops for shopping and dinner.

Day 13

Despite reading that you shouldn’t drive the Saddle Road in a hire car, Alamo had only said ‘no unpaved roads’ and, as the Saddle Road is paved, we drove it. We couldn’t understand what the problem is with it. Sure, the first few miles are a bit rutty, but it is all paved and mostly new road. The restroom, about halfway, is a real hole though … and, apart from the rest area, there is nowhere to pull off the road to take photos. We enjoyed the drive and had been glad we ‘risked’ it. We then had time to visit the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens, just north of Hilo. We hadn’t had time to stop there before and we were so glad we’d returned, because it was beautiful and certainly one of the highlights of our trip. The several mosquito bites were worth it! (We did apply repellant, but we think they must’ve already bitten us, so make sure you apply repellant before you arrive.) We grilled ahi, mahi-mahi and swordfish on our lanai grill for supper – delicious.

Day 14

A lazy day – A-bay, shopping and packing up to go home. We were all dreading the long journey home.

Day 15

Dropped off the car at Kona and took the 3:00pm Hawaiian Airlines flight to Honolulu and, from there, the 7:30 AA flight to Dallas/Fort Worth.

Day 16

Landed Dallas 8:30am. Our onward flight to London Heathrow wasn’t until 7:30pm, so we hired a car for the day. With satnav. First we drove up to Southfork Ranch. OK, the tour is pathetic, the pool small and the inside of the house wasn’t used for filming – but we enjoyed it. We then set the satnav for the 6th Floor Museum, but it kept taking us back to Southfork! We were tired and it was 103 degrees and tempers were beginning to fray! But we finally made it to the museum. We didn’t stay long, however, as we were afraid that we might not be able to find our way back to the airport.

Day 17

Landed back in London at 10:30am. Then drove the 300 miles home to Plymouth.

Jetlag is still with us.

Photos are on here, if anybody might be interested.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5016357...7619453479764/

Wonderful! Thanks for the taking the time to share your trip! Next stop Maui and Kauai!

ttt

Enjoyed browsing through your photos and reading about your trip. Thanks for posting.

Thank you for the detailed report. I especially enjoyed your descriptions of Oahu. Sounds like you used your time perfectly to hit the high points there.

Enjoyed your report wildblueyonder!

Thanks for the trip report! Your long journey makes me appreciate the 5 hour flight from California to Oahu!

"Your long journey makes me appreciate the 5 hour flight from California to Oahu!"

Hallelujah to that Mary!

Nice trip report.