ideas for travelling with my father
 

My sister and I will be travelling to Maui and Oahu with our 68 year old father. He's never been to Hawaii before (well, neither have we). Ideas on what he might be able to handle. He is in okay shape...not great but not awful either. Strenuous walking though would not be for him. We really want to do the biking down Haleakala and I dont think he would like that just to give you a sense of his stamina. Any ideas?
Thanks.

Snorkeling on Maui is beachside in moderate depth water. You can do as little or much as you want.

Visiting Haleakala just to see the crater is a wonderful experience. He could drive you up for the bike ride and meet you at the bottom, but he would have some time to kill. The services all do this trip on a 4 am departure.

Your father would probably like the Bishop Museum in Hononlulu. They have different programs (dancing, story telling, music, plant life, etc) happening thru out the day so you could get a schedule ahead of time so you could get there in time to get a seat. That would be a break from walking around and visiting the exhibits.

Also, you might want to check with the companies on Maui that give the bike tours. I believe that some of them allow a rider in the support van so your father could "join" you on this activity if he wanted to.

We are in our 50's and planning to go to Oahu in September for 9 days. Not into hiking, biking, or snorkling.
Our plans:

USS Arizona, USS Missouri, USS Bowfin. If time permits or on another day, Pacific Aviation Museum and Punchbowl.

ENOA tour circling the island.

Polynesian Cultural Center including Horizons show at night.

Trolley one day combined with walking tours of downtown and Chinatown.
Iolani Palace, Bishop Museum.

Have two days with nothing planned until we get there (lots of options).

If he's like me, he might take a tour, or trolley and walk around while you go biking.

wow...thanks for the quick reply. I love this site! I will do some research on those sites and share it with my sister and dad. Thanks again.

IF he is retird military and has an ID card & even if not staying at the Hotel he could enjoy the activiites of the miitary hotel on Oahu Waikiki HAle Koa. They have a great Sunday Brunch, Polynesia Shows etc. shop to buy some souveniers
I took the Trolley by myself and really had fun...
seems most of the OAhu Hotels are on the scenic bus route...
ther is always people watching at the beach..with sunglases and suntan lotion..lots of grassy park ares..you could buy a cheap lounge chair at Costco or Longs drugs...

On Maui, we just drove up to Haleakala to see the sunrise - it was really beautiful. Depending on the time of year you're going, you could do a whale watching excursion or just a sunset cruise if you're not going January-March. He might like the Old Lahaina Luau also. We also liked the Road to Hana - it would involve his being in the car all day to see the sights but isn't particularly strenuous. Have a wonderful trip.

Also look into the "submarine" trip that visits the coral reefs just offshore. Really nice trip, lots of fish, sea life, etc. The one we took was Atlantis. He will need to be able to climb a ladder into the submarine. Actually, I think all of you would like it.

dfr4848: which island did this submarine tour depart from? sounds really amazing.

lhs - We took the one on Maui (leaves from Lahania) but they also have one from Waikiki on Oahu - so take your choice. We've read reports that a lot of people prefer the one from Maui, but not having done both I can't give you a personal comparison. Can certainly tell you we really enjoyed the one we took.

If you're going to rent a car on Oahu, I'd recommend a drive to the North Shore (about 45 minutes north of Honolulu, if memory serves). This is where Sunset Beach and some other big surf beaches are. But before you get that far you can stop at Haleiwa for lunch. There's also Matsumoto's or the Miura Store in Haleiwa where you can get Hawaii's famous shave ice dessert. Then off Kamehameha Highway you can pick up the road to the Waimea Valley Audubon Preserve, which offers a flat, paved walk through some lovely botanic gardens. Here's a link for it....

http://waimea.audubon.org/

He can do most of the things on this list.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34812564

www.mauihawaii.org

www.visitmaui.com Free brochure