Just back from annual trip to Paradise; time for trip report.

4/4 - After sweating out a blizzard that just missed Denver, we were only an hour late (for de-icing) taking off. Had to wait at Honolulu for friend from Tampa whose flight was delayed out of Dallas. Late arrival at our rental condo at Kuilima Estates at Turtle Bay on North Shore. Excellent carryout dinner from Ted's Bakery - hamburger steak and onions dinner plate, combination barbecue dinner plate, and a grilled chicken salad.

4/5 - Breakfast at Haleiwa Cafe (great pancakes and low prices), then drive to Pearl Harbor commissary for grocery shopping. Lunch at La Mariana Sailing Club on Sand Island. We love this fun place -- huge salads and sandwiches, great mai-tais, and good prices. After getting back to the condo, got in some pool time and then to Jameson's by the Sea for dinner. My wife had the grilled shrimp and crab sandwich; our friend and I had the combo shrimp and crab Louis Salad. Best salad I have ever had and they make their thousand island dressing fresh every day. Total bill was $85 with drinks and tip.

4/6 - Back to Honolulu for a whale watching cruise on the Atlantis Navatek. Since it was late in the season, I thought we would get a rain check for not seeing any whales, but I was wrong. Lunch buffet on the boat was good, but nothing to get excited about. We saw quite a few whales, including a breach two hundred yards off the side of the boat. After the cruise, we wandered through the Aloha Tower shops before heading back to the North Shore.

4/7 - Drive along the North Shore to watch the waves and do some sightseeing at the beaches. Stopped off to take pictures at some of the filming sites for "Lost" and watched some of the filming for a new movie (You May Not Kiss the Bride). Lunch at Breakers in Haleiwa. We had the pulled pork sandwich, gilled mahi-mahi sandwich, and the BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato) sandwich. All were terrific. Total bill was $57 with drinks. Then got in the last of the pool time for this week. Weather was cold, cloudy and rainy until Saturday.

4/8 - Back to Honolulu to go to the Stadium Swap Meet. Great bargains on souvenirs and gifts. Lunch at Uncle's Fishmarket and Grill. A friend who lives in Honolulu joined us. We had fresh tuna salad sandwich, lobster tacos, fried calamari/shrimp basket, and grilled mahi-mahi sandwich. Everything was terrific; total cost for four meals and drinks was $70. Dinner was a pepperoni pizza from Spahettini's in Haleiwa. Good New York style pizza.

4/9 - In spite of the cool, cloudy weather did some more sightseeing on the North Shore beaches and drove up to the Puu O' Mahuka heiau above Pupukea. Great view of Waimea Bay. Bought some outstanding hand made chocolates at the Chocolate Gecko in Haleiwa. Went to Dole Plantation for some shopping and the pineapple ice cream. Lunch was at Breakers in Haleiwa again -- fish and chips, sweet chili wings, and a macadamia nut chicken sandwich. All were very good and cost with drinks was $65. After lunch, stopped by Aoki's for shaved ice. I'm probably in the minority, but I think Aoki's is better than Matumoto's. Dinner was carryout spaghetti dishes from Spaghettini's and slices of the cream pies from Ted's Bakery.

4/10 - In between heavy rain showers, took some photos at La'ie Point and Turtle Bay Resort. Lunch and dinner were leftovers to clean out the refigerator.

4/11 - Moving day. Packed up, checked out of the rental, did some grocery shopping, and then headed to Honolulu for a week at the Hilton Hawaiian Village (HHV) time share in Waikiki. While waiting to check in at HHC, had lunch at CJ's Deli. Great salads and pastrami sandwiches.

4/12 - Easter Sunday. Went to the brunch at John Dominis. Great view and terrific food. Cost for three was $195 for meal and drinks. After brunch drove up Round Top for some great views of Honolulu.

4/13 - Arizona Memorial to drop flowers from leis. Shopping at Hilo Hattie, then lunch Asian Manoa. Fabulous Chinese food, huge servings, and low prices. Cost for meal for three (with a large carryout box of leftovers) was $40.

4/14 - Sightseeing at Queen Emma's Summer Palace, Pali Lookout, Punchbowl Cemetary, and Iolani Palace. Lunch at Don Ho's Island Grill. Lunch was barbecued chicken sandwich, cheeseburger, and soup and salad. Great mai-tais. Dinner was at La Mariana Sailing Club. Two prime rib dinners and three mai-tais for $51.

4/15 - Breakfast was malasadas from Leonard's. Shopping at International Market and lunch at Puka Dog. The dogs were very good, but there was a long line to put up with. Took the Sunset MaiTai Catamaran cruise at the Sheraton Waikiki. This is always a fun two hours with all you can drink beer wine, soda, and maitais. Dinner after the cruise was at Duke's. Great seafood and salad bar.

4/16 - Sightseeing at Halona blow hole, Big Sandy beach, Makapu'u point, and Waimanalo. Lunch at Big-City Diner at Ward Center. Dinner at the Hau Tree Lanai. easily our best meal of the trip. Our table was beachside and we had a great view of the best sunset of the whole trip. We each had a ceaser salad and a cocktail. My wife had the steak trilogy and I had the mixed seafood grill. Total bill (with an entertainment book coupon) was $98.

4/17 - Loafing at the pool and packing for the return trip. Dinner was pastrami and brisket sandwiches at CJ's Deli.

4/18 - Trip from hell to get back home. Our flight out of Honolulu was delayed for mechanical problems; we missed our connection in San Francisco, but United put us in a hotel for the night; finally arrived home 18 hours after we were scheduled. The only good thing about the return was that we missed a blizzard that would have diverted us from landing in Denver.

Sounds like a hectic two weeks, but it wasn't. As usual, we don't need another vacation to recover from this vacation. Already counting the days until next year's trip to Paradise.

Thank you for your trip report, makes me want to just get up and go, so glad to see someone else loves Hawaii as much as I do I wish I could make me S/O feel the same as I have to find a thousand and one excuse as why I want to go back along with a LONG list of things I’ve missed in past trips. Again thank you for the fond memories.
Gina

Thanks for your great trip report, it was a fun read. Funny how many things travelers do when visiting that I have never done, although I live in Honolulu. Probably the same for visitors to Denver.

Glad you enjoyed your meal at the Hau Tree Lanai, a beautiful setting on the quieter Diamond Head side of Waikiki. Asia Manoa is one of our favorite local Chinese restaurants, we love the spicy eggplant and pork with string beans there.

I also enjoyed your report. Oahu is my favorite island, and I find it unfortunate that so many people are advised to skip it. We get to go back in June, tra-la!

Thanks for a terrific detailed report! I love all of Hawaii, especially Oahu, and can't wait to go back again in the near future! Will print out your report for my Hawaii file ...

Sounds like you had a great time.

How are the condos at Kuilima Estates. Pros? Cons?

LA213 - you have gotten your message across..on every post and travel forum known to man.
Please stop. Hi-jacking other people's stories to air your own complaint is also a form of theft. Do unto others....

Great trip report elkhound. Lots of details and useful info. Glad you had a good time, and weren't too uncomfortable on your long- delayed return flight..

iamq: The condo at Kuilima we rented was decent. We got a great deal on the unit. Only $900 (including taxes and cleaning) for the week. We were a little crowded because there were three of us and we had a one bedroom unit on the first floor. Couldn't get a two bedroom unit on vrbo for that week. The furnishing were okay, but there was barely enough closet and dresser space for one person, let alone three. It all depends on how much expense the owner puts into the unit before offering it for a rental. I'm still recovering from knee replacement surgery so I was more interested in having a pool nearby rather than beach access. The complex has five pools, so even when the pool across the street from our unit was closed, it was only a short walk to another pool. Pros: Good security (gated access and roving guards), quiet; pools and short walk to Turtle Bay beaches; reserved parking; nice mix of live-in owners and renters. Cons: Too far from everything; restaurants at Turtle Bay are very expensive so best option was to drive to Haleiwa for meals or carryout.

lcuy
I agree with your comments regarding LA213
I find it concerning that LA213 apparently hasn't posted on Fodors before April 2009 and suddenly has nothing to say but a specific complaint about one hotel.

I love visiting the heiau- to me it is a very spiritual place and so amazing to visualize what actually went on there back in the days of Hawaiian royalty.

Oahu is also one of my favorite places - I lived there for 4 years and have many happy memories .
Can you believe when I lived there, we could go to Haunauma Bay and we might be the only people there- back in the 60's.

One of my other favorites is Bellows beach - husband was in the military and we could stay in the cabins for $5/nt

Nice report- wish I was there now

We leave Friday! (elkhound, I've got your original list and this one printed....thanks for the report. Sounds like a great trip).

LOL. I'll comp you the presidential suite if you'll bring me some of that fried chicken from Pono Market.

Great trip report and I agree with curiousgeo that it's funny how visitors here do and see so much more than I do as a resident.

In fact, I had never heard of Uncle's Fishmarket and after reading your trip report I looked up their website. It looked really good and I told my sister that we've got to try them for lunch one day.

As for Ohua2008/LA213/Milan/name of the day - jeez, give it up already. Telling your story once was ok, but now you're looking rather irrational.

chepar: When you go to Uncle's, get there early. We got there about 11:15 and by the time we finished eating lunch the place was full and a line out the door waiting to get in.

elkhound - good info to know about getting there early - and it looks like you were there on a weekday, which is probably when we would try to go (short drive from work in downtown).

lol.........elkhound, I'm so glad you had a good time and glad you gave insight to a new place for my friend chepar!

PV, give it up buddy..........

Reporting from Oahu!! Sunny and beautiful (although the weather was iffier near the airport, we're staying way west, at the Marriott Ko Olina). Ran into acquaintances from home as soon as we hit the pool. Next up: beach walk.

(elkhound, we haven't decided yet which of your restaurant suggestions is first up LOL!)

It is so true. Skipping Oahu is a terrible mistake in my opinion. So much to see and do there. Granted the other islands are beautiful and Honolulu is much like cities on the mainland, but there is much more on the island! We're returning in July. Woohoo!