Hawaii: Oahu (Honolulu)

Evan and Jaden both blogged about their adventures in South Dakota, so I’ll take the opportunity the next several posts to share about Nathan’s and my adventures in Hawaii! First stop: Honolulu on the island of Oahu.

We arrived early afternoon and had 24 hours before we boarded our cruise ship—so we decided to make the most of it. Of course that meant immediate beach-time!! 

         Waikiki Beach                 Diamond Head in Background

It was Friday night on Waikiki Beach, so we were lucky to enjoy the sunset prior to watching the fireworks on the beach. 

The time change was in favor of adventurous travelers! We were up really early and ready to find our first trailhead: Manoa Falls. A cab drove us out of the Honolulu area and dropped us off at the start of the trail. We appeared to be the first on the trail that morning. I had read a little online about the trail, and the word ‘muddy’ was repeatedly stated…..at first I thought, nahhh this isn’t that bad……

Then as I was clinging to bamboo trees, I realized what everyone was talking about! There was a hose at the end to rinse our shoes off, but yes, I did leave my shoes in Hawaii!

Clearly, the mud was so worth the breathtaking view at the end: My first Hawaiian Waterfall! Manoa Falls cascades150 feet down to a crystal clear pool.

Near the waterfall was the barely visible trailhead to Aihualama Trail. At first I told Nathan to ‘oh just go ahead and I’ll wait for you here’……(Yes, these big rocks were the start of the trail!)

I was so glad I decided to follow. The trail was quite a fun adventure through Bamboo Forests and near amazing banyan trees. 

If we would have had all day, the trail does connect with miles of other trails, but we had to turn around and get back to the hotel, shower off all the mud, and make our way to the cruise ship! I had wanted to do 3 things in Hawaii: see a waterfall, hike through a bamboo forest, and lay on the beach. 24 hours later---mission completed!

To complete my Oahu pictures: Jump ahead 7 days-- When our ship ported in Honolulu on our final day, Nathan and I spent the hours before our flight left visiting Pear Harbor. Here are some photos of the sobering experience on the grounds of Pear Harbor’s memorials, museums and exhibits.