A dream vacation to Oahu, Hawaii

My family just returned from an incredible ten day vacation on the island of Oahu, Hawaii! Eight of us (parents, brother and his wife and two teenage daughters, my husband and I) stayed in a vacation rental in Waimanalo - right on the beach!

Day One - Thursday

Yes, it is a long trip to get to Hawaii from Maine, but it was worth it and we'll do it again! We flew from Portland, Maine to Chicago (2.5 hours or so) then from Chicago to Honolulu (over 8 hours!). With a six hour time difference, we still had plenty of sunshine when we arrived. We headed straight to the house once we picked up our rental cars (a minivan and a fullsize car - splurge for a convertible when you go - the views are amazing and a convertible would be great!).

I was a little worried about staying in Waimanalo after reading some online posts. The government has set this town aside for the native Hawaiians and they don't necessarily welcome tourists. We didn't have a problem at all - everyone was very nice to us. There are only five "legal" rental homes in Waimanalo - we were in one of the legal ones. The Honolulu County has a listing of all legal rentals - those who have filed the proper paperwork with the County.

We went swimming in Waimanalo Bay as soon as we got there. The crystal clear turquoise water was just too hard to resist. There were good waves for boogie boarding, body surfing and swimming. A couple of days the trade winds were not around and the bay was as calm as could be. We went kayaking and snorkeling - it was beautiful! Our last day there had the roughest waters - and we sure had fun swimming that day! We all got in the water and played. It was an absolute blast!

Day two - Friday

We went grocery shopping at the Marine Base at Kaneohe on Friday morning to stock up. Great deals! Then back to the house to start in on MaiTai's and fun in the sun and water. Met the neighbors (Hi Jean, Kalei and Dorothy Ann!) and had a great time.

Day three - Saturday

We went to Honolulu to Bob's Dive Shop to rent snorkel gear for everyone (my husband and I brought our own) then headed north through central Oahu and up to the North Shore. We stopped at Waimea Falls nature park and Waimea Bay so my neice could jump off the jumping rock into the ocean, stopped at Sunset Beach to watch the surfers, Turtle Bay resort for some snorkeling, and a great little eatery on the side of the road - a van with writing all over it (white van with black writing) for yummy garlic and coconut shrimp. There's another famous shrimp van past that with colorful writing all over it called Giovanni's. Then we headed down the west coast past Chinamen's hat, and back down to Waimanalo. It was a great circle tour of the island. Every turn caused oohs and aahs - just beautiful!

Day four - Sunday

Back to Kaheohe base for Sunday brunch. OMG - it was awesome! Fresh poke salad was my favorite. There was a sushi chef, a pancake station, an omelet station, salads, fruit and chocolate, great pork, beef, potatoes, desserts. I think we each went up five times. Then back to the beach house for swimming and sun.

Day five - Monday

We went to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling. It was about 10-15 minutes away. Hanauma Bay is a nature preserve and is a huge tourist attraction. We read in a book that we should go early. We were there by 8am. We watched the required movie to learn about the park and the rules, then headed down the hill to the beach, which is in an old volcano crater open to the ocean on one side. The snorkeling was amazing! We saw tons of tropical fish and some turtles. Everyone went snorkeling while Mom sat on the beach and watched all of our stuff. It started getting crowded around 9:30 - I think we left around 10:00 and went back to the house.

After showering and changing, we went to Waikiki which was about a half hour away. Walked on the beach, had a drink at Margaritaville, did some shopping, another drink at Duke's (great restaurant/bar right on the beach!), more shopping, then off to find some sushi for dinner. I don't know the name of the place where we ate, but it was in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center right on the main drag through Waikiki. It was the BEST sushi I've ever had!!!

Day six - Tuesday

Hmmm... what did we do on Tuesday? I can't remember (that was almost two weeks ago now) Maybe we stayed at the beach house all day and played in the water.

Day seven - Wednesday

We went to Germaine's Luau over on the west coast which was great! Get a cup in the gift shop and they'll fill it instead of the much smaller plastic cups that everyone else gets. Each attendee gets three drink tickets. The hula and tahitian dancers were great. The food was pretty good, too.

Before the luau we walked around on the lava rocks at the beach next door and played around with the fish and crabs in the tidal pools. It was pretty cool.

After the luau, the four 40-somethings headed out to Waikiki to have a few drinks and check out the nightlife. Back to the house by midnight. It was hard to stay up too late as we were still getting used to the time change.

I think this was the day when the wind was so calm. We did a lot of swimming and my husband and brother did some snorkeling way out in the bay while my neice and I stayed nearby in the kayaks. A lady named Love was out there standing on her surfboard using a kayak paddle to get around (this is a popular activity there). She took pictures of my husband and me in the kayaks and e-mailed the pics to me.

Day eight - Thursday

My husband's birthday! His friends call him Buzzy so we went to Buzz's Steakhouse in Lanikai for dinner. Wow, it was amazing! Try the calimari steak appetizer. If you like rum (a lot), order a BFRD. It's not on the menu, but we were told about it. My husband ordered two - which is the limit - they won't serve anyone more than two. BFRD = Big Freakin' Rum Drink.

That morning, my husband and I went back to Hanauma Bay for awhile and went further out past the reef. I liked that a lot better than inside the reef! The water is deeper (around 20 feet where we were) but it's crystal clear so you can see perfectly. I liked being able to be above the coral and not swimming right over it (we never touched the coral - that would kill it - we were very careful about that).

The days are running together - I think this is the day that my brother's family and my Dad went to Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial.

Day nine - Friday

My husband and I headed to Lanikai Beach which was voted one of the most beautiful beaches in the world by Conde Nast and other travel magazines. We drove around Lanikai which has beautiful neighborhoods then parked on the street and went to the beach (all beaches in Hawaii are public and have paths to them if they aren't right next to the road). We brought our snorkel gear - and I'm sure glad we did! The water was really clear and you could see the coral heads everywhere. As soon as we got in and looked through our masks, we saw the natural beauty of it. We swam out quite a ways and were able to see huge coral heads loaded with fish. We saw another sea turtle. We loved Hanauma Bay, but this was almost as good - and not crowded. It was like our own private nature preserve. We loved it!

My brother's family went back to Waikiki so the girls could go parasailing and do a little more shopping.

Day ten - Saturday

We didn't have to leave for the airport until after noon and the waves were bigger than they'd been all week. The ocean beckoned us - and we all went in for a few hours. It was so much fun!

Headed to Honolulu to return the rental cars around 12:30 or so. Flight left at 4:20. Mom really liked the drink in the airport bar called the Tropical Itch which comes with a bamboo back scratcher in it.

Day eleven - Sunday

We landed in Chicago at 5:00am after an uncomfortable overnight flight with United Airlines on a very crowded plane. Pay the extra money to upgrade for more leg room. The lady across the aisle from us literally had to climb over her armrest to get out because the seat in front of her was so close.

We got back to Portland at 12:30 and were home by 2:00 or so. I missed Hawaii already! Slept all afternoon.