Hawaii was such an awesome vacation destination in 2009. We had great weather which is usually to be expected in the South Pacific. The breeze from the beach while sitting under an umbrella table at the outside bar of the Hilton at Waikiki beach was warm and the view was picturesque. I never wanted to leave yet all great vacations come to end when you know on your plane ticket there is a return date!!
We had a blast driving around the Island. We visited the old Dole Pineapple Plantation and the quaint and popular area of North shore. Our visit was in March and there were no extreme waves when we were there. I loved the area towns for their small town feel with a laid back atmosphere.
We wanted to go snorkeling while we were at Hanauma Bay but it was closed due to an influx of jellyfish. I was pretty happy that they had the forethought to close the beach even though we had stopped at Costco and bought all the gear! I had a childhood encounter with a very large man-of-war in the Gulf of Mexico that still haunts me to this day. If only the beach had been closed that day but that is a story for another day.
Our favorite place to dine was Jimmy Buffet's at the Beachcomber. The food was not only fantastic but the service was awesome. We also visited the Honolulu Surfing Museum that is located there too. It had such a rich history of surfing and you know that Hawaii is known for it! There is an extensive collection of surfboards and photo history. We loved it and we aren't even surfers!
Another highlight before we left the Island was to climb up to the top of the Diamond Head crater. I captured awesome photographs of the city on one side and the Diamond Head lighthouse on the other as shown above. To check out additional photographs of our trip visit my gallery at http://carol-eliassen.artistwebsites.com/
We can't wait to check out the other Islands one day but we know we will be back to Oʻahu again!
Happy Travels!
