Back from a 2 week trip to Hawaii. It is definitely a special place with so much to see and do despite its small size. We spent the fist 3 1/2 days on Oahu. My big mistake was staying in downtown Honolulu. It was nice being able to see Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach from or hotel, but the traffic and parking were a pain, especially when we arrived at 8 on a Saturday night. The first day we did a coastal drive around the southwestern part of the Island. Highlights include the Makapu’u Lighthouse hike, Kailua Beach Park, the Byodo-In Temple, and the Manoa Falls waterfall hike where we saw our first of many mongooses.

Day 2 we visited Pearl Harbor inlcuding the USS Missouri Battleship and the USS Bowfin Submarine. In the evening we attended the Paradise Cove Luau.

Day 3 We headed up to the north shore area and started with the Ka’ena Point hike. Here we saw endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals and Laysan ALbatrosses including some young ones. After leaving here we drove to Laniakea Beach (aka Turtle Beach). We watched some Green Sea Turtles swimming up to the beach and munching on algae on the rocks. We stopped at the Dole Plantation on the way back but the only highlight from there was the Dole whips. That evening I went out by myself to Tantalus lookout and captured some cool views of Honolulu and Diamond Head as night approached.

On our last morning on Oahu we hiked Diamond Head Crater. The hike was not too difficult and had great view of the water and city as expected. Afterward we killed a little time in the picnic area and saw a bunch of mongooses and some new birds.