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Hey guys, I'm making my first trip to Hawaii this week! If you've been there and know some original things to do or must see places, drop a line! I'll be staying on Waikiki Beach in Oahu. Aloha:)
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » Travel
Suggestions for Hawaii...
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racheltb
clintonville
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I was lucky enough to go to Hawaii twice in 2003. The Big Island is definitely more my style, but here's what I liked at Oahu:
Hanauma Bay for snorkeling beach and whale watching
Bubbie's Mochi Ice cream (on the way to Hanauma)
Kona Brewing Co Restaurant - great beer and yummy food
Jamba Juice - not native to hawaii but delicious real juices and smoothies that we can't get here
skip the luau - at least in our case, even at $100/ticket, the food was not great, drinks were terribly watered down, people were packed in and entertainment hokey.
I think you have to go looking for a bad trip to Hawaii so pretty much anything you do will likely be fun and guaranteed more beautiful than here.
Posted 2 years ago # -
robertfoshizzle
Eastland
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Ah, Jamba Juice is so good.
I recommend renting a moped at some point and riding around Honolulu and Waikiki. Beautiful views to be had, and it was a really fun experience wheeling around the city on a moped!
Make sure you check out some local beaches instead of just hanging out at Waikiki. Mokapuu is absolutely beautiful, although very dangerous at times if you aren't a good swimmer. Some of the roughest surf there, but lots of fun.
Basically just make sure you check out as much of the island as you can instead of just limiting yourself to the downtown area. The Dole Plantation is kind of neat, and is free to visit if I recall. Not near worth planning your day around, but worth a visit if you are in the area. North Shore was kind of cool... ate at a really good restaurant there. Bad traffic from what I recall though.
Posted 2 years ago # -
CMH Gourmand
(King of) the (Clinton)ville
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Posted 2 years ago # -
NerosNeptune
Goodale Park
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If you like history type things you might want to look in to visiting the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor. I wanted to do that, but was only on Oahu for a day before flying to the Big Island.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Mercurius
First Avenue
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Puddle jumpers going to the other islands are reasonable. I'd really go to Kauai and hike the Kalalau Trail along the NÄ Pali Coast. This is where the Jurassic Park helicopter scene was filmed and should be interesting people camping on the beach at the end. If you've never gone Scuba Diving, there is something called a resort course that will allow you to do some diving. Really great water and some cool ship wrecks. I did a lava tube dive with some reef sharks that blew my mind.
Maui is really beautiful and there I'd recommend Mama's Fish House, The Road to Hana and cliff jumping the Seven Sacred Falls. Eat some weird fruit from road side stands.
Generally, Maui and Oahu are much more developed than Kauai and the Big Island. I'm a bit of a misanthrope, so I really liked those more but if you are more looking for good food and resorts, Oahu is best.
Posted 2 years ago # -
kkaiser
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On Oahu, I would recommend renting a car. I stayed in Waikiki too but without renting a vehicle, we would have never seen the entire island. You should check out both the Hau'ula Trail and Papa'iloa Beach (where the survivor's camp in LOST is filmed). We actually stumbled upon Papa'iloa Beach without having any idea what LOST was, then realizing after we were back in Ohio that we had photos with the camp visible in the distance haha.
Dunno what it's like now but the west side of the island was fascinating 2 years ago because along the coast there were a ton of homeless shanty towns, the result of people falling victim to foreclosures in the wake of the real estate bust. It was also really desolate in places and reminded me of Westland Mall.
There are some really good restaurants in Waikiki but it's really just a tourist trap for Japanese to buy LV bags for cheaper than they can get them at home. By the time you walk down to the fifth Coach store you'll be clamoring for your car to gtfo and head north.
Hanauma Bay is overrated because most of the coral and sea life has long since died due to overexposure to humans. You need to find places off the beaten path to find decent snorkeling.
The Waikiki Zoo and Aquarium are surprisingly less spectacular than I was expecting but still worth a visit.
Last but not least, I'd recommend not spending any time in hotel pools. You're on a beautiful island in the middle of the ocean. Go swim in it.
Posted 2 years ago # -
shroud
Polaris
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We weren't able to leave Oahu when we were there but did manage to do as much as we could on that island. Renting a car & driving to the North Shore were indeed good - I think they said driving around the whole outside of the island would only take three hours, so if you want a driving tour, there you go.
I'll second the recommendations for the Arizona memorial and the Dole Plantation, and also agree what the Waikiki Aquarium wasn't that spectacular (Newport Aquarium is a lot more impressive IMO).
Depending on what you're into, I'd also recommend hiking up Diamond Head while you're there - it's a nice view of the island, and seeing the old gun emplacements was pretty cool.
For a more touristy spin, the Polynesian Cultural Center had some cool things to see & do, and a really cool show (including dancing with the fire knives) but despite that, overall I'm not really sure it's worth the admission - just a bit too pricy.
Posted 2 years ago #
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