Some notes from our recent trip to Oahu. Part work, part vacation:
HOTEL/LODGING:
1st few days were at Sheraton Waikiki - very nice hotel. Great central location, great view. Crowded, expensive. Want internet in your room (wired)? $15/day. Want to park your car in the Sheraton parking garage? $25/day. Money aside, if you want to be on the beach in Waikiki, it's a super place.
2nd part of trip, we moved out to Kailua to check out that part of the island and escape the madness that is Waikiki. Kailua was nice - suburban feel, not too busy, slower pace, quieter. Had a VRBO rental studio about 4 blocks from the beach. Cheap, clean, central location. Weather was windy, so Lanikai and Kailua beaches were choppy and windy - not the idyllic kayak paddling spot that it is known for.
DIVING:
Did 6 dives with Kaimana Divers / Gabe Scotti / scottitheduck. Gabe is "on it" when it comes to communication, and coordination. Email, text, phone... he was in touch. When I called him about my wife's prescription mask we forgot, he responded within minutes and picked it up at the dock for us. Nice.
We got to see 3 separate parts of the island on our 6 dives, and that's exactly what we were looking for. Nice pre-dive planning and attention during the dives. He also gave us some leeway to do what we wanted and try and max our bottom time. He also spotted a huge frogfish, so that's a nice bonus. Now, if he'd just stop whining about his new forearm ink, that'd be just ducky.
Dive sites were:
- YO257 / San Pedro wreck - quite a few turtles
- Kewalo pipe - nice long dive with macro photo ops
- China Wall / Spitting caves wall - turtles again, octopus, nice, varied landscaping
- Koko crater - big turtles
- Mahi wreck - spotted eagle rays, frogfish
- Makaha caverns - turtles, swim-throughs, long dive
Water temps were warm - maybe high 70s? We were comfortable in shorties.
FOOD:
- sushi at Sansei was excellent
- Roy's had some great Opah, etc.
- Rainbow Drive In - great plate lunches - Loco Moco, etc. Gotta go here!
- Teddy's burgers in Kailua - great burgers
- Side Street Inn - huge portions, very good value, too much food. Pork chops, prime rib, fried rice were all excellent.
OTHER:
- stand up paddle boarding was fun. I donated a pair of Native $100 sunglasses to King Neptune, however.
- surfing waikiki - despite my wife showing me up like Kelly Slater, we had fun
- catamaran sail was decent
- hiking Diamond Head was well worth the effort (beat our record round trip time of 42 minutes if you can!)
- we managed to hit only local joints for food, drink, with the exception of one stop at Starbucks.
PICTURES:
Thanks to all of you on this board that helped with our vacation planning!
HOTEL/LODGING:
1st few days were at Sheraton Waikiki - very nice hotel. Great central location, great view. Crowded, expensive. Want internet in your room (wired)? $15/day. Want to park your car in the Sheraton parking garage? $25/day. Money aside, if you want to be on the beach in Waikiki, it's a super place.
2nd part of trip, we moved out to Kailua to check out that part of the island and escape the madness that is Waikiki. Kailua was nice - suburban feel, not too busy, slower pace, quieter. Had a VRBO rental studio about 4 blocks from the beach. Cheap, clean, central location. Weather was windy, so Lanikai and Kailua beaches were choppy and windy - not the idyllic kayak paddling spot that it is known for.
DIVING:
Did 6 dives with Kaimana Divers / Gabe Scotti / scottitheduck. Gabe is "on it" when it comes to communication, and coordination. Email, text, phone... he was in touch. When I called him about my wife's prescription mask we forgot, he responded within minutes and picked it up at the dock for us. Nice.
We got to see 3 separate parts of the island on our 6 dives, and that's exactly what we were looking for. Nice pre-dive planning and attention during the dives. He also gave us some leeway to do what we wanted and try and max our bottom time. He also spotted a huge frogfish, so that's a nice bonus. Now, if he'd just stop whining about his new forearm ink, that'd be just ducky.
Dive sites were:
- YO257 / San Pedro wreck - quite a few turtles
- Kewalo pipe - nice long dive with macro photo ops
- China Wall / Spitting caves wall - turtles again, octopus, nice, varied landscaping
- Koko crater - big turtles
- Mahi wreck - spotted eagle rays, frogfish
- Makaha caverns - turtles, swim-throughs, long dive
Water temps were warm - maybe high 70s? We were comfortable in shorties.
FOOD:
- sushi at Sansei was excellent
- Roy's had some great Opah, etc.
- Rainbow Drive In - great plate lunches - Loco Moco, etc. Gotta go here!
- Teddy's burgers in Kailua - great burgers
- Side Street Inn - huge portions, very good value, too much food. Pork chops, prime rib, fried rice were all excellent.
OTHER:
- stand up paddle boarding was fun. I donated a pair of Native $100 sunglasses to King Neptune, however.
- surfing waikiki - despite my wife showing me up like Kelly Slater, we had fun
- catamaran sail was decent
- hiking Diamond Head was well worth the effort (beat our record round trip time of 42 minutes if you can!)
- we managed to hit only local joints for food, drink, with the exception of one stop at Starbucks.
PICTURES:
Thanks to all of you on this board that helped with our vacation planning!
