Since we were going to Truk Lagoon for Diving for diving, and we had to fly through Oahu, we figured it would make sense to spend a few days in Oahu, the only main Hawaii Island we hadn't seen so far.
Not to badmouth Oahu, it's still Hawaii and it isn't terrible :) but compared to the other 3 islands, it wasn't as nice and more industrial, especially in Waikiki. On the plus side, this also means it had some kick ass restaurants, which we sure went to visit :)
Sushi Sho
Chef Mavro
Senia
Maru Zushi
we then did 5 dives on 2 different days (on this separate page, and the rest of the time was used to visit the Island a bit:
The first day, we did morning dives and then stayed in the Waikiki area:
yeah, bring your phone and selfie stick to the infinity pool, makes sense...
diamonhead crater
I tried to surf a bit, but there were barely any waves, so I only got the chance to go up once
On the 2nd day, we spent the entire day in Pearl Harbour|/perso/trips/post_2018-11-27_Ohahu_s-Pearl-Harbour-Monument_-Museums_-and-Mighty-Missouri-Ship.html]
Our 3rd day, we did 3 morning dives, then checked out Oahu Sealife Park and spent the rest of the day checking out the East Coast and walked to a few viewpoints:
Our 4th day, we started with the Diamondhead hike, which turned out to already be pretty packed. The parking lot was full, but we were able to find a parking spot just outside the crater tunnel (yes, there is a tunnel through the volcano crater):
cars are in line waiting for parking spots to free up inside
hike up
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the top had stairs to where the artillery used to be
once at the top, nice view of course
Waikiki where we spent monday afternoon
Koko crater hike, didn't have time to do it that trip. Maybe next time.
lava tube with access to the ocean
we found a rare solitary monk seal, sunbathing
it didn't mind us too much thankfully
small arch, tall Jennifer :)
we then hiked up to Koko Arch
Once done with the blowhole, lava tube, and arch, I drove around to the other side of Koko crater and its small botanical garden
the viewsonic bird!
Then, we went to check out another coast access with a spitting cave you can hike to:
15mn hike around the coast
and here is the spitting cave
From there, I drove up to Lyon Arboretum, which sadly was more jungle than botanical garden in places and then the quick-ish 45mn hike to the MAnoa Falls:
We then had enough time to drive to Tantalus Lookout for sunset:
For our last day, we went to check out Waikiki Aquarium, and then spent 1h30 at the US Army Museum of Hawaii:
And last was Iolani Palace, the former Royal Palace:
With a quick drive by the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and the Japanese Garden in the airport:
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