Trip report Waikiki/North Shore

Background: We are a family of five-kids are 12,10 and 7. We love the outdoors and most of all, the ocean, since we see so little of it here in the Pacific Northwest. We were so excited to learn of Alaska Airlines starting service to Oahu and jumped on their introductory rate to the island last year. Thank you Alaska Air! Next I found the forum at Trip Advisor and have had fun lurking and reading all the posts. Great advice from Dusty, Rob, Boeing Dad, and all the others. Thank you posters!

Thursday 4/3: Arrived early with Alaska in Honolulu at 11:15am. Lovely sunny morning with light breeze. Paradise : ) Picked up rental car from Dollar *tip*the car rental pick up is walking distance from airport. We waited 25 minutes for Dollar shuttle-only to find out that Hertz was right next door to Dollar and we saw at least 5 Hertz shuttle go by while we waited. Oh well. Next stop was Costco-had to get some sunscreen, Hawaiian shirts etc. and a cheap lunch. Love Costco! We then drove into Waikiki to check into to our hotel. After much deliberation we chose Embassy Suites-hard choice since there are so many great places to choose from. Nice place, they let us check in early. Our room was on the 17th floor overlooking the city out towards Diamond Head. Quickly changed and off to the beach. Found a great little spot in front of the Halekulani-kids loved it! The surf flowed in then hit off the beachfront wall creating a kind of swirl. Kids were bodysurfing in every which way. Huge smiles all around. Back to hotel to clean up and off to the free Happy Hour. Would love to say we ate at the Shorebird that night but kids were exhausted so we ate pancakes at Denny’s.

Friday: Up early-no surprise. Yummy free breakfast at the hotel then off to Pearl Harbor. Kids did *NOT* want to go. Everyday we were there the first words spoken were “beach”. Mom prevailed though ☺ Traffic was heavy so we didn’t get there until 8:15am. No line-walked right in, got a ticket for the 9:15 show. We purchased the audio tour and did that while we waited. This is a must. Kids loved it and really got into it–even the 7yo who was the most upset about going. Very moving and important part of our history. Next up was the beach, of course. I wanted the kids to take surf lessons-but they only wanted to go back to that little beach. Go figure. Got cleaned up and ate an early dinner at Duke’s (on the rail) All I can say is “wow” great spot, great entertainment, great vibe. Fun times for sure. Back to hotel for evening swim and watched fireworks from the pool deck. Great day!

Saturday: Checked out, picked up MIL from airport then went over to our friend’s house who moved to Oahu (lucky ducks) They bbq’d teriyaki spareribs for us at their beachspot-Kahala Beach Park. Great spot-pretty beach. The spareribs were weird-nothing like I had seen before-BUT very tasty. Aloha. Drove up to the North Shore to check in at the Turtle Bay Resort Ocean Villas. Wow—all I can say is that we hit the jackpot. This place was perfect! Stocked with all beach equipment-no need to rent anything.

Sunday: Snorkeled at Kulima Cove-right outside our villa. Saw schools of fish and my 12 yo spotted a turtle. Very exciting! Went to lunch at Haleiwa Joes. Good spot-yummy Cajun Ahi sandwich and coconut shrimp. Next stop was Waimea Bay to Boogie Board. Mother Nature had other idea’s as the waves were huge. HUGE! And a shallow break so we watched for awhile and gave up to go back to TB. I had an inside tip that sweet corn was in season so we bought some steaks from Foodland, corn from a roadside stand and Chocolate Haupia pie from Ted’s. Grilled the corn and steaks and had a feast Hawaiian style. Fantastic. And the pie? So very very good-just like everyone says-only better.

Monday: AM off to the Health Clinic as my 12yo took in half the ocean in his head and it stayed there. Lucky they could see us and got some eardrops. We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center this day. Again, the kids did NOT want to go. Mom once again prevailed. I had bought the package with a tour guide and preferred seats to the Horizons show. We loved the PCC!—too many things to list. Our tour guide was excellent getting us good shady seats wherever went. My 12yo boy even took part in the Hula lessons-don’t tell anyone though- I promised not to tell. The only downside was that it was an extremely long day for our family. It was an extremely humid, sunny day with little wind. By the time the Horizons Show started kids were done. We had awesome seats and still enjoyed it—but it would have been better had we not been so wiped out. Wish there was a shorter tour option that still got you great seats to the show. Oh well, still worth it. And kids are still talking about it.

Tuesday/Wednesday-more beach, more snorkeling, more pie. We LOVE the North Shore and its rural flair. The beaches are awesome-can’t say this enough. Hubby even saw a humpback whale breach off Sunset Beach. Our final night we had a memorable dinner at Ola’s on the beach next to the Villas. Yummy food, great spot and a real treat for us.

Thursday 4/10: packed up for home, no traffic, no problems and another on-time comfortable flight on Alaska Air.

We loved every minute of our vacation and thanks to you all for the posts. It was fun lurking and planning our vacation. Good times!! ☺

Trip report Waikiki/North Shore

Nice trip report.

Trip report Waikiki/North Shore

Thanks Dusty--really (!) your advice was so helpful. I don%26#39;t think I would have gone to the US Arizona in the early morning to avoid the crowds. And I know I wouldn%26#39;t have gone to the Polynesian Cultural Center if not for your unwavering support of the place. The show was spectacular! I know there is still much on your beautiful island that we didn%26#39;t see but our kids aren%26#39;t big on driving around. My husband and MIL were so surprised that I knew as much as I did, we always had options. Thank you.

Hi dirtcorpsdiva,

Loved your Trip Report!

What time did you leave your hotel for Pearl Harbor?

Did you tour only the USS Arizona or did you also see the USS Missouri and Bowfin?

Glad you had a good time.

Welcome home.

I can%26#39;t remember the exact time we left the hotel. I know it took longer that I liked getting us ready. My family couldn%26#39;t figure out what my rush was about-my husband thought I was a nut. And Friday morning rush hour didn%26#39;t help. I would say it took us 30-40 minutes to get there-most of the time waiting to merge onto the freeway. Couldn%26#39;t believe our good luck when I saw there was no line and parking lot half empty--hubby was still scratching his head--what line? he wanted to know. (the line trip advisor told me to avoid-ha) We did not tour the Bowfin or the Missouri--kids enjoyed the tour immensely--but time was up when we finished and it was beach time. FYI--no purses are allowed and no big camera bags. Plus, there was a mock-up display on how they are going to be starting construction this summer to make it bigger and even nicer.

Loved your trip report! Sounds like you have a great time. Hope you took lots of pictures!

Great trip report, the North Shore sounds amazing!

Loved your report (you have a great, subtle sense of humor in your writing...GO MOM!! We DO know best!) Now I wish we were spending more time on the North Shore because it sounds great. We are planning to go to Pearl Harbor on Friday morning (May 9)so I hope we get the same half empty parking lot!

Thanks, dirtcorpsdivam for the information! Hubby and I are looking forward to seeing the USS Arizona again and to see our 12-year-old son tour it for the first time. I was pleased that your children enjoyed it too.

Very much enjoyed your report! The North Shore is also very special to us. We love it. I’m so glad that all the advice you received was helpful. Sounds like you’ll be back….

Thanks for the kind comments--we really did have fun! I just wanted to add a few things since we had never been to the North Shore before. The school that everyone mentions to mark where the pipeline beach is.....the exact same school from Blue Crush. I had imagined that there was a big highway/freeway through the NS and the school was a typical big box school with big parking lot like we have here on the mainland. Boy was I ever wrong. Ha! I never imagined it could still be so rural AND green. Not sure how they have kept the developers out but good for them! Now I need to rent that movie and watch it again. Turtle Bay Villas are terrific, ours was a 3bdrm and slept 10. You could easily split it with another family. We did not rent it through Turtle Bay Resort so we got it at less than half of what they charge. We couldn%26#39;t use the main pool but the Villa pool was more than adequate for what we needed. There were several families there that were traveling together and looked like they were having a ball. Next-the nurse in Kahauku recommended a place for breakfast called Papa Ole%26#39;s just past Laie. Ok-I never would have stopped at this place, it%26#39;s in a strip mall next to a Dominos. But, we would have really missed out. This place is awesome. I had a veggie omelet-totally fresh ($8) and my son had macadamia nut pancakes that came served with a big scoop of ice cream ($5) I do not like pancakes--at all. These were so yummy-crisp and such great flavor. Yum.

If we are lucky enough to come back to Hawaii it will be difficult for us not to come back to Turtle Bay and the North Shore. I know we should go to Maui-where EVERYONE goes or Kaui but for what my family likes to do..boogie boarding, snorkeling, it would be hard not to come back. The secret of the North Shore is not safe with me. Ha!