Today was the north half of the island, including the famed North Shore. We got a little earlier start today but things looked kind of dreary right off the bat. They had been talking about how the winds were bringing a haze to the other islands due to the eruptions on the Big Island and the ash that was being created. They called it Vog.
Our first stop was at Kualoa Beach to get some quick pictures of the Chinaman’s Hat. This is a small island off shore that looks like, you guessed it, a hat. The next beach was interesting because we found some more sea glass and there was a lot of interesting things washed on to the shore. We saw coral, rocks, algae, etc.
Next was Bathtub beach, just north of La’ie Beach Park. This was really cool because after a peaceful walk from the parking lot along the beach, there was a sea break that was knocking down all of the waves and left perfectly calm water to shore. Along the lava rock shore, we saw crabs and lots of little fish. We wished we had brought snorkel gear with us because it would have been interesting to continue following the shore further past the lava rocks. But since we both were in sandals, we couldn’t scramble across the rocks and further. La’ie Point and Goat Island were next and while interesting, they weren’t extraordinary.
We were going to stop along the Banzai Pipeline, the famed surfing area, but even though the south shore was getting some great waves, but nothing big was happening here. So, we continued on to Shark’s Cove and the tide pool. We decided to wade into the tide pool and I threw on a mask and snorkel to get a better view of things. It was super calm and we got to see some small fish. A couple of butterfly fish and a spotted puffer fish were the highlights.
Next was Papa’iloa Beach, which was used for some “LOST” filming but was our first opportunity to see sea turtles. They were playing in the surf near the water’s edge. They would come close to swimming out of the water and then would jet back into the waves. It really was like the movie “Finding Nemo” where the turtles are just chilling riding the waves. We got some attempted pictures (some turtles, some rocks mistaken for turtles) before we got tired of the other people on the beach.
We stopped for shave ice at Aoki’s in Hale’iwa. Pretty tasty tropical flavors and not too bad a price. The lady asked if we wanted ice cream in our shave ice. I think must have looked at her like she had two heads... personally, ice cream does NOT belong in shave ice. The final beach on our trek was to Kealia Beach (sort of). Just past Mokule'ia Beach Park , this beach is where the crash site was located from Season 1. We used the “Oahu Revealed” guidebook and got to this beach used for “LOST” filming and it was beautiful. We were the only ones there and it looked exactly like LOST. We even got to see a couple of turtles, but they never got out of the water.
On our way back home we stopped at the Dole Plantation for the explicit purpose of getting pineapple knifes for the family. It turns out that they didn’t have any, but that we could order them online. If we wanted to order them online, we wouldn’t have stopped at the store. But, we did get a turtle Christmas ornament from a local artist and then some pineapple soft serve, so it wasn’t a complete loss. I ordered the knives online, out of stock there too....still waiting!
Dinner at Tiki’s in Waikiki. Not bad, but not great. We felt that everything was kind of heavy and fried. I had mahi mahi and Shawnna had beef tenderloin medallions. Home and bed, ready for an early morning at Pearl Harbor tomorrow.
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