Staying in Waikiki is the most popular destination for tourists to O’ahu and it is easy to see why. The beautiful beach is one of the main attractions and a great place to swim, surf, standup paddle-board, play volleyball and relax in the sun. There are hundreds of restaurants, bars and shops along the main streets that make it easy to spend a lot of time (and money) here. One of our favourite restaurants was Marukame Udon and Tempura where the noodles are fresh and the food is cheap. Don’t let the line put you off, it moves quickly and means that a lot of other people think it’s awesome as well.
After a couple of days in Waikiki, we were keen to check out what else O’ahu had to offer. If you want to see the whole island but don’t want to be at the mercy of the bus timetable, the best way to see O’ahu is hire a car. I would recommend choosing one of the bigger name brands to rent a car from (we found Enterprise to be one of the cheaper ones in Hawaii) instead of the small ones that can be found around Waikiki beach. We didn’t research this enough and went with VIP Car Rentals, who I would not recommend.
Originally Xave didn’t get a good feeling from the guy running it and the cars looked dirty and beat up. Not wanting to waste anymore time hunting for a car rental place, we ignored our gut feeling and went with them anyway. I think we got ripped off ($78 USD incl. insurance) and half way to Pearl Harbour the car started making a weird banging noise and the dashboard kept flashing up with messages about the car needing an oil change and engine check. Although I didn’t think they would give our money back or replace the car we decide to turn around and try our luck at taking it back. Thankfully there were lots of people in the car yard and although they said the banging was fine it was just the A/C (they should have told us to begin with) I don’t think they wanted to make a scene. They quickly and quietly replaced our car with a much newer one, that we felt a lot more comfortable with and we were back on the road again in no time. Scarred by our previous attempt towards Pearl Harbour, we decided to travel south-east in the opposite direction.
Our first stop was Hanauma Bay for some snorkelling and a cool down. This gorgeous bay with turquoise water is formed in a volcanic crater, which was created approx. 32,000 years ago. For us to park our car it was $1 USD, and as the bay is part of a nature reserve it cost $7 USD to get down to the beach. We were starving when we arrived so decided to check out the kiosk, unfortunately the food is over-priced and very average. Before we were allowed to go down to the beach we had to sit through a 10min presentation (I have never had to do this before going to a beach) about how everyone can help preserve the already quite damaged area. Once on the beach, we hired snorkel gear for $12 USD per set. The snorkelling was ok we got to see a turtle which is always a highlight.
After our swim, we jumped back in the car and continued on our journey around the island passing Koko Crater, Waimanalo Bay, Kane’ohe Bay and all along the Windward Coast. By the side of the road they have a number of shrimp BBQs set up so people can enjoy the local favourite. We drove on until we reached the North Shore. Xave being an avid surfer really wanted to see Pipeline, one of the locations in the ASP tour. The signage isn’t great for the North Shore beaches (Sunset, Banzai Pipeline and Waimea), we actually drove past Sunset and didn’t even realise we were looking at it.
To find Pipeline we had to ask a local which beach it was. We knew we were visiting it in the off-season (summer) but assumed like in Australia that there are some sort of waves all year round. When we got there, it was completely flat. There was not a single wave in sight, it looked like a very still lake. After seeing this, it is so hard to imagine the beach in winter, when the waves can reach over 20 ft (6m). Nonetheless, Xave was happy we visited so that now when he watches the tour he can say he’s been there. It also gives us another reason to come back to Hawaii in winter to see it when the waves are really firing.
TIP: If you do decide to surf at Waikiki, it’s cheaper to hire boards a couple of streets back rather than on the beach.
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