This is the first time that I have visited Oahu.  I have been to Hawaii twice before and visited Maui, the Big Island, and Kauai.  I was told that Oahu was basically like a city, which made me nervous to visit because I prefer the nature aspects of the other islands I have visited.  

We landed at 4:15pm, which felt like 10pm to us.  We stopped at a grocery store and then headed to our hotel on Waikiki Beach.  Our room was on the 37 floor and had a fabulous view of Diamond Head and the beach itself.  It is lovely to sit out on the balcony and watch all the surfers and beach goers.  

We went to bed early and woke up early.  Since we are Globalists, we have access to the Regency Club and it serves food from 6am to 9pm (it varies throughout the day what kind).  The breakfast is sufficient, but not vast.  We grabbed a quick bite and headed out.  Our plan for the day was to drive around the island.  

We were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the island.  It was not just one big city as I had been told.  There were beautiful mountains, beaches, and landscapes to behold.  

Our first stop was at China Walls.  It is at the end of a cul du sac and you are not supposed to park there, but you can park on the streets near it.  You climb down the rocks to a flat rock space with a beautiful view.  We only stayed a few moments to take pictures.  There was no one else there. 

We continued to drive along the Kalaniana Highway, stopping at various view points to take pictures.  It was a perfect day for it. Some places were mobbed with tour buses and cars and others were shockingly empty.  Lana’i Lookout was pretty empty, but the Halona Blowhole Lookout had a ton of buses. We also stopped at some random beaches just to get a picture of an island or the sand line. 

Kahauloa Cove

Wawamalu Beach

Halona Blowhole

Makapu’u Lookout

Kalona Beach Park

Nu’uanu Pali Lookout has plenty of parking spaces that you need to pay to park, which I didn’t really understand because you were just walking out to an overlook. There may have been a trail further down, but it was not well marked as such.  Walking out to take a picture was like walking into a hurricane.  The winds were so high that I was staggering a bit.  I had on a T-shirt and was freezing by the time I got to the lookout area.  Of course there were people there in bathing suits.  I couldn’t believe it. 

Our stop at Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden was long enough to take a walk down to the lake.  It was not very exciting.  I enjoyed being in nature though. We saw a cacoa tree and this cool pepper looking tree, but once we got to the lake it looked just like any lake anywhere.  

We really wanted to take a picture of this mountain and it turns out it was a part of Kuala Ranch. Apparently this is where they film a lot of movies. There was a big park there and a recently married couple were taking pictures there.  We said congratulations.  What a great back drop for wedding pictures.  I loved the island too. 

Kukuihoolua Island was very picturesque.  On the way out, I read a sign that said there were a lot of unexplored mines in that area and what to do if you found one!  Creepy!

I really wanted a fruit smoothie so we stopped at this old sugar mill that has all these different food trucks.  We ordered a strawberry mango smoothie, but when we got it it tasted like banana to me.  I wanted to make sure I was not crazy, so I went and asked and she said she made a mistake and asked if I wanted to make the strawberry mango.  I said yes.  It was so much better, but luckily my husband liked the banana one, so we each got our own. 

After we drove up this very windy road to the ruins of an important sacred temple.  It was halfway up the mountain.  

We noticed three sea turtles on this beach, but there was nowhere to park, so my husband jumped out to take some pictures.  I love turtles so much. 

Our last stop was at the Old Sugar Mill Brand Waialua Coffee.  We got an iced coffee and requested a tour of the coffee and cacoa farm.  The woman showed us different cacoa trees and the areas in which they dried the beans.  I found it really interesting that they let them sit out and fruit flies eat the white stuff around the bean basically removing it for them.  It smelled like vinegar and the woman said that is the natural fermentation smell of the beans, when we got closer to another section with more beans, I could smell the chocolate smell stronger. After the tour, she had us sample the different types of coffee that they make as well as different strengths of chocolate.  We each got a bar of chocolate on the way out. I would have loved to buy some coffee, but it was quite expensive. 

We returned to the hotel and managed to get a lovely sunset picture.  It was a very busy day, but I was pleased to discover that Oahu was not just a city island.