Actually, not so pipeline-y this time of year 😎. For the next part of our Hawaii trip, we’re based in a rental that was only one house away from the beach (woo hoo!) in a part of the North Shore known for its big waves…..every October to April! (lol - see completely summer placid Waimea Bay below).
Our location really could not be beat, we are an easy walk from (1) Waimea Bay, (2) Shark’s Cove, (3) the Banzai Pipeline, (4) Ted’s Bakery, (5) many amazing food trucks and much more. It’s so beautiful here, it defies description - see more pretty landscape photos in the gallery .
In between enjoying the local beaches, we went to a wonderful Luau (more on that here, it deserved its own post!) and spent a day at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu (because how could we not).
Waikiki report:
Parking there is insane - definitely needed to do some research in advance, with a backup plan to park at one of the hotels if we struck out (expensive). Both of the places we were planning to park were a bust, but luckily we randomly found a mall that had spots available for a reasonable price.
We started our Waikiki adventure with lunch at the original Dukes - the Canoe Club - yummy, with a view and, of course, Mai Tais (see the restaurants with views gallery). Lots of wandering and enjoying the views - one of our favorites was this breakwater. If you waited for a good wave or two, the spray shot up pretty high and created this effect:
We ended the day at the famous Beach Bar at the historic Moana Surfrider Hotel, which opened in 1901 and has an enormous, beautiful Banyan tree in the bar. The middle photo is the view of the beach from the bar.
This Indian Banyan tree was originally planted here in 1904 by Jared Smith - it was seven feet tall at the time. It’s now 75 feet tall and 150 feet wide. Because the tree is protected under state law as one of Hawaii’s first Rare and Exceptional Trees, a permit is required for
its annual trimming.
Blasphemy!
I wrote in my first Hawaii post about enjoying the shaved ice from Matsumoto’s - considered the best shaved ice on the island by everyone we know and everything we’ve read. However…..we just tried the shaved ice at the General Store in the North Shore Market Place (in Halaeiwa). And, I have to admit, I liked it MUCH better (blasphemy!). They had a big sign explaining why theirs is better - they make the ice fresh every day, a better ice shaving machine, fresh flavors, etc.
Mine was cherry and pineapple. I was sold!
Shark’s Cove
One of the best/easiest snorkeling locations on the North Shore is Shark’s Cove - again, just a five minutes walk from where we were staying. It looks like a crater, but really pretty. See photos below.
#1 - for Amir (#IYKYK)
#2 - walking with the fishies
#3 - caves in shark’s cove! (I did not see any actual sharks, but presumably the white-tipped reef sharks for whom the area is named were afraid of me and hid in the caves. Note that these sharks are normally around 7 ft long, and the notes I found were “won’t bother you unless you provoke them,” but there were no notes on how NOT to provoke them.)
#4 - if you expand the photo, you will see a large school of fishies. I was very surprised they were hanging out so close to people, screaming children and lots of sun screen leaking off us.
#5 - yours truly
#6 - one of the pretty fishies. This is a convict tang, named for its striping.
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