Being Touristy with Emel – Day 1

Posted on March 10, 2013 by sandersnm

For our first day of Emel‘s vacation we planned an incredibly full day of fun! We started with the Kuli’ou’ou Ridge Trail hike. It was raining for a bit but turned out to be a pretty day, so the view at the top was definitely worth the hike up there. After that, we headed around the east side of the island where we saw TONS of whales. We captured a few pictures of the baby whales jumping out of the water (so incredibly cute as they didn’t make it very far out). There were also two swimming SO close to the shore…I was super happy she got to see them! We stopped and had the best fish tacos on the island and some veggie nachos at Surg’s and then headed to Bellows for some beach time. It was a beautiful day to hang out and relax after our hike! After that, we wandered around Kailua and got some frozen yogurt and toured the beautiful Lanikai houses and stopped at the famous beach, then headed back to Honolulu to get ready for a fun night out. We decided to head into Waikiki (so she could see all of the tourists) and had dinner with a few friends. Then we ventured to Duke’s for some of their famous Mai Tais. It was a jam-packed day and I’m SO excited she came to visit!!

Emel and I at the top of Kuli`ou`ou trail.

Josh and I at the top of Kuli`ou`ou trail.

Emel taking pictures of the beautiful windward coast.

All of us at the top of the trail.

The baby whale! It was so small (only a few tons). There were tons of them.

The two whales close to the shore. SO close!

Fish tacos and nachos. SO good!

Emel in the ocean at Bellows beach.

Mai Tais at Duke’s!

Emel and I at Duke’s enjoying our drinks.

All of us at Duke’s!

View of Honolulu from the Pali Highway

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I love how the ocean appears to be above the city. The picture doesn’t do it justice!

Pali Highway Tunnels

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I love driving on the Pali and going through these tunnels. The views on both sides coming out of the tunnels are incredible.

Old Pali Road to Likeke Falls Hike

Posted on February 27, 2013 by sandersnm

This past Saturday, Josh and I hiked the old Pali road to the Likeke waterfall. We started at the Pali Lookout and headed down the old Pali road (the Pali is now a major highway that takes you from Honolulu to Kaneohe). The hike was a little over three miles roundtrip…it was incredibly windy at the Pali lookout, so we jogged the first part down the road. We then came to a point in the trail where you can continue on to the Maunawili Trail or go left and climb under the current Pali Highway. To get to the waterfall we climbed down and under the highway and continued on through the woods. It was a super fun trail and a great workout as the entire way back up is uphill. The waterfall, while one of the smaller ones I have seen, was beautiful. There were also some great views along the way and at the falls. Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

A sign warning us of bees during high winds. It was incredibly windy…no bees though.

The view looking back towards the lookout.

A slightly different view than the Pali lookout.

Looking back up the road after we came down from the lookout.

Beware of falling rocks.

Start of the trail after the road closed sign

Where we had to crawl under the current highway.

Graffiti under the highway. Pretty cool.

Under the highway.

More graffiti.

Panoramic of under the highway.

Walking down the path on the other side fo the highway. Pretty flowers.

Steps..the start to the next part of the trail to the falls.

Pretty view looking out towards Kaneohe from the falls.

Waterfall.

Once again me forcing Josh to take his picture.

A teeny, tiny frog was hanging out in the pond below the falls.

Me under the road.

Coming back up the old road.

It was my turn to be forced into a picture.

Waimea Valley

Posted on February 10, 2013 by sandersnm

Yesterday, Josh and I went and wandered around Waimea Valley on the North Shore of Oahu. Waimea Valley is a historical nature park consisting of many botanical gardens which contain numerous rare and endangered species of plants. The garden valley is approximately .75 miles in length and has a waterfall and swimming hole at the end. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed walking around the different gardens and seeing the waterfall at the end. I also had my first ono pop…which was amazing!

Tree at the start of the valley path.

Lily Pads

So many coconuts on this tree!

‘Alae ‘ula Bird. It had a unique red shield on it’s face.

River bed in the valley.

Pretty flowers in the tree.

Thanks to Kalani and our Flower Farm tour, we both knew these were red gingers!

Yellow Heliconia

Waterfall at the end.

Waterfall and swimming pool at the end.

The path that runs through the valley.

Purple flowers all over the valley.

Mossy path in one of the botanical gardens.

Heliconia

Hanging heliconia

Ginger Flowers

This bird was singing the prettiest song 🙂

This wall of moss and vines.

More vines and moss.

Teaching area in the valley.

Beautiful flowers

A very old piece of a tree of a species that will soon be distinct as there are only 26 left in the world and they are all fruitless and unable to reproduce.

Josh walking up the stairs on one of the paths.

Wall of vines between two trees.

Josh after walking through the vines.

Looking up through a tree at the sky.

Birds with green legs!

Red cat tails.

Kuli’ou’ou Ridge Trail

Posted on February 2, 2013 by sandersnm

Today Josh and I hiked the Kuli’ou’ou Ridge Trail. The trail has about a 1,700 foot elevation over the course of a little of two miles and it took us about two and a half hours. The trail was pretty easy for the first mile and a half…then it got pretty steep and was definitely a calorie burn for the last half mile or so. This is Josh’s favorite hike and absolutely one I want to go on again..the terrain changed frequently throughout the trail and we were constantly surrounded by different, beautiful landscapes. The reward at the end was a ridiculous 360 degree view which included the windward coast, Hawaii Kai, Koko Head and Diamond Head.

First nice view on the hike.

Random cave along the way.

Pretty flowers…they were everywhere!

Start of the pine trees

The trees made a canopy over the trail.

This area was so open…with a blanket of pine needles on the ground.

Heading into the woods. Loved this shot.

Looking back over the first steep portion of the trail. Harder than it looks.

Josh walking through the frame of trees in the trail.

Picture of the valley on the way up.

Josh heading up the trail. Loved the sky in the background.

Diamond Head in the distance.

Koko Head

The end had lots and lots and lots of stairs.

Looking back at Hawaii Kai and Koko Head.

The view at the top. Quite worth it. The view windward coast never gets old.

Peaks to the left.

Koko Head to the right.

Looking down at the valley.

Behind us, Hawaii Kai.

Stairs heading back down the trail.

Almost done with the stairs!

Josh heading down the trail.

Kayaking in Kailua

Posted on January 22, 2013 by sandersnm

Josh and I went kayaking yesterday off of Kailua. It. Was. Amaaaaazing. Definitely one of the most fun things I’ve done on Oahu (and I feel like I’ve done a lot of fun things). We started out in the morning around 9:30 and came back around 2:30 in the afternoon. It was pretty cloudy and windy…which made it rather chilly with the water spraying us from the wind. Along with it being overcast, there was a surf advisory for the north and west sides of Oahu which made the normal glassy, calm water around Kailua beach and Lanikai pretty choppy.

We loaded up the kayak from Windward Water Sports in Kailua and headed towards Kailua beach. We parked, got the kayak off Josh’s car and headed towards the beach with all our stuff. Neither of us had kayaked before, but we successfully launched off the beach (probably our most successful launch of the day) and headed towards Popoi’a (Flat Island). It is located about a quarter mile off of Kailua Beach Park and is about four acres in size. Flat Island is a State Seabird Sanctuary where about 3,000 wedge-taled shearwater seabirds call home. The birds nest in the many sink holes on the island so you have to be careful where you step, stay off the center of the island and walk only around the edge. You also have a great view of the Mokulua Islands (our final destination on our kayak adventure).

I was sitting there with my feet dangling in a hole, enjoying the view of The Mokes.

My feet in this random hole in the ground. So cool!

Kaneohe Bay from Flat Island

Kite Surfers taking advantage of the wind!

Fellow kayakers heading towards Moku Nui.

The house Josh and I would buy if we won the lottery.

Water rushing through the rocks on Flat Island.

Water tunnel on Flat Island. Very neat!

After taking some pictures and walking around the island, we got back in the kayak and headed towards The Mokes. This was a bit longer of a journey and definitely a good arm/back workout with the wind and waves. We also had to navigate around the reef and the snorkelers. We finally arrived at Moku Nui (the larger of the two islands) in a rather adventurous landing. A pretty large wave pushed us all the way up into the beach and we had to scramble out and drag our kayak up out of the surf (we were soaked). After getting ourselves together, we gathered our stuff and headed off to the right side of the island to see what it could offer. The terrain was rocky, but nothing that we couldn’t conquer in flip flops. We found a spot, sat down and had a snack and hung out and dried off in the sun.

After about a half hour, a tour came by and the guide pointed out a place where people could jump into a shallow pool. It was pretty cool, so Josh decided to jump and I took pictures.

Josh psyching himself up.

Josh posing.

Still talking himself into it.

Ok..this is it.

Go!

Flying man.

Hitting the water.

Splash!

Success!

After Josh jumped, we headed back towards the beach to visit the other side of the island. We had a pretty good view of Moku Iki, which is off limits to visitors as it is also a State Seabird Sanctuary (so is the middle of Moku Nui), along with great views of Lanikai Beach. After venturing the other way a bit, we headed back towards the kayak to take off and head back to Kailua Beach. This is where it gets interesting…we packed up our stuff and had the most adventurous launch off of Moku Nui. What we thought was a calm area turned out to be where all of the waves from both directions around the island converged into the perfect storm approximately right when Josh and I tried to launch off the beach. This resulted in us doing a 360 a few times and being completely owned by the ocean. Our water bottle went flying off the kayak, the dry bag somehow stayed attached and we both were dying laughing (along with the rest of the people standing on the beach watching us). A very nice person caught our water bottle in the waves and gave us a nice shove and we were off! It was absolutely hilarious…not a single part of us stayed dry. After that, we headed back to Kailua, loaded up the kayak (harder than it sounds) and drove it back to the rental place. All in all, a HUGE success for our first kayaking adventure!

The lighthouse Josh and I hiked to a few weeks ago.

Moku Iki

So pretty…

Water rushing into the inlet.

Fellow kayakers headed to and from Moku Nui.

Somewhere in there is our kayak.

If you look closely, you can see a small minnow.

More kayakers headed to and from.

A cluster of snails in the tide pool.

Panoramic view from Moke Nui.

Buzz’s Lanikai

Posted on January 21, 2013 by sandersnm

Josh and I went kayaking today in Kailua (more on that in a later post) and were starving afterwards. Soaking wet, covered in sand and salt water, we ventured to Buzz’s for a pretty fantastic lunch and some fun drinks.

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Whale Watching – Oahu’s North Shore

Posted on January 18, 2013 by sandersnm

Today we went whale watching on Oahu’s North Shore for Josh’s birthday. It was absolutely amazing. We went out on a catamaran with North Shore Catamaran Charters for about two and a half hours this afternoon. The water was pretty rough in the beginning and there were huge ocean swells, which put Josh in charge of taking pictures and me in charge of not getting seasick. The entire time we were out there, we were surrounded by whales on all sides. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime!

The humpback whales migrate down to Hawaii from Alaska to breed for the winter. A baby humpback whale weighs between one and two tons when it is born and gains about 100 pounds a day for the first six months of it’s life. It goes through an amazing growth spurt during this time so it can gain strength and body size before the journey back to Alaska. An adult can weigh up to 40 tons and be 45 feet long, with the females being larger than the males. Another interesting fact is that their tails are like their fingerprints. Each one is unique to that whale. Some of the best shots from the day are below. Enjoy!

Whale breaching!

Double breach! There were two of them…super cool!

Back of the whale

Kaena Point – where we hiked last weekend!

Josh and I on the boat!

These two were about 20 yards from us for a few minutes just swimming along. Eventually they decided to deep dive and flashed us their tails.

First of the two deep diving.

Wind farm on the North Shore.

Large ocean swells. They were ridiculous!

Heading back to the harbor.

Aiea Loop Trail

Posted on January 17, 2013 by sandersnm

Today I hiked the Aiea Loop Trail which is located in the Keaiwa Heiau State Recreation Area. The park is located about 10 miles from where I live and took me about a half hour to get there (I didn’t even get lost!). The trail is about 4.8 miles long and took me about an hour and 50 minutes to complete at a pretty fast pace (including stopping for pictures and a few offshoot trails to see some pretty cool views). It runs along the ridge of the west side of the Halawa Valley (not to be confused with the Halawa Valley on Molokai) and I was able to see Pearl Harbor in a few places at a distance. There were so many different types of trees ranging from Norfolk Island pine trees to native koa and ohi‘a trees. It was also an incredibly muddy hike in places and I ended up with mud on my legs past my knees…I also drove home in socks because my shoes were completely covered in mud. I passed a few different people along the trail, but for the most part it was pretty desolate…except for a wild boar (my first time seeing one). I was walking along and all of a sudden it grunted loudly to my right and went running through the woods…scared me to death! However, I tried to get a picture through the trees :).