What did you do in Hawaii?

“You went to Hawaii? What did you do?” As I start to explain what we did and where we went they inevitably begin to get glassy eyed – they can’t relate at all to what I’m telling them. I suppose it’s as much my fault for giving details as it is theirs for asking such a question. We went to places that conjure such images for us as we recount them but are purely exotic to the hearers: “We kayaked in Kaneohe Bay, then had lunch at Keneke’s in Kahuku, after which we hung out at the beach on Kahana Bay.” What???

So I thought I would use maps to show where we went.

OAHU

We went to Oahu first and spent six days there.
The little yellow circle just below “Kaneohe” is where our studio apartment was located. The larger yellow circle shows where we spent almost all our time. This part of Oahu is known as “the windward side.” I grew up in Kaneohe and I find the windward side to be the most beautiful part of Oahu. This is where you find “the locals” and that was one of my goals – hang out with locals and avoid tourists as much as possible. What did we do here? Went to the beach (beautiful and empty beaches), hiked in the mountains, kayaked, ate great “Hawaiian style” food, went to a Luau, caught a traditional style Hawaiian concert. Kaneohe Bay. Waimanalo. Kahana Bay. Ka’a’awa. I love the windward side!

MOLOKA’I

After six days on Oahu we flew to Moloka’i. We had a hotel room here. The only hotel in all of Moloka’i. That is the purple circle, Kaunakakai. On Oahu we encountered several cloudy days and I felt pressure to provide a sunny beach for Mary. We chased the sun and found it. She also wanted to see a waterfall. All of my efforts on Oahu failed, so after we secured our room I suggested we go to Halawa, “There is a waterfall there.” Halawa Valley is the blue circle on the right end of the island. Amazing drive. I have to give Mary credit, she drove on Moloka’i and as the road got narrower and narrower and our car got bigger and bigger, she pressed on. And it was well worth it. Probably the best trip and most beautiful part of Hawai’i we saw! And we found waterfalls.
On Moloka’i  we basically drove to the end of every road on the island. We went to the overlook of Kalaupapa (blue circle in the middle), the place where Damien cared for the lepers, and then we drove to the other end of the island (blue circle on the left end), Kepuhi Beach. When we arrived at Kepuhi Beach Mary said, Don’t look over there.
What?
Don’t look over there.
Why?
The girls over there are completely naked.
There weren’t even ten people on this large beach, including us, and three or four of them were naked!
We drove around, we ate great food, we went to church. That’s what we did on Moloka’i.

MAUI

We were at the Moloka’i airport at 6 am Monday morning! And on Maui shortly after 8 am. Too early to check into our condo in Kihei, the purple circle, so we drove to Kihei and then on south to the end of that road to Makena Beach. We were so tired we checked into our condo after lunch and took a nap. We were still worn out so we just hung around on the beach in front of the condo. Let me tell you, the wind blows really hard on Maui! Next day we had a late start and decided to go to a beach, so we headed toward Lahaina. After lunch, Mary asked where there was a “local” beach and armed with the answer we headed further north to Napili’i, the purple circle. Nice beach with waves. Mary also really wanted to see whales and on the way back to the condo we stopped at an overlook and she got to see whales!
Maui was our least favorite stop. Pretty beaches but basically California with Hawaiian place names. Very touristy. Food was good enough but not Hawaiian style anything. There were lots of things we didn’t see but I don’t care to go back to Maui. What's interesting is there were Japanese tourists all over Oahu, especially in Kailua, but none on Moloka’i or Maui.

So, that’s what we did in Hawai’i. Great trip. Wonderful. Amazing. Awesome!