Oahu 2011

For our tenth anniversary Erik and I were lucky enough to be able to celebrate with a vacation in Hawaii.  We haven’t left the kids for more than 24 hours so it was a great chance for us to spend some time together.  It was a wonderful trip.  Although being 5 months pregnant put a little damper on things for me I still managed to have a really nice time.  Lots of relaxing lounging and reading and beautiful weather were just what I needed.

We were able to spend the first couple of days on Oahu with our best friends Jared and Rachelle who live outside of Honolulu in beautiful Kailua.  They took us to a couple of beautiful beaches and Erik enjoyed some body boarding at Kalama and Makapuu.  We also visited beautiful Lanikai’s baby powder soft sand for some snorkeling.  We had a great time catching up with our friends and left just a little jealous of their life in paradise!

We stayed on the end of the Waikiki strip of hotels in the Queen Kapiolani.  We had a beautiful view of Diamondhead and the zoo from our lanai.

Although we spent most of our time on the beautiful beaches, we were also able to visit some of the historic landmarks as well.  Pearl Harbor was an amazing day.  The park and monument are beautiful and allow quiet contemplation of the events that occurred there.

I couldn’t believe there is still oil leaking from within the USS Arizona today.  The smell of the oil and the sight of the ship still bleeding oil into the harbor is a haunting image.

I left the camera at the hotel for a drive up the west side of the island.  We visited several beaches and ended up at Makaha.  Erik struck snorkeling gold and took me out for the best snorkeling I’ve ever had.  No one else was snorkeling on the entire stretch of beach so I didn’t think much of it at first.  After we swam out a hundred feet or so there was a beautiful untouched coral reef full of fish and it was amazing!  When we got home we found the spot on several websites as a must see spot for snorkelers, so I’m glad we were lucky enough to find it on our own.

We took a day to drive to the northern part of the island and were able to visit the beautiful Laie temple.  It was smaller than I imagined it would be but beautiful. 

While on the north shore we couldn’t miss out on the world famous food.  Mmmmmmm…

My previous trips to HI have been in wintertime, so seeing the gentle summer surf in the north was a big surprise for me.  Erik tried to bodyboard here at Sunset beach but didn’t find it very exciting.

We were glad we stopped for a quick shower in Laie on the way back home.  We accidentally found a body boarders beach at Pounders.  Erik had a blast here and was in the water until twilight. 

Like I said, a popular body boarding beach!

We also spent a morning at the nature preserve Hanauma Bay and enjoyed some amazing snorkeling.

Hiking Diamondhead was a good change from all the beachy days.  I never imagined climbing a crater would involve so many stairs!  The view was worth it.

After the hike we visited another historic site at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.  The cemetery is located inside the Punchbowl crater and has a very detailed exhibit on WWII.

The grounds were peaceful and beautifully kept.  It was nice to be able to quietly reflect on my feelings of patriotism and gratitude for those who serve our country. 

We had noticed a beach below the highway as we drove back and forth to other attractions and decided to give it a try.  The location is amazing and a little hard to get to as you have to climb down lava rock hillside to get there.

 

The surf looked a little rough for me so I sat on the beach and tried to enjoy the beauty of the situation.  Meanwhile Erik took off snorkeling.  I was terrified – the surf seemed so rough to me and I had several people stop and ask me if my husband knew what he was doing.  He was eventually joined by some local spear-fishermen so I felt a little better after that.

Ok, seriously?  See that little snorkel out there in the waves?  Sigh… maybe I worry too much!

Before heading home we wanted to visit the Underwoods (and their beaches) one last time so we headed back to Lanikai.  Erik and Jared snorkeled from Lanikai over to one of the twin islands you can see off the beach (the Mokes), about a mile swim each way.  I tried to take a picture of them on the beach – can you see them? 

We also hit Mokapuu one more time for some bodyboarding, but no pictures this time because I actually got in the water (for a few minutes at least).

After a nice long vacation we were both ready to go home.  I don’t think I’ve ever been on vacation long enough to say that before!  I’m so glad we were able to take this trip together this year.  I’m so thankful for Erik – he keeps me on my toes and is so much fun to be around.  We are already looking forward to our 20 year trip (haha).