Day 7
By 7:30 we were at Hanauma Bay, a huge tourist spot for snorkeling, but for a good reason. Here you have to pay an $11 entry fee, watch a video about the history of the bay and not harming the rocks and wild life. We wanted to arrive early to beat the crowd. This is a great spot for families, it’s shallow and you see tonssssssss of cool fish, photos just can’t do it justice. We spent a few hours here, taking breaks for lunch and napping in our hammock. We even saw a sea lion on the beach.
Post snorkeling, we headed to Ono Steak and Shrimp nearby. And they didn’t disappoint, nothing fancy, but really good food.
Lunch was followed by shave ice, not shaveD ice, from Shimazu Shave Ice. While most people rave about Matsumoto’s on North Shore but was recommended this spot by locals and it was so good, not to mention huge servings with so many flavor options, at least 60 different flavors. We got the matcha and milk tea in a kid’s size and it was huge!
Next we visited the Ala Moana Center, the largest outdoor mall in the world. We got an ube ice cream taiyaki at Somisomi in the food court. Followed by $5 pitchers and takoyaki at the Shirokiya Japan Village Walk.
Day 8
Day 8 was a lot of driving around the island and just hitting some last minute spots! Also, lots and lots of eating!
We got ‘brunch’ at Poke on Da Run, I would give it a 3/5, good food and great portions but nothing AMAZING. (We got the Poke Nachos)
We did some quick shopping at the Waikele Oulets and nearby was a Leonard’s truck so we took this as an opportunity to finally get our hot malasada (cream filled sugar donut). Delicious!
We even casually did a walking tour of Disney Resort, Aulani, definitely a cool hotel but very removed from the rest of the island, you would miss a lot of the culture. Again great for families to just hangout and relax, but not for Jordan and I who wanted to see and do everything on the island.
Next, we went to the Dole Plantation, I had been as a kid so didn’t need to do the tour or anything but just wanted some original Dole Whip!
We continued our drive north on the island, back to North Shore for a third time. We visited the Patagonia store and went back to the spot we shot at with Keri and Brendan. (This was also right around midterm election so Patagonia was giving away these cool stickers.)
We were crazy enough to drive to the opposite end of the island after having driven all over the island already, for our last Helena’s meal. And oh was it worth the drive.
