Today is honeymoon picture day! I’ll give you a little recap
of our trip but for this post I plan to let a lot of pictures help me do the talking. We did get some good shots, but they don’t do what we actually saw
with our eyes justice. Oahu, HI is one amazingly beautiful place.
When I went to Waikiki Beach the first time my family and I
stayed in the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Hilton created a property with 7 separate
hotel towers (and one more on the way), pools, shopping and restaurants all
right on the Waikiki Beach front. It’s so convenient to just walk out of your
tower and have pretty much anything you need or want steps away. Plus, you
never have to carry cash or credit cards if you don’t want to because you can
charge anything you buy on the property to the room. We splurged and stayed in
the Ali’i tower with an oceanfront view that was absolutely worth it. Every
night we would sleep with the balcony, or lanai as the Hawaiian say, door open
to fall asleep to the crash of the waves and wake up with the sunrise.
Since we were used to being about 6 hours ahead of the
actual time we woke up early every day. But waking up with the sun (which rises
by 5:30AM) was so much nicer than an alarm ripping me out of my sleep. The best
part was that everything opens early so we could get coffee and breakfast and
walk around for a while before really starting the day.
I’m a lay on the beach or sip fruity cocktails by the pool
kind of girl, but I also don’t mind getting into a little adventure. Chris
would go balls to the walls beach activities all day long but we compromise and
meet in the middle (I even tried paddle boarding!). We spent time hanging at the beach or by the pool as well
as did some exploring. It wouldn’t have seemed like a real trip to Hawaii if we
didn’t attend a luau. Chris even wore a Michigan Hawaiian style shirt, courtesy
of my parents!
Waikiki is on the East side of Oahu so one day we rented a
Camero convertible and drove up to Hanauma Bay for some beachin’ and
snorkeling. It’s breathtaking just to see from the top and amazing to snorkel
with all the sea life once you’re in the water. It was a little easier for me
to navigate the shallow areas with coral since I’m smaller than Chris but he
managed just fine. Before you enter the beach park you watch a short video
about how the bay was formed and what you might see underwater and they remind
you to never touch anything, including the coral. It’s a little difficult when
it’s almost touching your belly!
We also drove over to the North Shore, famous for its surf
towns and giant waves including the Bonzai Pipeline. In the summer months the
water is pretty calm so we were able to go over to Pupukea Beach (aka Shark’s
Cove) and Waimea Beach. Shark’s Cove has a rocky shore with tide pools for
snorkeling and Waimea has big rock formation that juts out into the water where
people spend all day climbing up to jump off. Chris and I took turns taking the
plunge so we could video each other.
There’s nothing quite like a Hawaiian sunset, especially
from the water, so we took a catamaran cruise out one evening to watch the
magic happen. There were drinks and snacks and a cool breeze sailing out to
look at Waikiki Beach in all its glory. It was a little cloudy at first but
they made way for the sun just in time for us to watch it fall from the sky.
Every Friday night there is a fireworks show at the Hilton
Hawaiian Village. People clamber for good spots on the beach and the walls
lining the beach front. Chris and I had the perfect view from our balcony and
our tower even provided free snacks. I love the way fireworks light up the sky
and they just bring up happy summertime memories for me so it was awesome to
have a front row seat.
Our last morning in paradise Chris and I got up before the
sun and boarded a bus to the West side of the island for a snorkel trip. It was
a beautiful sunny morning and the boat crew served homemade banana muffins and
coffee as we arrived. We saw dolphins as we cruised 40 miles up the coast,
passing amazing scenery along the way. We even got to swim with 2 sea turtles!
One was a little baby that kept following our group around the water. Lunch
included the BEST pineapple I’ve ever had in my life and if I wasn’t stuffed to
the brim I would’ve kept eating it.
Oahu was the perfect place for us to honeymoon. We relaxed,
had fun, ate good food and drank tropical cocktails, shopped and missed our
kiddos back home. I can tell you how wonderful it was and show you all these
pictures, but you really need to go see it all for yourself!
In Hawaii the word Aloha means hello, goodbye and love. Our
Hawaiian trip was full of aloha and we were said to say aloha when we left, but
a big mahalo (thank you) to the island and people of Oahu for making our
honeymoon unforgettable in the best possible way.
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