So frustrating to call every other day to hear "We have no knowledge..." We ended up buying admission for Pearl Harbor for two separate days so our plans could stay flexible. We booked multiple dinner reservations at the resort in case one of the few restaurants ended up getting closed for an evening. We will let you know what happened at Aulani in another post - in this post we are talking Honolulu.
We left Kauai on an early morning flight to maximize our one full day in Honolulu. We spent a little time at the rental car booth because they had the nerve to upgrade us to some big SUV. Dave wasn't about to drive anything bigger than he needed to. Our first stop was in the center of downtown to see the Iolani Palace and the King Kamehameha Statue. In real life this site is a museum, but on current TV it's home to Hawaii 5-0. Dave's not sure why they hold this illusion since most other locations are their actual sites and we know this building is a museum..... After a few quick photos we went to our hotel, the Hilton Hawaiian Village, to drop off our luggage since we didn't want to risk a break-in and losing our bags.
Our wishful thinking was to try get into Hananuma Bay for some snorkeling but of course the lot was closed by the time we arrived. We did the next best thing we could do in the area which was to stop at a scenic overlook, grab malasadas (donuts) from a Leonard's truck, and have lunch at a Kona Brewing Pub.
It was still too early for dinner. We couldn't leave Oahu without visiting a brewery (Kona's lunch had very limited capacity) so it was time to Uber closer to the hotel and visit Waikiki Brewing. The open-air bar faced into the production area giving it a no-nonsense truly local feel. The staff was very friendly and took great care of us. After the brewery we decided we wanted to get some form of Asian food for dinner. The nearby Korean BBQ place had questionable reviews so we played it safe and headed back to the area by Duke's for Morimoto's Asia. We've enjoyed meals at the their Disney location. We found the Honolulu menu a bit more limited and the atmosphere not as much fun or upscale.
With it being a Tuesday Hanauma Bay was closed. We spent a few minutes at the nearby Halona Blowhole Lookout watching the idiots stand too close to the blowhole for their Insta.
We decided not to eat in the area because we were going to check something off Dave's bucket list. Near our hotel was a place with conveyor belt sushi. Unfortunately at 2PM on a weekday the only thing on the belt was a jar of wasabi. Whomp Whomp! Oh well... the entrees we ordered off the menu were good.
Honolulu was a fun destination. Waikiki Beach was pretty, people were friendly, and there are a lot of international influences. We would love to spend more time downtown. In the next Hawai post we will cover our trip to the North Shore via the east side of the island.
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We woke up early the next morning for our hike up Diamond Head. By 7:30AM the parking lot was getting full. At this time of the morning the climb wasn't too stressful. We couldn't picture doing this in the middle of the afternoon heat like some of our friends did a few days before. The worst part was the long and steep staircases that went on forever. We had a lot of overcast that morning so the lighting wasn't cooperating for our photos but at least we had a decent view of Honolulu from the top.
After the climb we drove back to the hotel for showers and check-out. Today was going to be another long day of touring the island counter-clockwise. Most of that tour will be covered in another post. We'll keep this one focused on Honolulu. Our first stop was the Ala Moana Center for the Alex and Ani store Hawaii exclusive bracelets. This is a huge outdoor mall with some pretty nice shops, but we stuck to the plan and only hit A&A.
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Jump ahead a few days. We're at Disney's Aulani west of Honolulu and about 40 minutes from Pearl Harbor. It was raining off-and-on that morning but the ride in was mostly uneventful. Pearl Harbor was smaller than we imagined. It's amazing to believe all that happened here occurred in such tight corners. The Arizona Memorial was closed to visitors due to dock work being performed. We took a cruise around it a few times. The rest of our time was spent following the audio tour narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis. This was a well-done tour providing many different perspectives of the war and life on the islands at the time. The exhibits helped bring the narration to life. We spent over 3 hours at Pearl Harbor and did not see everything the area had to offer.
After touring the harbor we drove back into the city to tour the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. More rain inhibited us from getting out of the car for closer looks.
While we were in town why not stop at another brewery. Honolulu Beerworks was in a warehouse section of town - one of the best places for a brewery. Hawaii breweries did not disappoint - Honolulu Beerworks included. We split a flight and picked our favorites for pints.
We decided not to eat in the area because we were going to check something off Dave's bucket list. Near our hotel was a place with conveyor belt sushi. Unfortunately at 2PM on a weekday the only thing on the belt was a jar of wasabi. Whomp Whomp! Oh well... the entrees we ordered off the menu were good.
Honolulu was a fun destination. Waikiki Beach was pretty, people were friendly, and there are a lot of international influences. We would love to spend more time downtown. In the next Hawai post we will cover our trip to the North Shore via the east side of the island.
