Hawaii Diaries: Oahu Road Trip

On our first day in Hawaii, we were lucky that a friend who's based there and her niece drove us around the island of Oahu.   We were able to cover almost 3/4 of the island in 1 day!

Oahu is the third biggest island of Hawaii where Honolulu, Pearl City (where Pearl Harbor is) and Waikiki (among the more recognizable names), are a part of.  Though it’s only the third biggest island, it is the most populous.  It has a population close to 1 Million representing 75% of the state’s entire population.

Our first stop was an off-beaten track which only locals would probably know of.   In between 2 residential lots, there’s a passage that leads to this blowhole.

We chanced upon a few visitors just watching and enjoying the spitting caves. 

Our friend based in Hawaii doesn’t know what the place is called but here are some clues on the location.  There are cliff houses in the area.

Plus we saw one memorial marker on the sediment.

From there, we headed to another scenic lookout.  Can’t remember which one is this but basing from the map, I suspect it’s the Kuli’ou’ou Lookout.

Next stop was Halona Blowhole Lookout.

There are really strong waves.

But look closely, there are actually people swimming towards the strong waves!

 

Then we stopped over at the Makapu’u Point.  

There was a wedding pictorial in the area.  Here’s one of the flower girls in a pretty bright blue and yellow gown.

And the entire entourage ready to leave for the reception.

 

 

At Oahu’s North Shore, you’ll pass by several shrimp farms along the way so shrimp trucks are popular places to eat.

We picked Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck to try.  Based on tourist guidebooks, Giovanni’s is the oldest shrimp truck which has been serving shrimp dishes for more than 10 years.  And recently, Giovanni’s was chosen as Hawaii’s Best Finds by travel buffs at Travelocity.

We tried Giovanni’s Lemon Butter & Garlic Shrimps

and Scampi.

So fresh and super yummy!  A plate costs about USD12.50 if I remember right.
For drinks, you can order a smoothie or shave ice from the nearby Hawaiian Island Xtreme for about USD4-5/glass.

For more info, you can check out Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck website at http://giovannisshrimptruck.com/.

Next stop was the Nu’uanu Lookout.  The marker states that on this place, 400 warriors were pushed off the cliff to die in the late 1700s.

Here's the view from the Nu’uanu lookout.

Then, the next stop was at the Pupukea Beach.   I know – there are lots of beaches!  In fact, we passed by several others more where we didn’t stop over anymore.

After this, we tried to catch the sunset at the Waimea Beach.

Our last stop was at Tantalus which gives a breathtaking view of Oahu’s skyline.

By the time we reached the hotel, we were dead tired because we did all of these after arriving from our 10 hour flight from Manila. Haha…