Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Trip To Hawai'i (2002)--More O'ahu
3/16/2002
Honolulu Zoo
A few hours after completing my Diamond Head hike, Patty and I tooka a tour of the Honolulu Zoo. This is simply a wonderful facility located on Kapahulu Avenue a little mauka (toward the mountains) from where it intersects Kalakaua Blvd. Cost to enter the Zoo is very reasonable, priced at $6 for those aged 13 and over.
There was a wide variety of animal life to be found here, broken down into regions. You get a map once you enter which makes these areas easy to locate. Our favorite was the African Savannah, home to mammals such as the Black Rhinoceros, Cheetah, Chimpanzee, Giraffe, Grant's Zebra, Lion and Spotted Hyena.
There is plenty to see here, and requires at least three hours if you want to take everything in. You could rush, of course, but why would you want to? If you go, explore, stop and watch. Bring a camera, also. You'll want permanent memories of much that is there.
We missed seeing a few things, such as the Sun Bear (where the heck was he/she, anyway? We obviously missed a turn somewhere). Overall, this zoo made a good impression.
Sea Life Park
Hop the bus on Kalakaua and 45 minutes you're there after a very nice ride featuring some excellent views as you pass through Hawai`i Kai (you want sticker shock? Price one of the homes which dot the valleys and mountain sides here), and hug the coastline in various places. We took the #58 Bus which bypassed Hanauma Bay; the #22 bus stops right at Hanauma. Nice diversion to stop there and take in one of Oahu's best beaches.
Pricing was also reasonable at $24.00 and, like the Honolulu Zoo, it was well worth the cost. Again, a map provided once you enter will help you get acclimated to this park, but isn't really necessary. This park is fairly small and signing is very good here. Even without this, you would just follow the crowds who gather at different vistas for hourly shows which happen at Sea Life.
The Hawai`i Ocean Theater features a great dolphin and penguin show. An hour later, you get another dolphin show at Dolphin Cove. The "main features" caps off with a Sea Lion show. All three were very good, but the Sea Lion had a slight problem with a new trainer he hadn't worked for a long time with. Still, it was fun to see.
There are other areas to explore, of course, such as Turtle Lagoon, Rocky Shores (containing coral and marine life) and the Hawaiian Monk Seal Center (ever feed a monk seal? Now's your chance, and do they make a terrific racket once it starts!).
This is definitely a must-see in a wonderful setting on the east coast of Oahu. Rating: 10
Patty with the cliffs at Makapu`u in the background
Waikiki Aquarium
Likely the best feature of the Waikiki Aquarium is that you get one of those special "phones" when you first enter. Various displays have a number assigned to them; when you enter that number on your phone, you can listen to audio describing what you are seeing. Without this, I wouldn't recommend going there. A very big variety of aquatic life exists here, and it'll take you a couple hours to thoroughly go through it all, but it's mostly inside. Nice, but like the Duluth Aquarium, it's something you'd do once and then go "been there, done that, left". Rating: 5
Waikiki Trolley
I'm still sitting here scratching my dome and wondering why the heck we paid $18 for a daily pass. We'd done the "Red Line" tour back in 1996 and were very pleased. But then, our driver on that tour was a vault of information and described everything we were seeing. If you haven't been to Honolulu before, it's a nice way to get somewhat oriented on some of this city's main features.
Not all drivers are this informative. Some are nearly mute; one didn't even bother to use his microphone and only announced the stops. Sitting in the back with the outside noise coming in, he was virtually unintelligible.
If you're looking at this as an alternative to The Bus, forget it. The $18 we paid gave us access to the Yellow Line (Shoping and Dining Line) and Red Line (Honolulu City Line). Both have somewhat similar routes and several common stop-off points. The main difference is the Red Line goes to many places west of the Yellow Line such as Bishop Museum. For an extra $12, you can also board trolleys on the Blue Line, which travels east along the ocean coast and goes as far as Sea Life Park. Again, I don't recommend it.
The Trolley features wooden seats and are simply not comfortable if you're going to be on them for more than a couple hours. The open air feature is nice, but this the only advantage it has over The Bus. The only good thing I got out of using the Trolley was some decent pics. Save your money.
Overall Impressions of Oahu
1. If you're single, this is the island to be on. A ton of excitement and people of the opposite sex.
2. This island is thick with tourists, mostly Japanese. Too crowded; by the time we left for Maui, I'd seen enough and was more than ready to move on to something more tranquil, relaxed and serene.
3. The Park Shore is due major props for their renovations and their service; the only thing I would have liked was a whirlpool in the pool area. Hopefully, they'll add this in the future. I would stay there again in a heartbeat.
4. Traffic can get ugly over there in terms of volume. However, their ratio of stupid drivers is nowhere near as high as in the Twin Cities, and is a fraction of those in Duluth. Didn't hear a car horn the entire time we were there; this is how laid back and polite the drivers are.
5. If you have to be laid over in any airport, Honolulu Airport is the place to be. With their open-air garden, the time we spent there waiting for our flight back to the Twin Cities was almost worth it.
6. The one thing we had wanted to do and didn't consider it a priority (and should have) was a circle-island tour. Would have liked to see the Pali Outlook, the North Shore, Hanauma Bay and a few other places.
Of course, one final shot of my better half on the lanai with Diamond Head in the background
Previous: 3/13/2002--Our Trip to Hawai'i (2002)--O'ahu
Index of Blog Pages
last updated november 10, 2021
|