Goodbye Maui. Hello Oahu. Leaving Maui halfway through our vacation was bittersweet. Maui exceeded our expectations to the nth degree and left us spent, thrilled, anxious and optimistic. It killed us that we were leaving this lush, green paradise where we frolicked in its ambrosia but we were eager to see where our next adventure took us.

 

Maui was like a girlfriend who you most enjoyed being with, but decided to leave behind, thinking the next one will be better.

 

Oops.

 

I’m not saying Oahu was a disaster or anything of the sorts — it’s just Maui was that good!

 

After landing on Oahu, we rented our Jeep and headed out to our hotel room in Honolulu. The stark difference in the two islands was the population, the poverty (if you can believe it) and the congestion.

 

People were everywhere as we hit the highway to the Imperial Hawaii Resort near Waikiki Beach. Pop-up tents were in parks and along roadways and there were plenty of eye-sores of run-down shacks and homes that seemed out of place in this part of the world.

 

Traffic was horrendous as we weaved in and out of four-vehicle lanes trying to navigate with our phone GPS app. What was nice was the hotel we chose — a 27-floor high-rise just a block off the beach in a “well-to-do” district.

 

Prada, Coach, Tiffany’s, Armani and Gucci were just a few of the retail stores along our block. We had daily valet parking, a roof-top swimming pool, laundry services and a convenience store and deli.

One of the things we did that first day was wander down to the beach to snorkel. Again, the beach was magnificent and the sea creatures were awe inspiring. We saw more whales spouting in the distance and spent a few days just laying in the sun.

 

One of our destinations on Oahu was Pearl Harbor, of course, but we came away with a sour taste in our mouths from the experience. When we arrived at the base, we were told the free tickets to go to the Arizona were already claimed. We asked if we could get some tickets for the next day or the next, but the cashier said the tickets for the next two weeks were already booked (little did we know of this formality).

 

We did, however get tickets to go to the battleship Missouri and the air museum, but the tours were lengthy and before we could board the USS Bowfin submarine, we were escorted to the shuttle bus. Another disappointment was the shuttle bus, which took over an hour to return to pick us up — then when it did, we found out the A/C unit had gone “kaput” and a different bus was called to come and gather us.

 

Another 20 minute wait.

 

So after all that, we all came away feeling a little cheated in our experience at the National monument and historic site.

 

Another day, we decided to drive around the island and just experience things as the day unfolded. We stopped at little shops, had lunch and tried some of the local delicacies like Malasadas (a cream-filled donut) and acai bowls (ice creamy thing). We also came upon a lava tube (I had never heard of it before), so we disembarked, rented some flashlights and descended beneath the earth to these “tubes” (caves) where lava once rolled through to the ocean.

 

A little creepy and scary (Terri backed out), but sorta interesting.

 

We also stopped along the way to watch some surfers as they navigated the 10-foot swells along the North shore.

 

Another day we spent at Hanauma Bay State Park, where live coral reefs are just feet off the beach and hundreds and hundreds of fish and creatures floated inches away — without a care in the world. Absolutely beautiful place.

 

We also visited the Dole Plantation and took a train ride around the property to view the fields where the business was growing pineapple, sugar cane, coffee and bananas, amongst other things. We finished off the tour with a yummy ice cream cone, delish!

 

On the second-to-last day of our trip, we boarded a catamaran for a dinner cruise and a beautiful sunset.

 

Sea Life Park was a destination for us on our final day and there we got to sea a dolphin show, a sea lion show and the feeding of stingrays and sharks. We found out this park was featured in the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore movie, 50 First Dates!

 

It was extremely hard boarding that plane in Oahu for our trip back stateside. We arrived just in time for two, back-to-back snowstorms that squashed my dreams of coming back to Spring-like weather.

 

If you get the chance to hit the islands — GO! Seventy-five degrees year-round, 350 days of sunshine and no bugs —it truly is paradise!