Posted on December 8th, 2003 by Kevin Dangoor

Back from Hawaii

We just spent a fabulous two weeks in Hawaii, a week each on Oahu and Maui. We’ve previously been to Kauai and the Big Island, so this was a nice chance to see something new. Some people thought we were crazy to travel with a four-month-old, but we figured it was the perfect time! Crysania traveled well and we had a great time with her. Since she’s not crawling, she wasn’t restless on the plane and we didn’t have to chase after her. She’s still exclusively breastfed, so there was no issue with finding and preparing food for her. Her main issue seemed to be that she didn’t enjoy riding in the car in the afternoon, but we were able to work around that.

Pictures and more will come later. We really liked Kaneohe and Kailua in East Oahu. East Oahu in general had lots of green and beautiful white sand beaches. We also liked the Kaanapali area that we stayed in on Maui.

6 Responses to “Back from Hawaii”

Gene Rollins on December 9th, 2003 7:56 pm:

You come across the craziest things surfing the web!

I hope life is treating you (and your family) well!!

Gene

Gerry on December 10th, 2003 12:14 pm:

I was in Kauai this past January for 10 days, and will probably go back late this next summer. How would you compare the islands? I haven’t been to the others, but have heard they are pretty crowded. Kauai never seemed crowded to me when I was there (off-season, though) and there was always lots of room at the beaches, though the surfing didn’t have quite as much room as I’d have liked considering I’m still learning how to steer well and don’t want to run anyone over. Glad you guys got to go — wonderful place to get away from it all.

Kevin on December 10th, 2003 1:20 pm:

Kauai is most definitely less crowded than Oahu and Maui. It has a more rural feel, I think.

The biggest crowds are probably at Waikiki in Honolulu. In my opinion, Waimanalo Beach in East Oahu is a nicer setting, and it’s less crowded as a bonus. This trip was in off-peak time (most places consider December 15th the start of peak season), and the traffic could still get fairly thick on Maui.

The islands each have something different to offer, depending on what you like. You can find good beaches on all of the islands. The Big Island is fascinating for its geology (13,000 foot Mauna Kea gets snow capped in the winter, Volcano National Park shows what an active volcano, lava flows and all, looks like). The Big Island is also appropriately named, because it’s bigger than all of the others put together. But, the vast majority of the island is not very green, because of how recent some of the lava flows have been.

Maui is a bit more developed and features a national park with a 10,000 foot volcano (Haleakala). There are more resorts, a nice aquarium, and the beautiful, but twisting, Hana Highway. Most of Maui is not naturally green, though the resorts on the west side of Maui have really added a lot of greenery.

Oahu features Honolulu and Waikiki Beach, if you’re looking for big city attractions. Oahu’s north shore is one of the world’s most famous spots for surfing because of the big waves it gets, particularly in winter. The mountains on Oahu are smaller than those on Maui and the Big Island. West Oahu, in my opinion, is not particularly nice. East Oahu is beautiful, with lots of trees and a nice mountain range.

Kauai is the oldest island, and the greenest. Its mountains are also lower than those on Maui and the Big Island. Kauai is also the least developed of the Big Four. If a lush, tropical landscape is your thing, Kauai is the best.

If you’re really looking to get away from things, Lanai and Molokai are the smallest and least developed. People talk about being able to walk a long way on the beach without seeing another person. You can easily get to these two islands by boat from Maui, but I haven’t been there. I don’t really plan to go there, because the pictures I’ve seen don’t seem compelling enough to deal with the relative remoteness of the islands.

Depending on where you live and who you fly with (we’re stuck with Northwest because of frequent flyer miles), you can get direct flights to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island from the mainland. I’m quite happy to have seen all of the islands and would certainly recommend checking them out for all of their unique features.

Gerry on December 10th, 2003 8:24 pm:

Wow! Thanks for the info. Didn’t expect to get my own personal travel guide! :-) I did a plane change at LAX and went direct to Kauai from there.
BTW, when you changed islands, did you fly on a smaller plane or take a boat? How much was it? I was thinking maybe of taking a day trip to Oahu this next time, or maybe an overnighter depending on travel time.

I really enjoyed Kauai and agree that it’s very rural, but that’s a good think IMO. I’d rather be active snorkeling, surfing, or hiking than doing ‘city’ types of things or just laying around on a lounge or on a beach doing nothing — that’s what cruises are for.

Thanks again! Oh, and if you’re into landscape pics, we could swap a few over email if you want to add to your collection. I managed to get some good sunset pics, some of the spouting horn, and a few other nice misc. ones with my Coolpix 950.

Kevin on December 11th, 2003 4:51 pm:

We’ve always flown via LAX to Honolulu and then Hawaiian Air (still a decent size jet) over to the other island. I think the flight’s about $100. This last time, we flew on frequent flyer miles… the ticket looked like a roundtrip ticket to Maui, it just happened to have a 1 week layover on Oahu :)

Last year, when we went to the Big Island, we spent a night in Waikiki, which was fun. There’s certainly no harm in having a little layover on Oahu.

By the way, don’t get me wrong about the level of development on the islands. They all have plenty of scenery, hiking, snorkeling, etc. If that’s the kind of thing you’re looking to do there, Oahu would probably be your least favorite. But, you may still enjoy Maui and the Big Island.

Our pics from this trip are of varying quality. Travelling with a four-month-old didn’t allow us to stop and spend much time at the scenic overlooks or go hiking. In truth, thus far we hardly even go back and look at our pictures from previous trips. I guess we’re too busy doing other things. We do pull the pictures out (“pull” being an odd term in this digital age) when we’re talking with someone about the trip though.

Gerry on December 11th, 2003 6:12 pm:

Heh, I just got an idea for a blog name — Red Sky in Hawaii. ;-) I’ll have to remember about the ‘layover’ when planning the next trip. Yeah, kids can make a difference. My kids were 4 and 2 when we went, and some days were better than others (often depending on in-car travel time). But we had Grandma and Grandpa with us to help out, and not just with the kids — they paid for the plane tix! As for pictures, whenever I get back from someplace I go archive them then select the best 4-5 and add them to the wallpaper changer rotation. Cheers! — Gerry