Discover the Best of Oahu: The Ultimate Travel Guide

On this episode of Hawaii’s Best, Bryan talks with the co-founder and CEO of Shaka Guide, Andrew Fowers. Get Episode Show Notes Here:  --> hawaiisbesttravel.com/episode58 <-- The conversation is a comprehensive Oahu travel guide with some history, highlights, and well-informed travel tips.

With Honolulu as the capital, Oahu has over a million locals and the most visitors every year. It’s the perfect combination of epic surfing, beautiful beaches, and rainforest hikes, all within close distance to each other.

Oahu has so much to offer visitors. The main hub is Honolulu and Waikiki, which are very close together. There is a ton of shopping, numerous hotels, and a ton to do.

One spot not everyone knows about is Kaka’ako Chinatown Arts District near downtown Honolulu, which has art murals, new incredible restaurants, and other hidden gems.

If you’re a first-time visitor to Oahu, check out Pearl Harbor Memorial and nearby Aviation Museum, get the Dole Whip at the Dole Plantation, and drive to the North Shore and stop in as many spots as possible - including legendary beaches like Bonsai Pipeline where you’ll probably catch surfers catching waves us regular people can only dream about.

Visit the Polynesian Culture Center and consider viewing their park; they have a luau and night show that you don’t want to miss. Check out Kualoa Ranch where they filmed Jurassic Park, and tour Iolani Palace too.

Make sure to check out Shaka Guide’s Circle Island tour for the best way to get the most out of your trip to Oahu!

Episode Resources

• Oahu Travel Guide Blog
• Download Shaka Guide Apps

Transcript

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[00:00:00] Bryan Murphy: 2023 is almost here, and maybe you're staring down a vacation in the next few months or maybe in the next week, and you're thinking about visiting Oahu. And in this episode we're gonna talk all about what to know before visiting the island of Oahu. So stay tuned.

[00:00:19] Hawaii's Best: Aloha. Welcome to Ho's Best here. You'll learn what to know before traveling as we discover Hawaiian culture, local businesses.

[00:00:28] And the experiences that make hav state. And now your host, Brian Murphy Loha.

[00:00:37] Bryan Murphy: Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Hawaii's Best. So glad that you could be joining me today. And today we're gonna be talking about an overview of what to know before visiting the island of Oahu. This is a good first time traveler's guide and also maybe.

[00:00:54] Second and a third time back to the island type of guide. It's a high level [00:01:00] overview and there's so many things that we couldn't pack in this episode. This episode first aired actually as episode 58, uh, about a year, year and a half ago, and this happens to be one of our most downloaded episodes in, uh, just wanted to share this with you as we're wrapping up 2020.

[00:01:18] And starting a plan for 2023. And this is kind of evergreen content and stuff that's, uh, always good for someone who's traveling to the island of Oahu for the very first time and would love to know some of your tips. Maybe if you've been to the island, you can reach out to us on Instagram at Hawaii's.

[00:01:39] Dot best and uh, send me a DM there. Would love to hear from you. But anyways, this episode was with myself and Andrew Fers, who is the co-founder and CEO O of Shaka Guy, which is an app based gps, kind of a travel guide right on your [00:02:00] phone, and encourage you to go to the app store either on Android or iOS, and.

[00:02:05] And download that and some of the tips that Andrew and I talked through today can be found by going to Hawaii's best travel.com/episode 58. That's episode five eight, and you can see the things we talked about there and written word, or you can, you know, find this epic blog post that we referenced throughout this episode and get an even more in depth look about what to know before visiting oa.

[00:02:33] Now like with anything, always he to local signs, local advice as you're traveling, whatever GPS or map you're using, or if you happen to use Shocka guide, always he to local signage, local advice as you are traveling into areas and Jaka guy does do a good job. At listening to local voices, but sometimes things change and, and Hawaii is [00:03:00] always ever evolving and sometimes quicker than updates can be had on the app.

[00:03:04] So always as you're traveling into. Places, just be aware that travel smart, travel pono responsibly, and you'll have a great time. And I hope you enjoy this episode with myself and Andrew. And if you do, just hit subscribe and that doesn't cost you anything. It's just next time the episode gets released, you'll get red on your player and you'll be able to hear the latest from Hawaii's Best and, uh, what's going on here?

[00:03:29] So, I'm yeah, wa here on the big island of Hawaii, hanging out with some family beautiful here on the west side. And I just wanna say, I hope you're having a great holiday wherever you're at. And I hope you enjoy this, uh, episode with myself and Andrew Fers of Shaka Guide today. We have a great packed.

[00:03:53] We're joined again with Andrew Fers, the co-founder and c e O of Shaka Guide. What's going on, [00:04:00] Andrew? How you doing?

[00:04:00] Andrew Fowers - Shaka Guide: Thank you so much, Brian, for having me. Yeah, this is becoming a thing and this is like our third or fourth episode together and yeah, I'm really excited about this one going into it. Yeah, me too.

[00:04:11] I mean, I'm just hoping we can get through it all. There's a lot to talk about , but I'm excited. Yeah. So the plan is today we're gonna be talking about Oahu, also known as The Gathering Place, and Andrew could kind of maybe kick off our conversation of Oahu. Why is it called The Gathering Place? And give us a little overview of the.

[00:04:33] Oahu is actually wasn't the capital at the beginning. It was actually Kona, but the capital of Hawaii was moved to Oahu. It's a gathering place for many reasons. It's been the major port for Hawaii with the Pearl Harbor. Right now. It has about a million plus locals that live here and many more visitors.

[00:04:54] Um, we get, I think it's the most trafficked island here in, in. [00:05:00] But there's perfect combination of like tons of cool beaches. Yeah, epic surfing. And then you also have these rainforest hikes all within very close proximity. So it really just packs a punch with a lot of stuff to do with a short amount of distance between each.

[00:05:16] Yeah, Oahu being home to, like you mentioned, the state capital of Honolulu. And when people talk about or think about Hawaii, they think about Honolulu Waikiki, but Oahu has so much more to offer. Each island is unique and awesome, and it's. Own right. You can't, you can't choose the wrong island, basically.

[00:05:34] But, but exactly. . But maybe there's an island that is kind of, you know, best for you or your stage of life if you're a young family or if you just got married or if you're retired. Maybe take us around the island and kind of describe each of the different shores of the island, different sides of the island.

[00:05:50] Yeah, definitely. So let's start with like the main hub there in like Honolulu and downtown. So Honolulu and Waikiki kind of bleeded together. They're [00:06:00] very close to each other. Honolulu is more of the business district, but there's this cool up and coming kaka ACO area where there's some cool like coffee shops and, and little boutique shops and just some fun place to walk around.

[00:06:13] Waikiki itself. You know, we have of course, tons of shopping there, lots of hotels. If you keep going out east, we have like the East Oahu portion where there is like Koma Bay and Diamond Head and some cool stuff out that side. If you go to the. Windward side, which you, when you go over the mountains, you have Kailua, which is kind of a main hub out there near Kanye.

[00:06:37] It's kinda like a beachy town, uh, with some cute cafes, local shops and beaches and stuff. It's definitely much more rainy and green on the. Windward side, just the mountains kind of block the rain in there. Yeah, so keep going around the island, we got the north shore. This is where we have epic big wave surfing.

[00:06:55] You have some cool shrimp trucks and food trucks. [00:07:00] JVA is a really fun little beach town there as well to hang out sunset. And then as you come back down the island on the west side, we. Kind of like the western portion of Hawaii. And, and this is like the kale region, but there's also, and, and that's where I live by the way.

[00:07:17] But there's also Colina, which is more of a resort district area. The Nats has the Alani, it has the Marriott Hotel there. So that's a nice, really manicured place for beach walks and stuff. I enjoyed going there with my family on the weekends. And then of course you have like a central Oahu, which is more of like where locals.

[00:07:36] That's kind of near the Pearl Harbor area, iea, Pearl City, stuff like that. So that's kind of, I guess you call it the grand tour. You know, five second overview of the island . Each one of those sides of the island each, each one of those regions is so unique and, and that's why one of the things that we like to encourage people traveling to Hawaii is.[00:08:00]

[00:08:00] Oahu your first stop because of like what Andrew this mentioned. There's so much to take in and each area is, its, has its own personality and this uniqueness to it that you just have to experience. Like, what I love about Kailua and, and the winter side of the island is, , it's got this, you know, kind of hometown feel.

[00:08:19] You got farmer's markets, you got, you know, stuff like that going on where you can really see and experience the life of the community. Andrew, what about you? If you had to choose, you know, kinda one region, like what's one of your favorites? I mean, I think Waikiki gets a lot of attention, but me personally, I really love the new cock aco, Chinatown, downtown area.

[00:08:42] I mean, when people think of Hawaii, they don't think of like a cool city center. They think of more of like jungles and beaches. But there's this, uh, part of Kaka ACO that has tons of these, uh, art mural. And it's just so much fun. So there's these little bikes you can [00:09:00] rent in town here by the hour. And so what I would recommend and I like to do with my family is you rent a little bike and you go and you see all these cool murals just within 10, 15 minutes of a bike ride.

[00:09:12] You go around, see all these cool murals, grab a bike to eat and then walk out to the beach and like watch the sunset. It's just beautiful town. That also has a cool night scene as well. If you're. , just kind of paint people a picture of, of where it's at. So if you're, say you're in Waikiki. Mm-hmm. , you gotta go past Ala Moana, right?

[00:09:31] That's right. So about 10, 15 minutes past Alamo Moana, you'll start to hit like the Kaka ACO and downtown and Chinatown. Those are all kind of right next to each other. . Yeah. There's some good, good eats happening over there right now. So . Oh yeah. Guaranteed. I mean, those are some of the newest restaurants.

[00:09:50] Yeah. Uh, really innovative type stuff. And it's a little bit more, I think, local pricing as opposed to tourist pricing on some of the those restaurants. That's a good point. We're going to [00:10:00] Oahu and we're staying in this region, or we're staying on that side of the. Now many people reach out to, I know, to Shakka Guide and, and to us at Hawaii's best asking for recommendations on, you know, where to stay, though a fairly large island, only a few areas you'll be able to find kind of resort areas and hotels.

[00:10:17] Yeah. Yeah, so there's basically three main hotel areas, Waikiki Colina, which is on the west side I mentioned. Yeah. And then Turtle Bay, which is on the tip, the the far northern tip of the North Shore. So those are kind of the quote unquote resort areas where there's more of the traditional, larger hotels.

[00:10:37] All of them have their different pros and cons. I. Waikiki is definitely much more of like urban feeling. Turtle Bay and Coline are a little bit more remote, somewhat less convenient if you're wanting to like grab a bite. I mean, there's not as many restaurants out there, but the other option of course is like some Airbnb or V R B O, like vacation rentals.

[00:10:56] Mm-hmm. . Those are kind of spread out all throughout the island. [00:11:00] Hawaii does have pretty strict vacation rental rules here, so you'll find that many of 'em are like a 30 day minimum stay. There are some legal ones that you can stay for less, but they're, they're usually pretty popular. Cool thing is vacation rentals are legal in Waikiki and Turtle Bay in some places.

[00:11:20] Those actually are great options. , if you kind of wanna condo with a kitchen right. To kind of cook from, you know, check out Airbnb and V R B O. There's some great options there. But kind of outside of that, the, the laws are pretty strict here. Yeah. And if you are wanting to kind of do more of the eat. at the condo, have a kitchen.

[00:11:39] I would definitely maybe recommend looking at the west side as well. Mm-hmm. , you got Costco there, you got, you know, if you're traveling from the mainland, you got, you know, you got your target. Oh, heck yeah. I'm totally biased. . Cause I, I live on, I live on, I live on the west side. Yeah. It definitely has a lot of options in terms of like shopping in, in big box stores.

[00:11:58] Yep. But then it's also [00:12:00] pretty close to a nice beach. We have the coal beaches there, so. Right. I don't know, for me, Caple. It's a great hub to rest for the night and then be able to get out and it is a good launching point into the rest of the island as well. Oh yeah. I'm only like 20 minutes away from the North Shore too, so.

[00:12:17] Right. It's, it's an, it's a good combination there. Okay. And I know, you know, as you're listening to this, you're like, Slow down guys. There's so much that Dick can, and we're, we're gonna link this kind of epic blog article that'll kind of help go and cover all this even more in depth. So be sure to find that link in the show notes below.

[00:12:36] We'll link it on our social accounts as well. Okay. You know, the, the spot on the island, you're gonna stay, you know where you're gonna stay and hopefully you don't just get stuck there, right? You don't just get stuck at the resort and just sit my ties all day. But you venture out and you explore the rest.

[00:12:52] Oahu, what are some of the must dos around the island? Oh man, this is a long list, but if you're [00:13:00] like a first time visitor, I'm just gonna give you kind of a, a high level the, the must dos for first time visitors. I mean, for second time visitors. You can still hit this list cuz it's hard to finish it, but there's like different stuff to see.

[00:13:13] So first time visitors, you gotta check out Pearl Harbor, right? It's a war memorial. It's a pretty. awesome to kind of go and experience that what happened there in with the attack on Pearl Harbor. So that's about 25 minutes from Waikiki. Mm-hmm , definitely make some time to check out Pearl Harbor. There's some like other nearby stuff like the U s s Missouri Battleship Submarine, and then also an aviation museum.

[00:13:37] So if you're kind of into history, and it's cool to go to at least the US s Arizona at a minimum. All right, so Brit Harbor, check, what else? We gotta make sure we hit up. , if you're doing the North Shore Drive, there's a couple things to check out that either can make for a half day or like a full day, depending, and these are like different attractions that have different [00:14:00] paid things to do, but they're also just a cool little stopover.

[00:14:03] So depending, yeah, these things are, do plantation. And Plantation has like, You know, a maze. It has some tours you can check out. It's famous forts pineapple. Right? And pretty much what you're gonna want to do if you stop at Dole is get their Dole whip, which is like, oh yeah, a ice cream soft serve that's has a pineapple flavor.

[00:14:26] But usually I just kind of stop and get the ice cream and then yeah. You know, move on. And we still love to hit up the, uh, the train ride there anytime we , you know, it's cool. It takes you, I think the train ride too. Yeah. It takes you around the, uh, the plantation and you get to see pineapples grow mm-hmm.

[00:14:41] and, and different stages. And maybe the first time for you see it like, I didn't know pineapple grew like that. So it's kind of cool to take in. I mean, there's a bunch of cool stories too about the background of, of Dole Plantation, how it began to be that we talk about on our Circle Island tour in the Chaka Guide Out.

[00:14:58] Check that box Doll [00:15:00] Plantation. You gotta check it out. Yeah. Other things to check out, like Main, like bigger attractions would be the PCC or the Polynesian Culture Center. It's also can just be a pit stop for a bathroom break. Snacks. They have like a little food court with like some local little restaurants and food trucks.

[00:15:17] It's, it's really good. But if you really want to, uh, have a full like cultural experience, they have a theme park that represents seven different Polynesian cultures that you can check out, and they kind of have different villages that you walk around and learn through, learn about. Definitely something you need to do at least.

[00:15:35] For sure the first time, and you gotta do the luau on the night show. Super fun. Um, when I was in college, actually, I used to be a canoe pusher there at the PCC , so I have a warm, you know, place in my heart there for, for pcc. It's, it's a cool place to work and it supports the, uh, locals university next to it.

[00:15:54] You know, you're going there, you're gonna have a good time, but obviously you're gonna learn a lot too about the culture. Yeah. Yeah. [00:16:00] Super fun. Yeah. And these Polynesians and they talk about their, their islands and they just crack a bunch of jokes and it's just, it's just fun. Awesome. So if you're kind of keeping going around the island, the next one would be cool.

[00:16:11] Lower Ranch. This is a, a very huge ranch. They filmed a bunch of movies there like Jurassic Park. Lost 51st date, like just tons and tons. They kind of have more of like an adventure feel, so you can like rent an atv mm-hmm. and like drive around the park. You can ride horses, you can get in like a little jungle bus and they'll take you around and talk story.

[00:16:36] You know, it's, it's still a lot of fun. I would, I would definitely recommend the Cool Little Ranch as an option for some activities. It's also a good spot to grab some food too. Yeah. Yeah. They do have a nice, uh, plate lunch there. Yeah. Uh, little gift shop there. It's like family owned for like, like, I don't know, like five generations or something.

[00:16:54] It's, it's super cool. Like the guy there that runs it, I mean, I, I know him. Yeah. [00:17:00] Personally, so. . We got a couple spots on kind of the east side and talking specifically about the North Shore. I know we mentioned it earlier. Mm-hmm. , I think that's kind of like a, a must do, but when you get to the North Shore, it's like, okay, I'm at the North Shore.

[00:17:13] Uh, what do I do ? What do I do? ? I mean, first of all, just a heads up. The North Shore in the winter does get a little packed. Traffic can get, yeah, a little real so bad there sometimes. But that being said, just be prepared, you know, listen to some music. You know, we have a tour, a Shakka tour you can listen to.

[00:17:30] But what you do when you go to the North Shore is you just enjoy it. There is epic beaches, I mean legendary beaches. We got Boni Pipeline, sunset Beach, YME Bay. I mean, these are beaches that are. Epic. So you definitely have to stop in, check these beaches out, take some pictures, watch the surfers and be like, dude, I wish I could do that.

[00:17:55] Yeah. But at the same time, north Shore, you can grab, there's a bunch of food [00:18:00] trucks. I mean, outside of Hall Ava. There's food trucks, which is, that's like a small beachy town there with some boutiques and, and like food trucks. But there's also a bunch of food trucks along the North Shore, especially Kahuku.

[00:18:13] So, yeah, I mean, by the time you make it to the North Shore, it's lunchtime, you know, if you start at about nine 10. So yeah, grab a bite to eat. They're famous for shrimp out there, but they also have a bunch of other cool local food trucks. All varieties, all different nationalities. So grab a. Go to the beach, take some pictures.

[00:18:33] There is also a valley you can walk into. Mm-hmm. , the white man valley. It's, it's a paid thing, but you can walk and it's like a nature, walk through this cool, like Gish place to a waterfall at the end. So that's kind of a cool thing for families. It's actually the only waterfall you can see on the North Shore.

[00:18:51] Hiking a ton. So if you kind of want a waterfall experience for families, it's a good option. Little pricey, but you know, hey, you're on vacation, so . [00:19:00]

[00:19:01] Bryan Murphy: Yeah. You talk about the beaches and even though you know wintertime, you get the swells and you're not gonna want to. Get in that water unless you're a professional.

[00:19:10] Mm-hmm. , but the stream of beaches is called the seven Mile Miracle and mm-hmm. , he lists some of those beaches and just a seed to, to take it in like once you're at the North Shore. Yeah. There's these, these things to, to do, but the main thing is to really just take it in. Yeah. We touched a little bit on culture, but specifically I want to touch on the must do can't miss would be Elani Palace.

[00:19:36] Yeah, I, I think the Elani Palace is, it's close to town, first of all, so you don't need to go far from Waikiki to check it out. There is a paid to, to actually go inside the Elani Palace. This is the only palace that had hosted, you know, royalty. Mm. in all of the United States. And so it's, it's a special place.

[00:19:56] It has a, actually a, a sad story related to it and [00:20:00] how the monarchy was overthrown by foreign businessmen, but besides that, you can go and actually go inside of it and learn about it. Shakka Guide also has a walking tour on the outside in some of the other historical sites nearby. What are some of the other ones on Oahu to be?

[00:20:17] There's another walking tour for Waikiki. Waikiki is a beautiful resort district, but really if you peel back that, you know, layers of buildings, there's actually a ton of really cool history there in Waikiki and Right. So on the tour we try to actually, Help people connect with these place names, these stories, these people that helped make Waikiki what it is, not only now, but in the past.

[00:20:41] And so there's some really cool stories there about, you know, duke Kahan, Moku Princess, POHI Bishop, prince Koji. Those are some just heroes for Hawaii here that helped shape the the island and protect Hawaiian values. So definitely check that out if you have a chance. [00:21:00] Hey, I just wanna pop in real quick because I know this is a a lot of information to take in and we've simplified it.

[00:21:05] You can go to Hawaii's best travel.com/episode 58. That's episode five eight where you'll be able to find this blog post that we referenced, and you can find some other information there. That'll be helpful for you planning your next trip to Oahu, and please consider to rate and review this podcast if you're listening on Apple Podcast right now.

[00:21:27] Appreciate that. So right now, let's go ahead and jump back into my conversation with Andrew from Shakka Guide. Okay. So we did all the things right. You know, you land, even you as you're descending into Honolulu. Just the views of Hawaii are just breathtaking and really Hawaii needs to be explored and needs to be, like we mentioned on a previous episode, to be explored responsibly talking about travel, pono, uh, mima, I taking care of the [00:22:00] land.

[00:22:00] As you get out there and you want to explore some of these beaches and these sites and hikes and, and all that. Maybe let's start with beaches first, Andrew, what are some of the popular beaches? Beaches to maybe check out? Yeah, definitely. So if you're here to, and I'm assuming that you're, we're here to just hang out at the beach, right?

[00:22:20] If you're looking to surf, then there's a whole nother. You know, discussion about where's the breaks and where's the surf spots. But if you're just looking to hang out, a good family friendly beach where you can get wet and you can have fun, maybe a little bit of wave action, but not too much. Really looking at Waikiki, that's a, a really perfect, really calm break, especially.

[00:22:41] In the summer months, it has a, a beautiful, nice barrel, long barrel so you can kind of catch the wave nice and gentle, bring it in. Also nice beaches to hang out and lounge. Yeah. The Waikiki Beach is actually ton of beaches, right? It's, it extends the entire strip of Waikiki. It also goes up in Alamo [00:23:00] and any of those beaches are good options to kind of just hang out for the day.

[00:23:04] Yeah, for sure. And then maybe kind of going around the, the east side a little bit, Ky. Yeah. Kailua is also a really fun beach. It's a very fine sand. It's just beautiful fine sand out there. Yeah. In the Kailua region there's this place called Loka Beach. It's also beautiful beach, but I, I kind of recommend skipping it.

[00:23:25] It just gets really difficult parking issues and there's been some local neighbors there that aren't happy, but it really is a beautiful beach. If you can check it out, just make sure you don't park it in front of someone's mailbox. Right. Yeah. That's that one with the, the two eyelets out there. Yes. And personally, my favorite beach in Kailua region is actually the Yi Manina Beach Park.

[00:23:47] Oh, okay. I mean, Kailua gets a lot of attention and Lonnie Kai gets a lot of attention, but frankly it's a little bit more crowded. So my go-to beach, if I just want to chill for the day, is Yi Manina Beach Park. Yep. That's a good spot, just a [00:24:00] beautiful beach. It also, you can see the mos, the two island islets from the distance.

[00:24:05] It has a great surf if you're looking to kind of get tossed a little bit in the summertime, but also in the wintertime it's just really calm waves to hang out. So, Yeah, I definitely check out, uh, Wyman Beach Park if you have a chance as well. Now we're going up the east side a little bit and we, we find ourself on the North shore here again during the summertime.

[00:24:23] It's pretty amazing. Like if, if you come, you come during the wintertime and you, you go up to the North Shore and it's just like, it's alive, it's roaring like you can hear mm-hmm. the ocean and it's like, really intimidating, actually. . Yeah. And then you come back, maybe next time you come back for a trip and it's summer and it's like, what?

[00:24:40] What just happened? What happened? ? Yeah. There's a lot of like people like what? Yeah. They see all these like videos. Like this is the North Shore, right? Right. But then it's like, it's like a Lake in the summer. So yeah, if you go to the North Shore, it's still fun to check out, but there's gonna be no surfers in the North Shore during the summertime.

[00:24:58] So it's still [00:25:00] fun to go check out and be like, This is Bonsai pipeline, even though it looks like , you know, a lake, but still worth it, worth it. Check it out as well. The other one to mention is Nicole Lagoons. Right? Um, this is a nice family friendly beach. It's actually manmade lagoons, but nice little boardwalk.

[00:25:16] I think there's four, five. Mm-hmm. lagoons there. You can walk, walk through and check out. So that one's a nice one as well. Nice day for a beach out there. Really perfect for families and young kids. Yeah. All right, so you, you did the beach. Now you're ready. Or maybe you, you want to do a hike and then you want to go chill at the beach.

[00:25:34] What are some hikes that you'd recommend for someone coming to Oahu? All right, so here's the quick roundup on the, on some easy cool hikes. A lot of these hikes are already very famous on Instagram. They're legal hikes. They're generally safe, but they also have some great views. Mm-hmm. . So just really quick, there's Diamond Head, which is right next to Waikiki.

[00:25:57] They do charge to get in, but you can [00:26:00] hike to the top of the Diamond head peak and get some epic views of Waikiki and down. Another one is Lonnie Kai, which is actually on the Kailua side of town, and that's a, a pillbox. And when, when they say pillbox in Hawaii, that's actually an old military bunker, right?

[00:26:18] Correct. After Japan attacks Hawaii, there's like a bunch of military bunkers that were built all over the island. And so a lot of the hikes in Hawaii on every side of the island are like these bunkers. That's kind of. How the trail was made, cuz they actually had to hike up and build these cement bunkers and there's like machine turrets right inside the bunkers, you know, it's like, dang.

[00:26:41] I mean it seems like Solano, but that was a really real fear back then. Mm-hmm. . So Lonnie ki pillbox with a, the lo kite bunker is a cool. Hike. I mean, it isn't residential, so you kind of have to again, watch your parking. But if you can find a good legal spot, there's a, a beautiful hike up to Lonnie Kai, oo.

[00:26:59] [00:27:00] Point Lighthouse. This is a state park, really nice, uh, parking lot so you don't have to worry about that. Yeah. Paved. And so you can kind of walk up with strollers if you have kids in the wintertime at ma kapu, you can actually see whales like Yeah. Breaching and stuff. So that's a, a really cool thing to do during the winter.

[00:27:18] One thing to note on that. Hi. Yeah. They do have parking available that can spill over and then people start mm-hmm. , you know, parking on the highway. And so just, yeah, just be really super careful that people, you know, crossing and it's, you know, it's a 45, you know, speed, speed zone there. So just be careful.

[00:27:35] For sure. Yeah, just be careful there. It does get busy. I recommend kind of going earlier in the day or later. In the evening. It just, there's no shade. And so it can get really hot if you're not prepared. But there's some, it's a beautiful place for a sunrise or sunset. That's true. All right. What, what's next?

[00:27:51] What else do we gotta make sure we hit up? This is, this is isn't a busy day . This is, I mean, and again, you can't really all hit this in, in, in one trip, so [00:28:00] maybe some of the stuff you kind of come back to Oahu a second time. Another thing would be the North Shore pill box. That hike is, is really popular on Instagram right now, but it overlooks like the Kana Valley.

[00:28:13] It's, it's really short hike. It's like, I don't know, like 0.5 miles. It's really steep. Mm-hmm. . So be careful. I mean, there has been some accidents where people slip there, but that's a cool hike to check out as well. . Awesome. And then, oh, the last one I forgot is Coco head. So Coco head is, it's like, uh, an old railroad tracks that, uh, go up this super tall mountain.

[00:28:34] It's actually an old crater, and at the top of co head you can see Hawaii Kai, you can see downtown. It's just a, a really fun hike if you're into the stair climber, 3000 type of a hike, . You know what's funny? We posted about COA head recently and mm-hmm. , some people say it's like the hardest hike ever. I couldn't do it.

[00:28:58] and then some are like, ooh, it was a [00:29:00] cake walk. So, yeah. I'm curious, like if you, if you, uh, do the hike, be sure to reach out and let us know. How was it for you? Yeah, definitely not all, may not be for all ages. Let's put it that way. You have to be a little fit to finish that one. All right. All right. Wow. We got our, our work cut out.

[00:29:17] Going to Oahu. But I think the main thing is to really just take in Hawaii, take in Oahu, take in the culture, the people pace yourself. Don't feel like you have to do all this, but um, these are some great options to, to choose from as you're planning your trip. And, and just one thing here, like, I live in Hawaii.

[00:29:37] I, I love this island. Sometimes a vacation isn't really about how much you do, right. But it's really about enjoying it one step at a time. And it's not about like super busy and like, I have to do everything. Yeah. I mean, those types of vacations are exhausting. So just plan to like enjoy yourself. See as much as you can.

[00:29:58] Enjoy as much of it as [00:30:00] you can, but don't try to do it all. It's, it's something that a vacation is meant to be. Enjoyed and not meant to be like a grueling marathon where you have to do everything at the same time and or in one trip. Ab Yeah, absolutely. As you're, you're talking, and, and I know we've said a few times, like take it in slow down and like, okay, what is that?

[00:30:22] Really mean. And I think if we had to sum it up, at least, uh, wanna hear from you too, Andrew, but like, it's to be present. Mm-hmm. . So, and I think that's just if we want to, you know, do a life philosophy here, but like , you're on vacation. Yeah. And it costs probably quite a bit of money. and you saved up for this and you got the family there, and you, you're doing the list and you, you and I think human nature, you kind of wanna like, okay, check the box and get to the next thing.

[00:30:46] But as best as we can to be present and to be in the moment of whatever activity you're doing, whatever restaurant you're mm-hmm. eating at even you're, even if you're eating. You know, spam at McDonald's, like, you know, that [00:31:00] experience the spam at McDonald's or whatever, . But like to really be in the moment because what you're gonna take from Hawaii are those memories and hopefully those times that you were bonding more closely to your loved ones that you travel with.

[00:31:13] Totally. It's, it's totally about the memories. Yeah. It's not about, you know, you gotta check all these boxes and do all this stuff. It's really about the memories enjoying the time that you spent with your family. And, and that's what I really love about what we do at Shakka Guide, is we actually take people around the island.

[00:31:29] We have six tours for Oahu. And what we do is, as you're driving the island, we help tell stories that help you connect better with what you're seeing. So it's not just, oh, that's a pretty beach. There's like, there's a really cool story and there's a history behind that. And also what you should do to be safe and be respectful of those areas.

[00:31:49] So I really love that as a part of what we do at Shakka Diet, and I hope that, I think that helps enhance your overall visitor experience. [00:32:00] So, yeah, check out Sha if you have a chance. It's, uh, you can download it on the app store. Just search Chaka Guide. Absolutely. Yeah guys, we will link all that and well also, we talked about this epic blog post, kind of like your go-to travel guide for the Island of Oahu.

[00:32:16] Andrew, thank you again so much for, uh, for coming on today. No problem. Thanks for having me. And welcome everyone to come to Oahu and check out this beautiful island. Absolutely. Thanks again guys for listening. Thank you for your time and until next time, be well. Aloha.

[00:32:37] Mahalo for listening to this episode of Hawaii's. Best to Stay up to date on future episodes. Please subscribe and visit us at hav hawaii's best travel.com.[00:33:00]