Top 5 Things To Do in Oahu, Hawaii

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Hanna Mak, Guest Blogger

I'm thrilled to introduce Beyond Voyage's first guest blogger, Hanna, who will be sharing a series of articles about her recent visit to Oahu, Hawaii.  After hearing about Hanna's Hawaiian adventures, Oahu has moved several levels up on my bucket list!  

~ Eva

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Hi there!  My name is Hanna.  You may know me from an earlier Beyond Voyage blog post: Dancing Over Boston with the Makenbrocks. To quickly recap, my husband, Steve and I got married in March 2014.  We decided to wait a little bit before we went on our honeymoon to Hawaii. This gave us the time to research and plan everything we wanted to do. To round out our wedding celebrations, we’ve decided to document our trip here.  So without further ado, here are our top five recommendations if you ever find yourself in Oahu!

1. Bring Your Hiking Shoes!

Or sneakers or any sturdy shoes that have a good grip. Hawaii boasts plenty of hiking trails and waterfalls, many of which are free to get into or charge a very low admission price.  

We hiked Diamond Head, an inactive volcanic vent, and one of Oahu’s most popular landmarks. 

View from Diamond Head trail

The hike is 0.8 miles (1.3 km) up and can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2.5 hours to complete depending on your fitness level and your pace. Once up there, you can see Waikiki and expansive views of the Pacific.

Gorgeous ocean views from Diamond Head!

Just make sure you go earlier in the day and bring water. The park opens at 6 AM and is much cooler in the morning. We went at 8 AM and it was already starting to get very warm. Admittance is $1 per person on foot or $5 per car if you’re driving (cash only).

We also suggest you hike Manoa Falls on the same day. This trail is also 0.8 miles long (1.3 km) through a lush rainforest. The flora here is amazing with lots of banyan trees and beautiful plants that are so big, you feel like you’re back in prehistoric times.

One of many massive Bird of Paradise flowers.

Steve (who is over 6 feet tall) walking through a Banyan tree.

In my opinion, Manoa Falls trail is slightly more difficult than Diamond Head. The last five minutes of the trail requires climbing over wet, muddy and very slippery boulders, but this is what you’re greeted with when you come to the end:

It’s best to climb Manoa Falls after Diamond Head since the rainforest will provide a canopy for shade and tropical rains that will cool you off.  Do bring water and perhaps a snack for when you get to the end. If you’re doing both hikes without eating in between, you’ll get hungry when you get to the top. Admission is free if you walk in or $5 for parking. If you are prone to bug bites, bring some bug spray just in case.  

2. Zipline On The North Shore

Hawaii is more than just aquatic adventures. If heights don’t bother you, then try ziplining at CLIMBWORKS at Keana Farms on the North Shore.

Keana Farms is an actual working farm where they grow all sorts of goodies like papayas and apple bananas. As we went through each line, the team taught us a lot about the rich culture of the land and of course, how to zipline (and not to zipline):

This is how NOT to zipline...until you get to the end!

We had such a blast going through all of the lines, learning to zip upside down (it wasn’t that hard!) and even rappelling (it’s very scary to jump off platforms).  

3. Take A Helicopter Ride...Doors Optional

If you’re REALLY fearless with heights, let’s step it up a notch, shall we? Try a helicopter ride with the doors off. That’s right, no doors!  

Steve and me with Bob, our pilot, AFTER we safely landed.

This provides the best views and photo ops (no glare from the windows). It can take you to places you physically can’t get to anymore such as Sacred Falls:

Because of a major accident in 1999, Sacred Falls has been banned for hikers. The same holds true for the Haiku Stairs (Stairway to Heaven). With its dizzying heights and sometimes vertical ascent, this stairway is also closed to the public and guarded at the entrance. The only (safe and legal) way to see both is via helicopter.

The Haiku Stairs (or Stairway to Heaven) can only be seen via helicopter. 

4. Ride in Underwater...Scooters?

I have a secret, I can’t swim. As a non-swimmer, it’s very difficult to find things to do when you go on an island vacation. Everything is all about the water, all of the time. For instance: swim in the ocean (can’t), go surfing (definitely can’t), snorkel (I freak out if my feet can’t touch the bottom) or learn to dive (this is downright impossible).

So of course what should one do if one can’t swim? Find aquatic activities that don’t require any actual swimming of course! Meet BOB (Breathing Observation Bubble), an underwater scooter that has a built-in helmet that is filled with air supplied by an oxygen tank:

Meet BOB - taking non-swimmers to new depths!

BOB allows non-swimmers and swimmers alike to go down to a max of 30 feet. This allows everyone to see all of the wildlife in their natural habitat without the need to go diving. Each scooter is manned by an electric motor that allows you to steer through the water. For any non-swimmers interested, the BOB sits within the water the whole time. To get on one, the crew brings the BOB closer to the boat, you grab the edge of the helmet, hold your breath and duck inside the water and into the helmet. Your guide holds onto you the whole time. This was the scariest part for me but once I was in, I was good to go.  

One word of caution, it may feel a little claustrophobic inside with your head in the helmet and the rest of your body in the water.  The water pressure can also get to your ears if you can’t pop them but if you can, it’s an awesome ride with all of the tropical fish and turtles.  

We spotted this stunning giant sea turtle from our BOB.

Make sure you bring motion sickness remedies with you. We took Dramamine and shared it with several others on the boat. The currents were strong that day, so even people who normally don’t get seasick felt nauseous.

5. Go Shark Diving

So how do I top each adventure I’ve just had? The obvious answer is to dive with sharks. Surprisingly this can be enjoyed by a non-swimmer as well.   

So how does it work? We booked a trip with Hawaii Shark Encounters in the North Shore.  This is where most of the sharks are located off Oahu. A small boat takes you about three miles offshore. A cage is set in the water. The cage has bars inside that you can hold onto. You can stand on the railings and hold onto the bars so you never need to know how to swim. The crew provides a snorkel mask for everyone. Just like the BOB adventure, the scariest thing was ducking my head in the water with the snorkel mask. Encountering the sharks was the easy part!

Our cage with Hawaii Shark Encounters

So how do the sharks know to come over? It’s actually the sound of the boat that entices the sharks to come. That’s because it reminds them of fishing boats that often throw leftover chum into the water after a fishing trip. So when the sharks hear a boat, they think “buffet.” Don’t worry, once they see you, they realize it’s not time to eat but rather time to get to know humans a bit better. They won’t try to eat you (unless you want to stick your arm out) because you’re not tasty to them. They much prefer stinky fish heads.

When you’re down there, you’ll see smaller species of sharks such as the Sandbar and Galapagos. They range about 5-7 feet in length:

The sharks, up close and personal.

On a rare occasion you may see a tiger shark. Great Whites are not known to come here, they prefer much murkier and colder waters of Massachusetts and South Africa. 


We tried our our very hardest to get a shark selfie but the closest we could get was my foot and Steve’s knee in the photo:

Attempt at a shark selfie

 
If you decide to do this tour, we suggest you go as early as possible. We did the 6 AM tour and while it sounds super early, it wasn't that bad because we were waking up as if we were on US East Coast time. The water is less choppy early in the morning which helps a lot for seasickness.  Just make sure you add an hour of drive time if you’re staying in Honolulu.

We crammed all of this into seven days so it was an action-packed vacation. If you do stay in Oahu longer, you can do all of this at a much more leisurely pace with some lazy beach and pool days in between. And of course, no vacation would be complete without lots of food. Stay tuned for my next post where I take you on a food tour of Oahu!