December, 2022
Hawaii
Write your introduction here.
Oahu, Hawaii — December 26, 2022
Four days, seven cities and they are finally here!
Oahu, Hawaii — January 2, 2023
Well, this is a long one because I didn’t think I’d have so much to talk about... Note that the food part of the story is still to come. We are not seasoned Hawaii travellers, having only visited Maui and the big island when the kids were younger. The week on Oahu flew by and was the best time we’ve had in Hawaii. Hiking, surfing, scuba and great food. No surfing photos as we were all rocking wetsuits 50 metres from shore to catch the waves. Suffice it to say it was a fantastic time and Mike from Mike’s Surf School in Kahuku on Oahu’s North Shore, is an awesome teacher. We all got vertical!
Our first day, we hiked the Waimano Falls trail. Despite it being a fairly short trail (about 5km out and back), it was pretty steep in areas and required a lot of scrabbling over roots and rocks. And what a treat at the bottom!
The waterfall drops into a very cold pool…as the old saying goes, “it’s fine once you get in!”. The rope swing is the icing on the cake
Wardrobe change!
Stunning sunsets every night
At least the dog is getting a walk
Scuba day with Big Kahuna Watersports. Greg, the owner, was amazing and took us through the basics of scuba, use of equipment and hand signals. Thirty minutes or so later, the five of us were suited up and ready to dive under Greg and another instructor's supervision. Snorkelling is fun and you see such beauty but scuba is a whole other level. I'm so grateful we were able to experience it safely (max depth 35 ft) even though we are not certified. The kids, however, are keen to go the distance and want to plan a sibling scuba certification trip!
This year’s New Year family pic!
Robyn lounging on the ocean floor
Me practicing my ballet moves
Adam has fully embraced the Shaka culture of friendship, gratitude, compassion and solidarity. It’s very common here as this is a very friendly place inspiring lots of gratitude! The origins of this hand sign is debatable but local lore tells the tale of guy called Hamana Kalili who lost his three middle fingers working at the Kahuku Sugar Mill. Kalili could no longer do the same job once he recovered from his injury so he guarded the sugar train instead. His all-clear wave of his remaining thumb and pinkie is said to have inspired the shaka
Evan Lorant getting up close and personal with a sea cucumber. I know what he is thinking…if I take it back to Halifax, will it go in my fish tank or my sandwich?
The next thing you know, Greg swims over to a little gap in the rocks and and teases out a friend. After a substantial ink release, he stayed to play with us
I think he liked Robyn the best and wanted to keep her, wrapping his tentacles around her hands
So beautiful
And now it’s time to leave. Notice at the end when he slides under the rock, he’s got a buddy waiting
The next hike we attempted was the Koko Crater Rim. There were signs indicating this ridge trail was closed but people had rated it on AllTrails just a few days before so, of course, the signs must be wrong… We started with a bit of bushwhacking, the first indicator that the trail was not very well used…
The trail changed very quickly and all seemed fine when we came out into the sun and continued our ascent. But the trail got narrower and the edge into the crater got closer and closer…
We had to make the parental safety decision to turn around and find another hike
Second attempt was a surprising winner! We headed over to the Lighthouse Hike, apparently Obama’s favourite. It’s a paved, winding road up the hill to a lighthouse. Beautiful views and not particularly challenging. Great for kids, strollers and flip flops. The kids peered over the edge at one of the lookouts and spied tide pools way down at the bottom of the mountain so that became our winner of a hike
Making our way down the mountainside. Not great for flip flops but we did see a few people wearing such footwear and worse!
The tide pool was a perfect temperature and we had it to ourselves for a while. We didn’t bring bathing suits and towels from the car as we didn’t know we would end up here. We went in wearing our clothes
How’s that for a LinkedIn profile pic?
There’s the lighthouse peeking out
Evan totally fits the vibe here
A bit further along the shoreline rocks we found three blowholes. The other two shot up a fine mist occasionally but this one just seemed to shoot up air. Perfect spot to dry off…so we thought!
Back to the North Shore to experience the surfing beaches and watch the pros. Sunset Beach had stunning waves but not much surfing action
Next to Sunset Beach we found Banzai Pipeline where waves can be anywhere from two feet to 40 feet. It’s hard to tell how big the waves are but use the surfer in this video to get a sense of scale
A stop at Waikiki Beach on our last night. Lots of people on the beach and surfers bobbing about in the water enjoying the sunset
Aloha Oahu. Mahalo for all the amazing experiences!
Oahu, Hawaii — January 5, 2023
When it comes to food, Hawaii runs the gamut from incredibly healthy to well, not so healthy. It’s all part of the Shaka balance. I do think I could live on poke, garlic shrimp and açai bowls, with an occasional shave ice and malasada thrown in for good measure
The famous Giovanni’s Garlic Shrimp. This is the original truck, in Kahuku on the North Shore. Once a pristine white truck, someone surreptitiously inked their name on it. Then someone else. And another. And now it is covered in graffiti. They’ll pass you a sharpie so you can add your own name and message. This year marks 30 years in business. The original husband and wife team started the business in 1993 and then sold it to the current owner three years later. The business took off (now four trucks, one brick and mortar location, and a whole bunch of copycats) and I guess the wife regretted selling and tried to force the current owner to sign the business back over to her at gunpoint in 2001. She ended up being convicted of kidnapping, robbery, extortion and theft. So much for the chill aloha vibe…
I debated having the half order of six shrimp and one scoop of rice. I was convinced that among the other four on my team, whatever I couldn’t eat would be happily consumed. Needless to say, nobody got my leftover shrimp scampi (marinated in olive oil, garlic and lemon butter) as there were no leftovers!
The aftermath
Smoothies to go along with the shrimp
The famous Hawaiian shave ice is NOT a snow cone. The real thing is fluffy like snow. The concept was started in the mid-1800s by Japanese immigrants who came to Hawaii to work in the sugar and pineapple fields. To cool off from the hard and hot work, they shaved ice using their tools and sprinkled the shavings with sugar or juice. Matsumoto’s opened in the early 50’s and must have had the right combination of texture and flavour because it is still going strong, now passed to the second generation. Always a lineup and lots of bees waiting around for a sample.
Getting dressed
I had mango, likikoi (passion fruit) and lychee. Robyn had mango, cherry and lilikoi. Delicious
Also perched along the north shore highway is the super cute Sunrise Shack, with spectacular smoothies and bowls. Three brothers and a friend who sold fruit from their backyard with the goal of making enough money to spend two months surfing in Hawaii. They reached their goal and chased waves around the world. They never lost their passion for the fruit stand and in 2016, opened this little Sunrise Shack. Six years later, they five shacks dotted around Oahu.
I had the papaya bowl filled with fruit, granola, peanut butter, seeds and honey. Amazing!
Another Oahu institution. Leonard, the son of Portuguese immigrants, and his wife opened their bakery in 1952. Shortly after opening, Leonard’s mother suggested making malasadas, a traditional Portuguese bun, for Shrove Tuesday. Out of respect, but not expecting such an ethnic item to be of interest to his customers, Leonard complied. It was a huge success and 70 years later, the bakery is still cranking them out
The malasada is basically a cream-filled donut. (The cream is not traditional but why not fill ‘er up?) What makes these special is they are made to order, so super fresh and warm in the box. We managed to justify nine malasadas between the five of us so we could try each flavour. This was one of the few donuts I’ve had since my undergrad days when three or four of us would get a dozen as study aides and eat them all in one sitting. Not sure how helpful they were to the learning but they sure contributed to the Freshman 15”
Ah, poke…can never get enough. And you’d never guess that the Foodland grocery store chain makes among the best poke on the island! We learned that poke from Foodland is really only a lunch gig as they sell out by early afternoon.
And then there’s the hole in the wall, independent poke shop. Maguro Spot. If you’re ever in Honolulu, it is definitely worth the lineup. It’s a tiny shop that fits a single file line on one side of the counter and the chefs on the other side get about as much space.
I had tuna, blue marlin, edamame, cucumber, avocado and seaweed over brown rice with Hawaiian sauce. Best poke bowl ever!
These will blow your socks off! And you foolishly keep eating them to distract you from the burning going on in your mouth
Seven Brothers Burgers is another North Shore institution. There are actually seven brothers (no sisters) whose parents decided to create their own income to support their brood. They loved the idea of a family business so they opened a restaurant. You’d never think a restaurant owned by a family with seven growing boys could possibly make any money but they did something right! Thirteen years later, they are a family of 38 (that’s what happens when you have a lot of kids!) making burgers in ten locations in the US. Thanks Paige Kraft for the recommendation!
My son with the hinged jaw. Alex Lorant was determined to wrap his mouth around this burger from Seven Brothers
Island vintage shave ice was excellent. What I loved about it was the natural flavours. No point in messing about with other flavours and add-one. Lilikoi all the way!
Kono’s pulled pork is reputedly the best anywhere. Twelve slow roasted hours and a killer guava bbq sauce will bring Kono’s to the top of the list for sure. I had the nacho variation with pickled jalapeños and cheese. Nachos for dinner!
Not food for us but, sadly, food for some other creature. Not the best camouflage skills…but he would be fairly well camouflaged in my Kono’s nachos…