The North Shore

While I was in conference sessions today, Monica did some shopping in Waikiki. I say Waikiki, but it’s Honolulu too. Even when I lived here, I never knew where one ended and the other started. It’s weird being back here on the island after all these years. I was stationed at NAS Barbers Point from 1990-1994. We drove around to the west side of the island so I could show Monica where I used to work, but the base is apparently shut down and I couldn’t find it (more due to lack of a detailed map than the base having just disappeared). Obviously, the island has changed quite a bit in the last decade. A lot of the sugar cane fields on the western side are subdivisions and condos and there weren’t as many pineapple fields along the drive up to the north shore as I remembered (yep, pineapple grow on the ground and not in a tree!) But, thankfully, some things have stayed the same.

The North Shore is practically exactly as I remembered it, shaved ice stand and all although it’s so famous now that they sell t-shirts! We used to frequent Aoki’s shaved ice stand after a day of scuba diving. It’s easy to find – it’s right after the white arch bridge! It was a fun coincidence that the hostel we stayed in was right on the beach at a place called Three Tables where we used to scuba dive quite a bit back in the day!

Waimea Gardens is now an Audubon garden and has been expanded quite a bit. The waterfall at the end of the hike is still nice and cool though. That head in the water is me swimming in the pool at the bottom of Waimea Fall. We got tons of beautiful flower pictures, but I’ll do a whole post on that later just for my mom!

The North Shore will always be famous for it’s great surf beaches. I love the feel of the whole area, especially because there was some kind of law passed that prohibits the commercialization of it so it still feels like a beach/surf/scuba town. There was a sign on a fence that said “No mall at Shark’s Cove” (another old scuba dive haunt), so apparently it’s an ongoing battle. This 1940-something Woody was parked outside of a coffee shop I went in. Yep, the surfboards on the top are for real and the guy was just getting off work and was going surfing!

We were on our way for a shaved ice when we happened upon this Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle at Laniakea beach. It’s a Threatened species and is protected under the Endangered Species Act and Hawaii State law. The antenna on it’s back is a satellite transmitter so that scientists can track it’s migratory course. There was an observer there making sure that no one got too close while the turtle hung out and she said that these turtles can live to be 60-70 years old and can weigh up to 400 lbs! It was really cool to see.

So, even though we are now in Honolulu, I will continue to post about our adventures before we got to the city. We fly out on Wednesday, so hopefully I'll catch yall up before then!