When talking about Oahu, people think about Waikiki first. In the south, there are more to explore including Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, and hidden-gem Kahala Mandarin.
Same spot I enjoyed surfing in 1999
The reason it calls LONG board
Granted, Waikiki has distinctive mojo. During my first visit in 1999, I spent a lot of time around Waikiki, either swimming from one section to the other or surfing with short surfboard, and never got bored with any. Waikiki is close to all east, south, and North Shore attractions to serve a nice hotel base for your road trip. In addition, If you just want to stay around, not a problem, you can get fun easily day and night.
Waikiki beach is a very good surfing place for beginners because of its long and slowly getting deeper coral reef starting surf break far out. Surfing beginners can swim far away from beach to catch waist-high waves but still feel safe. Also, don’t forget Hula. I don’t know places in Waikiki for pro Hula dances. You certainly will find those performance when you visit Polynesian Cultural Center. I actually watched a Hula tournament in a Honolulu performance center during my first visit. The competition features Hula dances in all ages and combinations. All of them are very impressive. Don’t get wrong impression that Hula dance is exclusive privilege to female Hawaiian. Female Hula dance is absolutely elegant, but male Hula dance will pass on strong fighting spirits.
Man-made blockade that destroy original nice beach view.
My second Waikiki visit this time leaves me mixed feeling though. The whole area becomes more commercialized. There are more hotels and shopping centers. More man-made structures replace natural shoreline along Waikiki beach. I especially don’t like concrete wave blocks in front of sand beach. Water line seems take over part of original beach. Not only make beach shorter. Some places also are under water. It wasn’t that old Waikiki in my memory anymore.
The nearby Diamond Head is also good for short hike. It has some very steep stairs to climb up at the end. On the peak, you can see vast south Oahu and turquoise water. Since our parents can not do steep climb anymore, we didn’t go. Pearl Harbor is also a must-have trip in south Oahu. You can read more from this post.
Sea Turtle
Another good add-on is Kahala Mandarin Luxury Resort which offers great ocean view and dolphin pool from rooms. If you didn’t plan to stay over night there, you can park at nearby beach-front parking lot and walk over from public beach to their dolphin pool.
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Kahala Mandarin dolphin pool
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