Marder Home Page Blog: Marders in Oahu: Day 4

Marders in Oahu: Day 4
Touring Oahu's Northern coast.

Nate & Alyssa suggested that we tour the north coast of Oahu. We followed their suggestions and visited several nice spots along the way. We headed northeast out of Lanikai and traveled through Kaneohe to our first stop, Kualoa beach park. Here we were able to see the famous "Chinaman's Hat" island just off the coast. Patty also spotted a small crab in the tidal pool that we got a photo of. We continue to head north and briefly stopped at the Polynesian Cultural center. But just like Wally World, it was closed. So, we pushed on our auto tour and continued to head northwest now. So far, all we saw here was actually on the so-called windward coast. Now as we turned northwest, we entered the area called the North Shore. Here the climate is a little different. It's a little drier and hotter up here. We passed through Turtle Bay and kept driving west now. We stopped for lunch (using Nate & Alyssa's suggestion) at the shrimp trucks in Haleiwa. Yum, yum delicious. At these places you get a plateful of garlic-steamed shrimp and some white rice. After chow-ing down, we headed back east and stopped at another of their suggestions: the beach at Jocko point. Just as predicted, here we saw several Hawaiian green sea turtles basking on the beach. They were magnificent! We also spotted some surfers enjoying the best surfing spot in Oahu (North Shore). Our next stop was just down the road at Waimea Falls park. Here we saw beautiful botanical garden and a water fall. We also enjoyed some of the Hawaiian shaved ice treats. We got back in the car and headed back south, making a counter-clockwise loop home. Our last stop was at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We didn't have time to see their attractions (train ride or labyrinth) but did manage to purchase some souvenir snack foods (macadamia nuts and pineapple treats).