Hawaiʻi

Eryn, EJ, and I vacationed in Hawaiʻi for a couple of weeks in August. We spent the first part of the trip in Honolulu on Oʻahu and the back half in Kona on Hawaiʻi.

Three masked people sit on a plane.
EJ has the window seat. Eryn graciously took the middle, and I’m on the aisle. — Off we go!

Oʻahu

We stayed at the Prince in Waikīkī. Not long after checking in, we walked to Kahanamoku Beach & swam in the warm Hawaiian water. Lovely.

A marina, full of boats, on a sunny day. — The view from our room

Erin, smiling, with arms outstretched, in the water at Duke Kahanamoku Beach. — Yay!

We went on a bit of a day trip on our first full day. We drove east to Makapuʻu, then north to Kailua, where Eryn and EJ put their feet in the water at the beach. For lunch, Erin tried poké for the first time! We drove back to Honolulu via Nuʻuanu Pali, and visited ハワイ（Hawaiʻi）出雲（Izumo）大社（Taisha）—Erin’s first time at a Shinto shrine—before returning to our hotel, where we spent the afternoon relaxing at the hotel pool. The pool’s bartender mixes one hell of a Mai Tai.

The Pacific Ocean as seen from Makapuʻu Lookout.
The sky is cloudy. There’s a beach along the left side of the shot. There is another island visible out in the water. — The view from Makapuʻu Lookout

Eryn helps EJ jump over waves at Kailua Beach on the windward side of Oahu. There are a number of other people in the water, with boogie boards and inner tubes. — Jumping over waves at Kailua Beach

Erin’s hands are in her hair and she’s making a strange face while standing in front of a Shinto shrine with a large, white torii gate. — Erin at Izumo Taisha

The next day we visited two parts of the Pearl Harbor National Memorial: the Arizona Memorial and the USS Bowfin museum boat. I would have liked to have toured the Missouri as well, but we didn’t want to push it with EJ. The three of us spent the afternoon swimming at Waikiki Beach. Erin was initially apprehensive—the waves are bigger than she’s used to—but she quickly warmed up to the warm, clear water. She might be part fish, she took to it so thoroughly. While at the beach we saw a man very convincingly dressed as Māui, but EJ was too shy to have her photo taken with him.

The USS Missouri (BB-63) floats in the waters of Pearl Harbor, as seen from the Arizona Memorial.
In the foreground, some rusted parts of the Arizona stick out of the water. — *Missouri* from the *Arizona* Memorial

Eryn and EJ at Waikiki Beach.
Both have their arms outstretched and are making silly faces.
Eryn is in a dark, speckled, one piece bathing suit.
EJ has flower-shaped goggles on, as well as a blue life jacket.
Underneath the life jacket, her bathing suit is pink. — Hamming it up at Waikiki Beach

We toured ʻIolani Palace the next day. I highly recommend it. Then we spent another afternoon reading and lounging by the pool.

The facade of ʻIolani Palace.
The palace is two stories, with a central tower of three.
There are palm trees to either side of it.
The American flag is flying from its flag pole. — ʻIolani Palace

The barracks at ʻIolani Palace.
The short, single-storey building appears to be based on a European castle.
The Hawaiian flag hangs from its flag pole. — The palace barracks

Hawaiʻi (the big island)

We stayed at Kona Makai on the big island. Our first few days there were pretty low-key. We finally had a kitchen, so we were able to have meals at home. One highlight of those days was the submarine ride we went on around Kailua Bay. We saw lots of coral and fish, and even a couple of shipwrecks!

A sunset is obscured by tropical trees.
Above the trees, a cloudy sky.
In the left of the photo there are some buildings which are lit up by the setting sun. — Our Kona view

A row of four portholes reveal bubbly ocean water beyond the interior of a submarine. Blue seating is aligned with the portholes. — Portholes

One day we drove to Kīlauea in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. We walked among steam vents and through the Nāhuku lava tube. It was incredible. After the park, we continued counter-clockwise around the island to Hilo, where we saw the Naha Stone and had dinner before heading back to Kona.

A cloudy sky over a barren landscape.
In the center is the main crater of Kilauea, the most active of Hawaii’s volcanoes. — Kilauea

Two blurry figures walk away from the camera inside a cave.
The amber lights in the cave make everything appear orange. — Eryn and EJ explore the Nāhuku lava tube

On another day, we visited Magic Sands Beach on Laʻaloa Bay. What a beautiful spot. Erin says it was her favorite part of the whole trip.

A wave is about to break at a beach.
A number of people are attempting to ride the wave with boogie boards.
Other people sit or stand on the beach and watch.
The sun is obscured by clouds. — Magic Sands

We spent our last night at a lūʻau: Island Breeze Luau, right next to Ahuʻena Heiau at the north end of Kailua Bay. Erin was especially impressed by the Samoan fire knife dance.

An ancient-looking straw structure stands on dark, igneous rock in the middle of an idyllic harbor. — Ahuʻena Heiau

Erin is sitting at a table.
She’s in a dark, floral dress, and has a purple and white lei draped around her neck.
There’s a half-eaten piece of white cake on her plate. — Erin at the lūʻau

After checking out on our last day, we drove up to Mauna Kea. Our rental car barely made it to the visitor center. Afterwards we had lunch at Hiro’s Place, an 御菜屋（okazuya） in Hilo, where I finally got Erin to try Spam musubi. (She loved it.) Afterwards we took the belt road counter-clockwise back to Kona, which, combined with our other big driving day, means we drove the entire circumference of the island over the course of the visit.