Exploring the Oahu North Shore

Aug 28,2009

We decided to rent a van from Enterprise and explore the Island of Oahu. We started following the coastline heading out towards Diamondhead and following the coastline to the North Shore. The island gets more affordable the more North you go. The real estate is less expensive and the communities are frequently little hamlets centered around agriculture and farming. We explored an old sugar mill and Macadamia nut farm. We stopped for lunch and found a PADI dive shop called Aaron’s and decided to book our open water certification dives which involved 4 separate dives. We also decided that we would by new masks, snorkels and fins for Tracie, Nick and I who always have a difficult time with fitting rental equipment. Diving is a remarkable experience but it can never be described as a cheap activity. The certification dives worked out to $85/dive X 4 dives X 6 people. Yikes! However, if you had a choice to get certified in Hawaii or Calgary the decision is pretty easy. The dives would take place on the Monday and Tuesday of the following week.
After we spent our budget on diving, we carried on up through the north part of the island and drove to the Polynesian Cultural center. We decided not to take it in this time as it was getting later in the day and Stan was not overly keen on it. We stopped at a shrimp farm called Giovanni’s and sampled some of their prawns at their shrimp hut which is essentially 2 trailers and a tent strategically placed near the Highway in from of their shrimp ponds. Neat experience.
As we were driving we saw this massive temple which we went to explore. Tuned out it was a Mormon temple ( Jesus Christ of latter day Saints) as they like to be called. The temple was under renovations but we saw the interpretive center. It was all of our first time in such a place and it reminded us all of a sterile funeral home. Needless to say, it was a short stop.
You cannot drive along a coast all day and not go swimming when you have kids in the car. We stopped at Turtle Bay (which is right beside Sunset Beach) and let the kids swim out to the island and snorkel for a bit. We watched the sunset and then packed up for home in Waikiki.