The beautiful Island of Oahu,Hawaii. I am writing about Hawaii because summer is just around the corner and I know that many of you are deciding on your next summer destination.
I wanna share our Oahu,Hawaii 2012 to everyone, mainly because I think that this is the most affordable vacation I've ever planned, and we had the best time of our lives.
Laniakea Beach, also known as the Turtle Beach. Located at 61-676 Kamehameha Hwy, Haleiwa HI 96712. If you want to see a green sea turtle habitat up close and personal this is the place to be. And the best thing about it is it's FREE!.
Only downside is there isn't really an assigned parking for this place, we had to walk for maybe 3-5 minutes from where we found a spot to park.
That's my son and my husband
Look at them, there we're about 30-40 people surrounding them and they were just hanging out like it's not a big deal. I though it was really amazing
See how much people were there, there was a red line around the turtles and a couple of I thought were volunteers to make sure they are not being harmed by visitiors/tourist.
Can you count how much turtles are laying on the sand?
There were turtles in the water trying to get to the shore, I saw about 4 turtles riding the waves to get to the sand, pretty amazing experience.
Just more pictures of green sea turtles, according to the volunteer tending the turtles most of them were about 45-65 years of age and they come by the shore to lay their eggs.
MALAMA NA HONU <3
(CARE FOR THE TURTLES)
Dole plantation,located at 64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy Wahiawa, Hawaii 96786. There is no entrance fee, but the activities inside "IF" you want to do, it has a separate fee. Which I thought was still very affordable.
For the "Pineapple Express" it's $8.50 for adults, $6.50 for children 4-12 years of age and children under 4 years old are free. It's a 20-25 minute train ride with a tour guide that will narrate the history of the dole plantation while traveling the 2 mile pineapple farm.What I loved about this is at the end of the train ride a dole plantation personnel greets you with free pineapples.
For the "Plantation Garden Tour" it's $5.00 for adults, $4.25 for children 4-12 years of age and children under 4 years old are free.We did not go to this tour because it was raining a little bit when we visited the dole plantation plus we only planned to do one activity.
For the "World's Largest Maze" it's $6.00 for adults, $4.00 for children 4-12 years of age and children under 4 years are free. This maze made it to Guinness World of Record for being the worlds biggest maze.
A pineapple garden in the center of the Dole Plantation, featuring different kinds of pineapple around the world.
Waiting for the Pineapple Express "whooooot, whooot!.
Tiniest pineapple I've seen in the Plantation
My hubby,myself and my youngest sister during the very informative 2 mile train ride, as the tour guide talks about the exciting history of the plantation in Hawaii.
If you guys end up visiting the farm, don't forget to feed these poor hungry K oi fish for $0.25 cents.
Hanauma bay, probably one of the most famous tourist spot for snorkeling in Oahu, located at 7455 Lalanianaole Hwy Honolulu Hawaii 96825.There is a $7.50 entrance fee and if you don't have a snorkeling equipment you can rent it there for $5.00 the whole day.They are open everyday except Tuesdays, I don't know why.
This shot was taken by my husband
Nice view from the top,from the entrance all visitors are required to watch a 5 minute video about preservation of Hanauma Bay and how we can't feed the fishes or take any corals or step on the reef. Which I agree on because this paradise on earth needs to be preserved for our kids kids to experience in the future. I can see my son snorkeling in this bay with his family 20-30 years from now.
You can walk down to the bay or you can ride a shuttle, If I remember it right its $0.50 to go down and $0.75 to go up. To walk down is easy but for getting back up. I had to ride the shuttle.
I liked snorkeling here because there are life guards present and the water is very calm. Tho I must say last time I went to Hanauma bay in 2009. I found more fishes than our 2012 visit. Kinda sad.Or maybe I wasn't snorkeling on the right spot,but the highlight of my day was swimming with the green sea turtle.
Tip for everyone, bring your own swimming gears because if your going to Hawaii your gonna need it a LOT, and thats what we did, we saved about $25 this day just by having our own snorkeling gears.
We also bought ourselves a water proof iPhone case.Which my brother is holding in this picture . It was the best idea ever because we were able to capture magnificent videos of Hawaiian fishes.
Sharks cove, located at 59-711 Kamehameha Hwy Pupukea Hawaii, 96712.This snorkeling spot is open for public in other words FREE. Only downside is again there is no assigned parking and no lifeguard on duty and not a lot of shades to protect yourself from the sun,But it's still worth it. I must say I found more fish here than Hanauma bay very impressive variety. The cove appears to be very rocky and sharp but not at all. Even if you stay in the shallow water you will still get to see quite a variety of fish.I remember seeing a school of fish swimming in the shallow water. Pretty epic event.Across the street from the sharks cove is a famous food truck called "Pupukea Grill" don't forget to stop by and try their signature fish and poke bowls and shaved ice. Perfect for the weather.
Clear water
Thats me with my googles and wet suit which I end up taking off because the water was warm enough.
A panoramic view
Waimea Valley, located at 59-864 Kamehameha Hwy, Oahu North Shore Hawaii 96712 , accros Waimea bay. General admission to the valley is $15.00 for adults, $7.50 for children 4-12 years of age and free for children below 4 years old.
This beautiful peacock is trying to get in our van.
Prepare yourself to walk, wear proper shoes and bring water. We did not anticipate a long walk.In this picture tho he is slightly exaggerating, he is tired having to carry our back packs. Such a gentleman you are. There is a golf cart running on schedule every 30 minutes for, I believe was $3.00, not bad at all.
Native chicken
My husband with a weird looking tree.
I had to share this because this is the weirdest tree I've ever seen. I call this tree the "Titi tree"
It felt like entering a jungle on this picture.
The famous Waimea valley waterfall.
The vest are free,and there are 2 lifeguards on duty. They used to allow people to cliff dive, but not anymore for safety reasons of course.
Breath taking view, it felt like the waterfall is alive. Welcoming you to dip in the water (the water was a bit cold by the way because its rain water)
Just a beautiful flower that I've never seen before.
Waimea bay, located at 64-031 Kamehameha Hwy, Haleiwa Hawaii 96712, still in the North shore, 5 minutes away from Waimea Valley you will find the famous "Jump Rock" or "The Big Rock"
The ever so famous "Jump Rock"
This is me jumping off the famous "Jump Rock", by far the scarriest thing I've ever done. I only jumped once , because I didn't want to regret being there and not being able to jump. So there, and yes this jump left me a souvenir. A really big bruise behind my legs and my buttocks area.Because of the way I landed. See for yourself in the video. I probably wont do it again, But I'm glad I had a chance to do it once. My husband jumped about 6 times and my 2 brothers jumped about 8 times each.
