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| Study the maps first, especially Oahu. Their road system are not meant for the population they have. Pearl Harbor is a must... you can rent earphones at the visitor center that give you a lot more information. It was $5/person 4 years ago. Also do the battleship Missouri tour. It's easy to find, right next to the Arizona memorial. Spend the extra for the guided tours. (we didn't, wish we had). There is a WW2 sub you can tour right in that area. Waikai beach and the surrounding area is interesting shopping, especially in the evening. On Oahu the north shore has some amazing surfing with some easy to reach watching areas. The Poloynesian cultural center is very interesting. The luau was kind of a spendy rip off but the dinner show made up for the food. Also if you are quite capable of walking, the Diamond Head park is quite interesting.
On Maui, the road to Hanna has some of the most beautiful sites, but the road sucks, 180+ one lane bridges, 600 curves in 30 miles, and then you have to turn around and go back the same way. They have one place where they planted fir trees 200+ years ago for ship masts in the future. That's planing ahead!! We did some whale watching on the NW side of island, I think the area was Lahanna. We went on a 2-3 hour cruise, kind of a waste, we saw way more whales closer just driving alone the coast highway. They have a lot of nice pull off areas for whale watching. We also did the sub ride, that was GREAT!!! Probably one of the best time of the trip for me was walking on the beach at night with my wife and looking into a great sunset and seeing some whales blow water (snot).
We rented a car on each island. Make sure you can park at your hotel. Space is extremely precious over there, especially on Oahu. Our hotel was a couple of blocks from the beach. We had no problem walking to beach/shopping. You will want a car to go inland. We went in the middle of Feb which was prime whale watching time. Good luck and have a great time. | |
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first trip to Hawaii???
