Hawaii – Oahu 2025 Day 4

Posted on November 28, 2025 by jmatie22

Started the day early at 5am to venture to Haunama Bay.

As an fyi, we got tickets the day before noticing that there were two tickets available on the site for the 5:40am pick up.

From getting picked up, we stopped by a water sports rental place (ie to get towels or snorkel gear).

When we got to the entrance, needed to wait to hear a 10 minute orientation (about what to not do while snorkeling like touching fishes and turtles). So we effectively started our snorkel session at 8am.

Snorkeling at the bay was pretty decent. Still not as good as Big Island (specifically Cook’s Island). But there were still a variety of fish to see, and also got to see a turtle!

The beach itself was fairly clean, and well maintained. Water temperature went well with the weather.

And to sum it up, as one puts it, Haunama Bay experience is like Disney Land for snorkeling, in that it is fairly organized in terms of getting there and entrance fee (there is even a museum before the entrance area).

Pro tip for next time, bring a flask of whisky!

After snorkeling we went back to the hotel, and I got an Açaí bowl for lunch. Not gonna lie, I’m sold on it!

We then waited till 5:30pm for our Luau plus (thanksgiving) dinner.

At the luau they had things like temporary tattoos, and creating flower bracelets.

The show itself was around 1 hour. They did dances from various Polynesian countries. Two thing I learned:

-New Zealand is one of the corner of the Polynesian triangle.

-Fire flame dance is from Samoa.

Overall, I did enjoy the show and food, but not sure if it was worth $300 for a ticket (plus thought the luau show could have been at least 1.5 hours, and have more than 1 dance with fire).

And that pretty much ended the night (although watched Roofman as a night cap).

Los Cabos – Day 4 and 5

Posted on February 6, 2023 by jmatie22

This day seemed pretty jam packed, but productively fun. Slept at 4am the previous night, and got up at 8:30am to go for a boat ride in San Lucas. We took pre-arranged transportation, and got to the San Lucas Marina around 10am (honestly I wring would have been cheaper though).

Boat ride was 3 hours. We saw a whale and her child whale (called a caff). They emerged from the water several times, and the caff did several summer salts, which was pretty sick. We also stopped on some beach to snorkel. Unfortunately didn’t see too many sea creatures (brought my face snorkel mask). Lunch was provided also (which we thought the chicken was from Costco, which is totally fine).

The boat ride ended around 1pm. After exiting the marina, notice there are a lot of chill spots to drink around the marina area. Would want to day drink around the area next time (and apparently Senor Frog is an excellent place to check out that is around there).

One place we did go check out around the marina was The Office. Would definitely go back there and the area (the area also had a mall).

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/02/06/the-office/

Around 4pm we headed back to the resort. We chilled by the beach, and then watched the sunset from the other infinity pool that they had (which we had not done yet).

After chilling in the room for a bit (ordered some room service so I could try the tuna shashimi appetizer, which was great), we had reservations at the resort restaurant Pergola, but this time for dinner (it is a full pledge Italian restaurant at night). Basically sampled a bunch of pasta dishes (got the fettuccini carbonara with salmon, and for apps got the bruschetta, some and some eggplant dish. Tried other people’s dishes like the steak. For desert, tried the tiramisu, cannoli, and some other tart thing. The two aforementioned were pretty good. Next time I would want to try and get the lasagna).

After dinner, we headed to the bar and played Play 9 (did a whole game with 9 rounds). Only came in second. This ended the night.

For the 5th and last day, finally got up to try dinner at Villa Belenas. It was Buffett style, and honestly, could not complain about the food. The eggs, chicken and drinks were all great.

After, chilled by the pool for a bit with everyone, then took an Uber to the airport. At the airport, security was not bad, but unfortunately the lounge (called VIP) had a super long line, so ended up chilling at a bar near the gate.

And that concludes the trip. Honestly, such as relaxing trip.

Los Cabos – Day 3

Posted on February 4, 2023 by jmatie22

Started this day by ordering room service (since I would have already been late for breakfast, so it was great to order while getting ready in parallel). I got scrambled eggs with ham, pancakes and waffles. All great!

Then joined everyone at the beach. Pretty much chilled there for several hours, including playing chess and re-learning poker (thought I was going to play from one of the resort activities, but ended up not doing it because it wasn’t real money.

Then went to the coffee shop and grabbed a donut and espresso. After, chilled at Pergola again, and then by the infinity pool to watch the sunset.

One thing I did discover is a childcare martini (basically it’s like chocolate kiln with alcohol. They make it with real melted chocolate, baileys, and vodka).

After, pretty much got ready for dinner at Sakke (which is a Japanese hibachi resort restaurant). We didn’t get a table for hibachi, but we got a fixed meal. Overall, it was alright, but definitely not the best Japanese food I e had (they didn’t even have any Japanese whisky!).

After, we headed to Crania in San Jose to see David Holme. Along the way we saw some of the resorts nearby there. They look pretty nice, and I think if I come back, should look into booking a place there.

Crania has a dinner part (the one gotcha is that if you reserve, you’ll get charged $16 USD per person if you cancel).

Here is the details about the food: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/02/06/crania/

Crania itself was very burner like. Lots of art, sand, and playa tech vibes. Would go back again.

Los Cabos – Day 2

Posted on February 4, 2023 by jmatie22

Started this day by chilling at the beach. The key part is to get beach chairs, a table and umbrella.

There is food service, so ordered a bunch of mimosas, a pina colada, and some nachos.

After the beach, we tried out one of the nearby pools, and then ate at a restaurant in the resort called Pergola. It’s an outside dining restaurant that had tacos and pizza. The steak taco was good. Margarita pizza was alright.

Afterwards, we headed over to the spa to sit in a hot tub for about an hour. Temperature was not as warm as I’m used to (it was around 37 degrees Celsius).

After the hot tub session, made our way to downtown San Lucas. We stopped by Metate first for food:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/02/04/metate/

Then we were planning to head to Mandala for a night out, but ended up going to El Squid Roe (rig hit beside it), since the music sounded better. Definitely had a really fun night there. The music was top 40 mainstream, but her layout was super unique with 3 floors, and a really interesting open concept.

Overall, downtown San Lucas is like a mini downtown Vegas. All the clubs are super open in the front, so at least you can see the lighting and hear what music they are playing. (One site that guided our decisions aside from hearing what music was playing is this one: https://www.10best.com/destinations/mexico/cabo-san-lucas/nightlife/dance-clubs/)

Ended the night again with room service, this time trying the shrimp penne pasta, and chicken tacos. Would get the penne pasta again.

Los Cabos – Day 1

Posted on February 4, 2023 by jmatie22

Flew into SJD, where we got out of the plane on the tarmac. We then hopped on a bus to get to the main terminal. Thing is, the distance from the plane to terminal was only 20 meters, so feel like we should have just walked.

Immigration was fairly easy (they just stamped our passports, and then after baggage claim we submitted a form that was filled out on the plane (although that form was in Spanish since they’re an out of English forms, so had to use Google translate in the air). They also had an interesting random sampling screening system where you press a button, and green meant you didn’t have to do anything further).

After leaving customs, there were a bunch of agents lined up trying to sell excursions and collect information. Apparently you’re not supposed to really entertain them, and just head for the airport exit.

After exiting the airport, totally felt the vacation / beach club vibes. After meeting our transportation person (from Transcabo), we had to wait (which I think is a thing so we can buy drinks nearby), so I got a whisky sprite that was right beside the transportation hub. One thing to always remember (especially outside the restore) is NOT to include ice with your drink (water might not be good for your stomach).

The resort was about 20 minutes from the airport (we stayed at Marquis). For this resort, all you needed to do is say your name and room number to enter (there are no bracelets).

The room itself is pretty nice. Definitely good for two people. Room service is also great (which I’ll talk about through various portions of my posts). One thing to note for next time is that for being here for 4 days, I should have brought at least 40 $1 bills. (Tipping is 1 to 2 American dollars).

For Thursday, we ended up chilling only in the resort. For the afternoon and evening, we chilled at the main center bar (Suspiros), and got a bunch of appetizers like quesadillas and nachos, plus lots of drinks. I also taught the group to play Play 9.

For dinner we watched a fire show (2 out of the 5 people were really good, and they were playing some good psychedelic music in the background). During the fire show there is a buffet. The ribeye and the pork ribs were probably the best, plus the fettuccine pasta.

We ended the night by touring each others room (they all look the same, except someone had a king size bed instead of two double beds).

Some extra things to note that in Mexico a double and full bed are actually different sizes. Also, in a resort you should say it’s your anniversary so you get free things like champagne and chocolates. Lastly, looks like booking though Amex you get special this things like a separate WiFi (regular WiFi is a bit slow. Ended up mainly using my data plan).

One thing I did to end this night was order room service. Got the shrimp penne and a banana split (but didn’t have ice cream, it’s was a brownie thing). Shrimp penne was good, but not the banana “split”).

fyi, here is the website with all their amenities:

https://marquisloscabos.icemain.com/ICEWEB/#/home

Europe 2022 – Santorini and Mykonos Day 12

Posted on August 5, 2022 by jmatie22

We started the day by leaving our AirBnb in Thira (Santorini), and heading to the docks slightly south of where we are staying over in Athinios (only cost $30 to bring all 5 of us).

I think the most interesting part about the the ride is that since the west side of Santorini is basically on a cliff, there is a road that descends I would say about 500 meters down. Pretty cool.

We then grabbed lunch at another Mediterranean place while we waited. Details found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/08/05/athinios-restaurant-cafe/

Fyi, for the ferry, booked it the day before using ferryhopper.com. It was only $89. I would recommend getting there really only 30 minutes before departure (and it was easy to get in front of the line). Line was a bit chaotic, but going inside the ferry itself was fine (and seeing cars go into the ferry was kind cool). Also, the interior of the ferry was more upper scale than I expected. Definitely a good experience.

Along the way we stopped by the islands Ios and Naxos. Ios didn’t seem too interesting, but it did have more “rectangular” looking buildings, but still white and blue (but obviously judging the “interest” tfrom the boat isn’t the best). Naxos looked pretty cool though (looked fairly modern and lively). Think that may be a good place to visit next time.

When we got to Mykonos, we ordered an “Uber” (it’s a van contracted by Uber) to the Airbnb. Interesting thing is that Mykonos itself is a walking city, so the Uber can only drop you off to a street that is “close-ish”.

As we got dropped off, I did notice that Mykonos I less hill-y than Santorini, and a bit more upscale, but has more space (same crowdedness).

After going to the AirBnb, we ended up going to a beach nearby (Paralia Choras Mikonou) for about an hour. The beach had a bit too much small rocks (not super sandy). Probably wouldn’t go back to it (although it did have a wheelchair accessible beach contraption).

We then went around town to shop. I actually a couple of things. I got a Greek type shirt, and also some Ray Ban sunglasses (to replace the ones I lost).

Afterwards, we ended up going to a restaurant that is right below our AirBnb called Eva’s Garden. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/08/06/evas-garden/

After dinner, pregamed at the Airbnb (learned a game called shoot the dealer).

We then ended the night at Cavo Paradiso, where Afrojack played. Some key notes is that shirts and shorts are allowed in the club, DJ came on at 2:30am, and they don’t check ID. Also, grabbing a (didn’t use Uber) taxi costs $35 (although kinda got scammed since he said $25 initially). Overall, people were good to talk to, and had a great night.

Croatia – Plitvice Lakes / Vodice Day – 12

Posted on August 13, 2021 by jmatie22

We woke up at 8:30am to get to the Plitvice Lakes park entrance for 9pm (got there at 9:30ish). There are two entrance (we went to entrance 1 as it was closer to our AirBnb). It’s suggested to get tickets ahead of time online (the ticket line was really long).

We decided to do the “hardest” advertised hike (Hike K). All trails advertises it as moderate. Note that you have cell reception throughout the park so you can use All Trails pretty easily).

The park itself is really well maintained (lots of wooden and stone paved trails). As well as lots of places to get food, coffee, ice cream and restrooms. (Although we ended up packing everything for a traditional hikes like wraps, water, beef jerky, etc).

During the hike, we did end up going a bit off the K trail into a harder (less scenic route) called ST1. But we got back on it (the ST1 is more intense but less scenic).

The hike has a bunch of different sized waterfalls, as well as intermittent streams (difference between intermittent and active is that intermittent only happens some times during the year).

The large waterfall that is the most famous at Plitvice lakes is called Veliki Slap (literally means Large Waterfall.

As a side note, there is one part of the hike you have to use a boat (which is provided) to cross the lake.

It took us about 4.5 hours to complete the hike. Here is the Strava link: https://strava.app.link/76shb33JGib

After the hike, we went to the pharmacy to get some supplies.

Because of some unforeseen circumstances, we then decided to go to Vodice and get a hotel. (We stopped by Zadar Airport so I could get my official COVID test for the states). We got to Vodice around 9pm.

To end the night, we got got food at Konoba Porat. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/13/konoba-porat/

Some notes about Vodice is that it’s mainly a beach town, and seems quite “residential”. Definitely a different feel from Split, Hvar and Plitvice Lakes.

Croatia – Hvar Day 4

Posted on August 4, 2021 by jmatie22

Started off the day with brunch at 2pm. We went to a place called Bepo. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/04/bepo/

Afterwards, we headed to a couple of beaches that were close by. The first one was Pokonji dol Beach. The beach was pretty busy, so we stayed on the side part of the beach where there were more rocks. The beach did have several restaurants, where I was able to get a pina colada to go (and it had real coconut in it). The restaurant was called Mustaco.

After an hour, checked out another beach for like 15 minutes called Strand Mekicevica. It was a tiny beach that I wouldn’t really recommend. Along the way though to that beach was an interesting restaurant that had a Cabana I would try out (it was called Pachamama beach).

During the walk to the first beach, I did notice several nice looking houses (see below for pics). They could easily be worth $7 million in LA.

After the beaches, I dropped of my laundry at a laundry service called Praonica-samaposluga. I thought the service was pretty good, but a bit pricey (160 kuna for a while load).

We then explored the old town area (see picture below for references). Checked out:

-Arsenal (a terrace with a good view)

-Trg Sv Stjepana (a town square)

-outside of St Stephen’s Cathedral

-Fortica (a castle on top of a hill). The view was alright, but not ask good as the view from the Napoleon fortress hike.

Afterwards, got dinner at Alviz. More info can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/05/alviz/

Croatia – Split Day 2

Posted on August 3, 2021 by jmatie22

We started off today by doing brunch at a pretty sick place that had great views and food, called Caffe Bar Vidilica. You can find more info on it here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/02/caffe-bar-vidilica/

After, we headed to the old part of Split (Split’s Old Town), where the Diocletian Palace is. Over there, we visited:

-Cathedral of St Dominus

-Vestibule

-Treasury (not listed below, but it does have a lot of St Dominus “relics”)

-Peristil

Afterwards, we got some supplies at mini a grocery store called Tommy’s (which is also all over Croatia). Tommy’s has alcohol, as well as sunscreen and large eaters. There are mini shops called Tisik all around, but really they are only useful for small (expensive) water (they didn’t even have sunscreen).

We stopped by our AirBnb for a quick re-charge, then headed to the west part of Split where we wakes around Marian park for 2 hours (which has some good views), then headed back to prepare for a night out.

Started the night at 8pm. We headed to Bacvice beach to check out any bar there before sunset (unfortunately the sun was hiding behind the clouds). The first bar we went to had pretty bad service since we waited 30 minutes and still didn’t get served, (it was called Museum Bar History), so we actually left and went to another place called La Playa Day and Night, which served us drinks fairly quickly. I got a strawberry monitor, and looks like in Croatia they make it with actual sugar (you can taste the crystals), not simple syrup.

Afterwards, we ate at Terminal 5. More details here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/08/03/terminal-f/

After terminal 5, we headed to a place called Charlie’s, where they cater to the hostel crowd. It was really popular and busy. Got a drink there, and then met people that mentioned the after party is ar Bacvice beach (at this time because of COVID, everything closes at 12am with the exception of a place called Vanilla club since they implement COVID checks). When we got to the beach, it was pretty busy, but we did meet some British people, and also a guy from Italy and Amsterdam who we got some things from. Then went home at 2am.

PS. There is a noise we kept hearing, and they ended up being cicadas. There is a picture of one of them below by the tree.

PSS. One really good local beer that goes down pretty smooth (and is still 5% alcohol) is called Karlovacko. I would recommend.

Hawaii – Kona Day 13

Posted on November 29, 2020 by jmatie22

We started off this day by traveling along Alii drive. We went into town first, where I was able to try an açaí bowl at Kona Wave Cafe (recommended by several of our friends). I thought it was was really good. Here are the details:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/29/kona-wave-cafe/

We then meandered to this beach in Kaloko-Honokōhau national park. We were promised several turtles by the park ranger, but only found one (see the pic below).

After the beach, we headed back to Keck, to see the sun set below the clouds, and the telescopes. Some tips about getting to the summit. First, you should drive to the visitor center and stay there for 15 minutes to acclimatize to the altitude. Second, the summit is like 1 degree Celsius, so wear winter clothes if possible. Third, you need a 4×4 to go past the visitor center. Four, park your Jeep facing the telescopes and sunset (so you can hop in and out of the car).

After Keck, we drove to Ola brewery to have dinner, and then stopped by MyBar for a quick drink. Updated Ola Brewery comments are in here: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/22/ola-brewery/

We then headed to Dersu and Elsa’s to end the night with more drinking 🙂