Tag Archives: North Waikiki

Hawaii – Oahu 2025 Day 5

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Started the morning with hiking! We first went to Diamond Head for our 9am ticket. The hike was fairly easy and fast, only taking us about 45 minutes to complete. 

So we then decided to try a harder hike, Koko Crater. This hike was definitely intense. Needed to take five 30 seconds to 2 minutes breaks for the last 1/3 of the climb. Made it up to the top in 30 minutes, and slightly under 30 minutes back down. Definitely great view of Haunama Bay and Waikiki.

After, went to The Pig and the Lady at a town called Kaimuki (the town is a log the way back to the hotel. Apparently not really anything notable to do in the area except if you want to eat at a certain restaurant). Details can be found here:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2025/11/29/the-pig-and-the-lady/

We then headed to South Waikiki for coffee (started at the Aston at the Waikiki Banyan). Went to Kai Coffee. Details can be found here:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2025/11/29/kai-coffee/

Wanted to explore going from South Waikiki back to our hotel (which is considered North Waikiki), so we ended up walking back (without stops probably a 25 minute walk). 

Started walking close to the beach, where we ran into an old Banyan tree. Then the road sort of splits from the beach, so then explored where all the high end shops are, and the International Marketplace Mall. Then ended up in the “resort area” near our hotel (where we had been at night a few days ago), and then back at our hotel for Pina coladas.

After taking a quick nap, we headed over to the Ala Moana Center for some shopping (surprisingly it wasn’t busy for Black Friday).

Some stores we visited included: Rolex (wanted to confirm the fit of their 40mm Explorer), Grand Seiko (spent 40 minutes in this store. friend wanted to get a watch with Spring Drive), Travis Matthew’s, Uniqlo (got a tank top), and Foodland Farms (for a poke bowl, but just missed their poke station time. They close at 9pm while the store closes at 10pm).

After shopping got a lite bite and cocktails at a place called Eleven:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2025/11/29/eleven/

To end the night, saw an EDM show at a place called Hawaiian Brian’s Social Club (called HB), which is like a 5 minute walk from Ala Moana Center. Fake Illenium, Sabai, performed (gotta say he was better than the first time I saw him at midway).

Hawaii – Oahu 2025 Day 4

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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).