Last full day in Oahu! We started the day by picking up our rental car from Enterprise (they are located at the hotel so pick up / drop off is easy, and don’t have to pay for parking), and then going back to the Ala Moana Center to buy a Grand Seiko watch (a friend needed to sleep on the decision). I also got a chance to try out the poke bowl at Foodland Farms. Details here:
https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2025/12/01/foodland-farms-poke-bowl-station/
We then headed to the north part of the island to check out surfers at The Banzai Pipeline.
Along the way was stopped by the Dole Plantation to eat some Dole Whip (ice cream), and walk around the pineapple gardens.
We also stopped by Shark’s Cove to see the waves (although didn’t see any sharks… apparently there are non-human eating sharks there).
When we finally got to The Banzai Pipeline, we spent 40 minutes there. There were lots of surfers, but only saw a handful actually riding the large waves (waves can get up to 20 feet). Was able to capture 2 videos though!
From the pipeline we were gonna head over to Lanakai Beach, but didn’t have enough time in terms of sunlight to do so, so we ended up heading back.
When we got back, we dropped of the car and headed to the International Marketplace to eat at a place called Herringbone. Here are the details:
https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2025/12/01/herringbone/
And that meal ended the night for us.
For the actual last day in Oahu (ie 3 hours before heading to the airport), checked out Waikiki beach and went into the water for 30 minutes. Then had our last (quick) meal at this poke bowl place:
https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2025/12/01/paradise-poke-hawaii/
So this trip was awesome. There was a few things I didn’t get to do that I plan to prioritize for next time. This includes:
- District / Republic Club
- Lanakai Beach (east part of the island)
- Ko Olina (for catermeran and snorkeling)
