Hawaii Diary 2000

Hawaii Diary 2000 • Part 1: Overview • Part 2: Arrival, the Hard Way • Part 3: Mighty Mo and Downtown Honolulu • Part 4: Circle Island Adventure on Oahu • Part 5: Oahu's Leeward Shore • Part 6: Oahu in Pictures • Part 7: Off to Maui • Part 8: West Maui's Rugged North Shore • Part 9: Old Lahaina Luau, Lahaina, Maui • Part 10: In Celebration of Canoes, Lahaina, Maui • Part 11: Maui's Kihei Coast • Part 12: Haleakala and Upcountry Maui • Part 13: A Day of Rest on Maui • Part 14: Molokai for a Day • Part 15: Hana, Maui and Beyond • Part 16: Sunset Sail in Paradise • Part 17: Hawaii Diary 2000 Retrospective

For Eileen and I, leaving Honolulu and Oahu is always difficult. Honolulu and especially Waikiki are often criticized as for being all glitz and no substance. We tend to disagree very strongly. We find that Honolulu and all of Oahu has a vitality all its own and for us, no visit to Hawaii would be complete without some time on Oahu. Every time we leave Oahu we have already drawn up a mental list of the places to see and things to do on our next visit.

We had hoped to be able to visit the Manoa Valley, but time did not allow that on this visit. On the other hand, we did make it back to the top of Diamond Head, which was certainly not as easy as when we first hiked the trail five years ago. Getting to the  top of Diamond Head may be a moderate hike, but it's definitely a difficult walk.

We were extremely lucky on this trip to have been given some superb advice by an old friend who highly recommended the New Otani Kamaina Beach Hotel on San Souci Beach opposite Kapiolani Park.

San Souci Beach
Photo by John Fischer

With just a little over a hundred rooms and a very favorable staff to guest ratio, the New Otani is surely one of the hidden gems of Hawaii. When you stay at the New Otani you are within easy walking distance of the hot spots on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki. Being at the far end of Waikiki, however, you have a great sense of peace and quiet that cannot be found closer into downtown.

The flight to Maui lasts only about 20 minutes. In fact, the time from when you board the plane to when you take off is actually longer than the actual flight.

If you're planned ahead, you know to sit on the left hand side of the plane so that you get great views of Waikiki and Diamond Head as you take off. Your flight then takes you past Molokai and directly over Lanai as you approach the central valley of Maui for a landing at Kahului.

Kahului Airport is very user friendly. It's only a short walk from your gate to the baggage claim area and an even shorter walk to where you pick up the shuttle to your rental car agency. If you have a lot of luggage it's a good idea to leave your travel partner with the luggage near baggage pickup instead of hauling all of the luggage onto the rental company shuttle bus.

Within 15 minutes, I was able to take the shuttle to my rental company's remote location, pick up my car and drive back to the main terminal to pick up Eileen and our luggage.

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