The island of Oahu has plenty of fun filled activities that everyone can enjoy. While visiting Oahu you can choose from a wide variety of outdoor or indoor activities or explore the Hawaiian culture.
- The Battleship Missouri now offers Guide2Go tours using Apple iPod touch units. Visitors can rent the iPods preloaded with video footage, audio recordings and veteran interviews, allowing them to tour the battleship at their own pace. Short and full-length tours are offered in both English and Japanese.
- On August 8, Bishop Museum will reopen its acclaimed Hawaiian Hall, designed by Ralph Applebaum, which showcases the world's largest collection of Native Hawaiian and Pacific area artifacts, many of which have never been publicly displayed before. Hawaiian Hall's three distinct floors will include artifacts from various periods throughout Hawaii's history, stories and legends of old Hawaii, and quotes and art pieces from contemporary Hawaiian cultural practitioners. Hawaiian Hall will also include Polynesian Hall, which traces the Pacific origins of the Hawaiian people, and an interactive resource center providing hands-on children's activities.
- Japanese artist Yoshihiro Suda's works will be on display at The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu from July 11 to Oct. 25, 2009. Suda is internationally known for his installations of delicate carved and painted wooden plant life. Suda's sculptures of indigenous Japanese plants and flowers are meticulously created with surprising realism and in true-to-life scale that, at times, borders on the miniscule. This will be Suda's first solo exhibition in the United States.
- In September, the Hawaii State Art Museum will open a major new art exhibition on hula called Ho'oulu: The Inspiration of Hula. It will include over 100 pieces of hula-related art, including pieces on loan from the Bishop Museum and Hula Preservation Society. The opening will coincide with First Friday in September, and it will be an event marked by hula and pageantry. The exhibition is to remain up until July 17, 2010.
- Kualoa Ranch recently added two new activities – the Legends and Legacy Tour and Authentic Hula Lessons – to its schedule. The Legends and Legacy Tour takes guests to the base of the Kualoa Cliffs, overlooking Mokolii (Chinaman's Hat), as guides tell legends and stories of the area. During Kualoa Ranch's Authentic Hula Lessons, guests learn the origins of the hula followed by a dance.
- Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa recently introduced its new Friday evening celebration, the Rockin' Hawaiian Rainbow Revue. The 45-minute show features Polynesian song and dance, including a keiki hula and interactive sing-a-long of favorite songs from Hawaii. Rockin' Hawaiian Rainbow Revue is set by the resort's Super Pool and culminates with Hilton's famed fireworks show at 7:45 p.m.
- Segway of Hawaii has added two new tours this summer, the Sunset on the Beach Glide Ride and Private Waikiki, Diamond Head Tour. The Sunset on the Beach Glide Ride departs in the late afternoon and takes guests to Ala Moana Beach Park and Magic Island, just in time for sunset. The Private Waikiki, Diamond Head Tour takes guests along the two-mile stretch of Waikiki Beach, Kapiolani Park and to the foot of Diamond Head and includes a customized lunch stop at a scenic oceanfront location.
- New to Chinatown's nightlife scene is SoHo Mixed Media Bar. The arts-focused bar, which held its grand opening on June 5, will feature a room for live music performances and fashion and photograph exhibits when renovations to the space are completed in August.
- The National Park Service began construction on the new visitor center to replace the current USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center shoreside facility at Pearl Harbor. The existing visitor center and tours to the USS Arizona Memorial will remain open throughout the two-year construction period that is scheduled to end in December 2010. The new $58 million visitor center at Pearl Harbor will feature expanded facilities, including indoor and outdoor museum galleries and a central information and ticketing venue for all major Pearl Harbor sites.
- Waimea Valley on Oahu's North Shore now offers a Saturday hiking series featuring easy to moderate family hikes and a strenuous five-hour hike on the last Saturday of the month. Hiking guides will help hikers identify native and exotic plants and marine life, view various streams and the Waimea waterfall, and showcase the valley's indigenous birds. The cost of each hike varies depending on difficulty level.
- Beginning July 11, Waimea Valley will host a monthly night walking tour conducted by Hawai'i Historian and Master Storyteller of Hawaiian folklore and legends, Lopaka Kapanui. The "Whispering Walls of Waimea" tour will include stories and legends of the High Priests that once lived in the Valley, the very special Pohaku that reside in the Valley, the healing power of the Valley's plant life, and the rumored children that played in the Valley.
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