Getting to Oahu

On Tuesday we had a quick breakfast and a quick snorkel, before checking out of our hotel and returning the rental car at the airport. Everything went nice and smoothly and we got on our Hawaiian Airlines' Boeing 717 for the short 33 minute flight to Oahu.

We got to Oahu much sooner than that but seemed to spend more time in the landing pattern than we did flying between islands. When we were taxiing after landing I saw a couple F-22s under canopies at the adjacent Hickam Field Air Force Base.

We picked up our rental car drove up to the North Shore. It was nice to get out of the freeways and people of Honolulu into a more relaxed place. Our first atop was at Turtle Beach. It was sunny, warm, and pretty calm. You could see turtles poking heads out of the water among the rocks.

After our other brief snorkeling experiences on Kaua'i, we couldn't pass this one up, so we were off to find snorkel rentals and lunch. Stopped at the first place we saw and had North Shore garlic shrimp.

We went back to Turtle Beach and the wind had picked up, clouds rolled in and it cooled down. We tried going in for a bit but couldn't get much anywhere and the sea frothed up and cut visibility. And then got in too far and got stuck exiting on the rocks.

There were two turtles on the beach "sunning" themselves. There was a turtle guide there that asked us to let them know if we saw fishing line or issues with any of the turtles in the water. It seems like a good balance of conservation and a show for the tourists.

We drove back to Shark Cove where we had rented the snorkels. The wind and waves had picked up again and the Cove was really rough, but went into the tidal pool. It was difficult to get across on all the rocks and sea urchins but got to the deep part with the ocean entrance and saw many, many fish.

We returned our snorkel gear and headed back stopping in a town for a sushi dinner. We were trying for a Mexican place for fish tacos but it was closed for a staff party.

We drove in the dark and rain back to Honolulu and to Waikiki and, after circling the block 4 times, finally found our boutique hotel and got checked in and settled.