Hawaii Anniversary Day Three: Beach Tour by Scooter

Scooter Rental
I was most excited about this particular day of our trip. We had originally planned on renting a convertible Mini Cooper to cruise the island a bit, but with the rental agency exhibiting no vital signs in the weeks leading up to our trip, I switched over to a scooter-strategy. I was pleasantly surprised to find that top-rated 'Hawaiian Style Rentals' was located just out the back door of our hotel, and I arranged to rent their 'Classic 2-Seater'.

Honolulu Tabernacle


Our maiden voyage was about 4 km up the hill for church. We only had an address and start time, so we were pleasantly suprised to pull up in front of the grand, historic (1920s) Honolulu Tabernacle, complete with a reflecting pool in the front, a tile mosaic on the wall and a beautiful courtyard. Of course, we couldn't leave before we took a large number of photos, enlisting the help of the other attendees/tourists. I just loved this place.

Diamond Head


After doffing ties and skirts in favour of shorts and t-shirts, we set off down the coast highway towards the Diamond Head crater. The view of the ocean just got better as we climbed upward, but I have to admit that the brown and dusty interior of the crater did not capture my attention for very long. We could have paid a fee to park our bike and hike up the side, but that sounded like a lot of thirsty work, so off we went down the highway again.



The Coast Highway


I kept both hands safely on the handlebars, so there are no action shots from the highway ride, but I can assure you that it was AMAZING. The craggy shoreline and perfectly-smooth pavement provided an endless of supply of corners that invited you to lean upon entry and rewarded you with a breathtaking view upon exit. Dusty-brown ridges on the left, vibrant-blue waves crashing on the right, and my wife holding me tight.

The Beach Where We Didn't Swim


When we got to the end of the south shore and headed north, we could see some nasty clouds threatening ahead, so we decided to pull off to the nearby beach, which was nestled into a cove complete with lighthouse high on the hill. As we began our descent down the long path from the parking lot to the beach, we heard the lifeguard come on the loudspeaker: "This is not a good beach for swimming. The waves are very large here. There are plenty of nice beaches down the road if you want to swim." The enormous waves teaming with boogie-boarders seemed to reinforce his warning, and although he couldn't have seen us coming down the path, we took his advice and headed back the way we came.

The Beach Where We Did Swim


That lifeguard wasn't wrong. There was a wonderful stretch of warm, sandy beach just down the road; however, the waves were still pretty intense (especially compared to the stuff at Waikiki). After getting tossed around for a few minutes, R retired to the relaxing safety of her beach towel for a nap, while I did some body-surfing and took some additional pounding.



The beach was near the well-known Halona blowhole, and I managed to get a half-decent shot of it in action.



Places We Stopped


Since we didn't have any particular schedule or destination in mind, we stopped whenever we saw something interesting, which included two bays popular for snorkeling and a side trip into a swank neighbourhood on a hill outside of Honululu.



It was gratifying to see people checking out the scooter when we parked it places. It was so much better than those ugly Honda scooters that we saw most of the time.



Another Fine Sunset


We originally planned to get back into town in time to ride up the hill by the university to see the sunset from a different vantage point; however, we were getting a bit tired of being in the saddle, so we just pulled into a spot down the road from the hotel and enjoyed it from a bench on the beach. The sun was playing to a full house, and it felt like we were at a drive-in movie.

Duke's For Dinner


Duke's Beach Restaurant and Canoe Club was on the a list of gluten-free-friendly restaurant that we found when researching our trip. It deserves a spot on EVERY list of restaurants because the beachfront location was stunning, the service was the best I've ever had, the seared Ahi was outstanding and the dessert (Hula Pie) was absolutely moutainous.



Popping Wheelies


We only had a few blocks to ride back to the hotel, and we paused to get a last photo of the scooter on the boulevard. A passing tourist offered to take the photo for us, and then pulled out his own fancy camera to snap a picture because he thought it was a fun shot. As we pulled I away I forfeited whatever cool point we had won because I dropped it down a gear with the throttle open and popped a wheelie. Fortunately, R was already holding tight, so the injuries were limited to my ego.


Welcome Home


We arrived in Calgary a few minutes before the blizzard. Hopefully, we don't have to wait another 10 years to go back.