We made a return trip to Oahu for Spring Break. My friend Amy and I planned the trip together and both took our mother in laws. We each rented a 3 BR condo in the Ko Olina area which is about 30 minutes outside of Honolulu and were really happy with the location.

We flew right over the Diamond Head crater and upon arrival we made a pit stop for an Hawaiian lunch plate, shave ice (no D on shave), picked up groceries at Safeway, and headed to the condo. Our view was gorgeous. Then out to the beach for a nap!

You know I don’t miss my sunsets.

The next morning we woke up to a HUGE rainbow over the water. Unfortunately it was the only one of our trip. Don also got us our Hawaiian breakfast — Masubi! Spam, rice, teriyaki sauce all wrapped in nori. lt was our daily treat.

It was Easter Sunday so the Conrath’s went off to church while we went snorkeling. Some of the best snorkeling on the island was only a couple of minutes from us at Electric Beach. I got a scuba diving case for my iPhone and finally got to try it out. I thought it did a pretty good job. The red urchin was new to us — it’s called a Ha‘uku‘uku‘ula‘ula or Red Pencil Urchin. That was about 8 feet underwater so I think the iPhone did good.

You might wonder why it’s called Electric Beach? You can see the power plant behind us in the first picture.

The Conrath’s caught up to us later and we enjoyed hanging out on the beach having some drinks. We ordered a big take dinner Sunday night and got together in the Conrath’s condo.

Monday morning we went to Pearl Harbor. It’s open and free to the public but you have to buy tickets 8 weeks in advance to visit the Arizona Memorial and they sell out immediately. We chose Oahu because we all wanted to visit Pearl Harbor and it didn’t disappoint. It was a very somber place but we all learned so much.

After Pearl Harbor we drove to Waikiki and had lunch at the Hula Grill in The Outrigger hotel where we had our first of many mai tais and Quinn got the famous Hula Pie.

Another day, another sunset.

Tuesday morning we left the grandma’s at the condos and headed out to hike Diamond Head. It was about 2 miles roundtrip but straight up and straight down with lots and lots of people….but the view from the top made it worthwhile.

Our motley crew.

We had to hightail it out of Diamond Head on to our next adventure — Kualoa Ranch where Jurassic Park and alot of other movies were filmed. We took a UTV adventure tour and had so much fun while Amy and her daughter took more of a movie tour which they loved.

The best sunset of the week on our walk to dinner.

We had a nice dinner out with Amy and Carl at Roy’s. The guys started with a very smokey glass of whisky.

After we left Electric Beach the other day, Don discovered that there was an underwater geocache and we he wanted to go back to get it. We also realized that we didn’t snorkel in the best part of Electric Beach so we went back Wednesday morning.

There is a huge pipe blowing warm water about 200 yards out that attracts lots of underwater life but it also creates quite a strong current. We were out pretty far and Don wanted swim another 100 yards to get the geocache. Quinn and I thought we might never see him again but thankfully he returned. He was able to touch the geocache but wasn’t able to get it and sign the log so unfortunately it’s not an official catch. But he survived and the snorkeling was spectacular!

We wanted more Shave Ice but there wasn’t anything around so we tried a Kalo Bomb. It was different and pretty tasty.

Wednesday night was Luau night! It was right down the street and on the beach.

We were suckers for all the picture opportunities!

Thursday we took off without the grannies again and did a scuba and snorkel. Honestly it wasn’t that great but it’s good to scuba periodically to keep up our skills. The Conrath’s snorkeled but their daughter tried the Discovery Scuba and loved it!

Can you find the Scorpion Fish in this picture? Honestly I would not have seen it if I didn’t see it swim into that spot.

Thursday night, Don, Quinn, Barb and I walked next-door to the Marriott for dinner at their beach cafe. The first picture is from the Marriott lagoon and the 2nd picture is our condo buildings.

This google map gives a great view of the area where we stayed. There are 3 man made lagoons which made for really nice beach areas without a strong current. There is a long pathway that runs from one end to the other so we were able to access all of the hotels. We were at Beach Villas at Ko Olina in the middle lagoon.

Friday — our last day! We rented a beach umbrella and paddle board for the day. The Conrath’s went off to Electric Beach and joined us later. Quinn got on the paddle-board and stayed out there for hours. He even tried to take a nap on it!

Friday night we had an early dinner at Monkeypod. Here’s the only picture of all 9 of us. Quinn loved his dinner and bought himself a t-shirt to remember it.

Saturday morning looking off our balcony. We were right above the pool on the 7th floor but Barb was the only one of us to get in the pool.

We really enjoyed our week and could have used 3 more days to see more of the island. But it was a fun trip with the Conrath’s and happy the grandmas could come along.