Fun things to do in Honolulu

SUPER FUN!!!!
Vanya was wonderful instructor, had us up in minutes and paddling away.
She has great equipment and this camera mounted on the front of the board
snapping pics of your adventure. We went on our 1 day there, so my suggestion is get a tan or some color before you go...those pics can be blinding with all that pale (white) skin. We would go again in a heart beat!

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We drove from Honolulu to the east side pf the island, and along the coast all the war around to the north shore. From there we cut down what is roughly the center of the island along Route 99 then Interstate 2. How do you have an interstate that doesn't go between states? Wouldn't that be an IntrAstate highway?

Approximately 119 miles round-trip 4 hours driving time.

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The USS Oklahoma was commissioned in 1916 and served as a convoy escort ship in World War I. After WWI, the Oklahoma was one of several US Navy ships to escort President Woodrow Wilson to France. In 1936, the Oklahoma rescued American refugees during the Spanish Civil War. The USS Oklahoma was repositioned at Pearl Harbor in December 1940, where i it participated in training and exercises, while positioned as a deterrent to Japanese aggression.

On December 7th 1941, the Oklahoma was docked at Battleship Row on Ford Island when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began. The ship was almost immediately struck by three torpedoes, followed by two more minutes later as the ship capsized. 429 men assigned to the Oklahoma were killed in the attack, while many of the survivors boarded the nearby USS Maryland to help fight off the attack. The death toll on the Oklahoma was second only to the 1,177 men who perished aboard the USS Arizona in the Pearl Harbor attack.

The USS Oklahoma Memorial was dedicated on December 7th, 2007 near the entrance to the USS Missouri. The Missouri is docked where the Oklahoma was moored during the attack. The monument is comprised of 429 white marble pillars, each engraved with the name of a sailor or marine who was killed in the Oklahoma.

Oahu’s beaches have something for everyone, from a calm place for kids, to great surfing waves. Oahu's East Coast features a mix of islands, cliffs and beaches. This, the windward side of the island, offers a number of parks and beaches to include:

Kailua Beach Park has a boat ramp and lots of windsurfing, as well as boat rentals.

Lani Kai was ranked as the best beach in the world in 1996 by Conde Nast. It has calm waters perfect for swimming and kayaking.

Bellows Field Beach Park is partly on an old military base and partly public.

Waimānalo Bay State Recreation Area‎ is a quiet beach with calm waves.

This is another photo from the coastal road on Oahu. These beautiful rocky cliffs are near the southeast side of the island maybe 30 minutes from Honolulu.

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Diamond Head is a former volcano that sits right on the edge of Honolulu. It offers several hiking trails with great views of downtown and the ocean. The trail is only about .8 miles long, but it can take one and a half to two hours round trip due to the steepness of the trail in places, as it rises 560 feet.

Diamond Head State Monument consists of over 475 acres, to include the interior and much of the outer slopes of the crater. Inside the crater you will find a historic military site, called a Fire Control Station that was built in 1911 to coordinate fires from coastal batteries nearby.

Don't worry about this volcano suddenly erupting... its last blast occurred 150,000 years ago.

Entrance is $5, cash only.

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Honolulu is the capital city of the State of Hawaii, and with 375,000 residents, it is the largest city in Hawaii. Honolulu has about 470 high-rise buildings, which is fourth in the US behind NYC, LA and Chicago; in Honolulu, these buildings are snugly nestled between the mountain and the ocean.

In Hawaiian, the word Honolulu means "sheltered bay," which is very fitting given its peaceful spot along the ocean and its excellent harbor. Honolulu has been the capital of Hawaii since 1845, though it only became the state capital in 1959 when Hawaii became a US state. Of course, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu brought the US into World War II.

Honolulu today is a diverse island that serves as a major tourism destination and a strategic location for the US military. The population of Honolulu is only 8 percent Native Hawaiian and 17 percent white Americans; nearly 55 percent of the city's population is comprised of Asian-Americans including Japanese-Americans representing 20 percent of Honolulu's population, Filipino-Americans at 13.2 percent of the population, and Chinese-American making up 10 percent of the city.

Honolulu is also the name of the County which covers the entire island of Oahu as well as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands except for Midway Atoll, site of the famous US victory in WWII.

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I'll start by saying my wife and her sister had fun and liked it a lot. Oh the flip side, my nephew and I thought it was hokey. Maybe you have to be pre-disposed to believing in ghosts, or maybe its a gender thing... on our van women outnumbered the men 3 to 1. Even though I don't believe in ghosts, some aspects of the tour were interesting for historical and cultural reasons, so I'm glad I went anyway.

We met the van and our tour guide at the Ala Moana hotel at 7:30pm. The guide informed us that this is not a tour in which people jump out and yell "boo", and that we would be visiting various sites - some sacred, some evil, but all with the potential for seeing or feeling the "spirits". Our first instruction was to install the free "Ghost Radar - Classic" app on our smart-phones. This app, along with digital cameras and the sixth sense of our guide and the tour guests, was to be instrumental in locating the spirits at the various stops along the tour.

The first stop was the Pali Lookout, and as would become practice during the tour, our guide chanted to the spirits as we entered the area. At each stop you get a mix of history and orb hunting. The history at the Pali is well known -- it is the location of the final battle on Oahu by Kamehameha I, who used his army to unify the Hawaiian islands. Hundreds of warriors on the losing side of this battle were forced over the cliffs and fell to thier death at this location. We were instructed to be on the lookout for the images of Hawaiian warriors, and got our first lesson in the use of the Ghost Radar app and how to use digital cameras to capture images of the orbs. "Take lots of pictures and see what you can find", instructed our guide. One word of caution -- if you are susceptible to migraines or seizures, stay home. All of the flashes from dozens of cameras operating in the dark can be overwhelming. In fact, I started to think that maybe the "orbs" were just the visual after-effects of all the flash photography. And dress warmly -- the Pali Lookout is cold and windy during the day, and is much colder and windier at night!

Our second stop was at the Ulupo Heiau in Kailua. The heiau is an ancient Hawaiian temple constructed from volcanic rocks, impressive in size considering the rocks are not found in the local area and reportedly carried in from locations 10 or more miles away. Attempts continued as guests used the radar app and flash photography to find the orbs...

Next, we stopped at the Judd trail head off the old Nu'uanu Pali road. This site is reported to be evil based on some strange, unexplained murders that occurred in the area. There was a family of feral cats here, each with the same markings. More stories and orb hunting...

The forth stop was at the Manoa Falls trail head in Manoa Valley. Not much happened here except for some unexplained music in the distance. Our guide insisted that there was nothing out there to support the playing of amplified instruments... no houses, and even the local inn was closed. "So where was the music coming from?", he asked. I didn't say it out loud, but it occurred to me that the remote location of the Inn would be an ideal rehearsal space for bands.

The last stop was the Chinese cemetery in Manoa. Our guide stopped at the entrance to provide offerings before we continued to drive in. We got out at the central pavilion where the Lin Yee Chung association plaque is located, and our guide lit some sticks of incense and placed it in the ground in front of the plaque. The elevated location of the cemetery provides a nice view at night -- it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and looks down on the skyline and city lights of Honolulu. I would like to go back and see what the view looks like during the day.

In all the tour took just under four hours, we arrived back at the hotel around 11:15pm.

Is it possible to experience the orbs and spirits of Oahu? You be the judge.

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I have been to Sacred Falls before it was closed to hiking. There is no way of getting back in to see it now. Oahu's Manoa Valley located within minutes of Waikiki by bus or first you have to hike a few miles through the woods
It's about a half hour hike to Manoa Halls. It's fairly easy going, and the scenery on the hike is wonderful. There's a little bamboo grove that was pretty cool to see. The falls are beautiful,
It may still be closed to hikers because of flash flood risks. hikers have been killed.