Honolulu here we come!

The weak dollar has put a stop to our honeymoon flight shopping spree* but it hasn’t stopped me thinking about what we’ll be doing once we get there!

As well as Dallas our other 100% booked destination is Honolulu. It was touch and go as to whether we’d make it to the Hawaiian Island of Oahu for various reasons but we finally booked our flights from San Francisco a few weeks ago. By far the highlight of the honeymoon planning, I danced around the room singing “Oh we’re going to Oahu” in the style of the annoying Venga Boys “Ibiza” tune.

Hawaii and Alaska have always been two states I have always wanted to visit. When we first started planning our honeymoon New York, Alaska and Hawaii were the first ones mentioned.

I’d love to go back to Hawaii at some point in the future and visit the less touristy islands of Hawaii like Maui, Kauai and Lanai but for now I’m more than happy with Oahu. I think it will be a lovely introduction to Hawaii.

On of the first things I decided we should do was snorkel in Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. A protected marine cove formed within a volcanic crater. We will be able to snorkel with the Green Sea Turtle! The area is protected and guests are not allowed by law to touch or interfere with the marine animals or the coral. Funnily enough Has’ parents visited Hanauma Bay on their trip to Oahu some years ago! I think it will be such an amazing experience.

from here

Another thing to do which was high on my list was hiking Diamond Head. Part of the complex cones and peaks of the Honolulu Volcanic Series which makes up most of Oahu’s well known landmarks including Hanauma Bay. I’ve read quite a lot about the hike and most people suggest starting out quite early in the day to avoid the climb in midday heat. It has been said the hike is hard work but achievable and well worth it for the panoramic views of Honolulu.

I’ve always been interested in geology, especially volcanoes so to actually climb one has always been a goal of mine.

from here

One of the things Has wants to do is a movie tour. I’ve mentioned it before but Has is a huge film buff! Scenes from his favourite film, Jurassic Park, were filmed on Oahu as were parts of Lost, Mighty Joe Young and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

We also want to visit Pearl Harbour, the site of the attack that brought the USA into World War II. The battleship USS Arizona sits on the ocean floor and is visible due to the clear shallow waters. Part of the tour of Pearl Harbour allows you to take a boat to a floating platform directly over the USS Arizona. I shall imagine it will be a very interesting tour.

There are loads of other things we'd love to do whilst we're in Oahu, but we also want to have time to relax and chill out on the World famous Waikiki Beach!  I don't think we'll plan to do too much in Honolulu we'll leave it quite open whilst still having a little plan so we make sure we do everything we want to do.  Perfect... hopefully!

* We usually buy our flights direct with the airline or with Travelocity.com in dollars.