Today is our last day on Oahu, so we woke up super early for a sunrise sendoff! There are so many amazing places to view the sunrise and sunset here on Oahu…it is an island after all, but we chose to stay close to our hotel in Waikiki and watch the sunrise at Kahanamoku Beach (the same beach we surfed the Ala Moana Bowls in Day 3).
After admiring the beautiful sunrise and watching surfers paddle out to catch the early morning swell, we went back up to our room to pack up and head off to the airport. We had some time to kill before our flight to Kauai, so we obviously made a few more stops.
The first was to an awesome roast house called the Honolulu Coffee Experience Center…complete with an antique roaster in the center of the shop!
We also made a stop at the infamous ‘Iolani Palace. This palace is now a museum, but was once the home of Hawaiian monarchs dating back to the mid 1800s up until the last monarchy (Queen Liliʻuokalani) when the kingdom was shadily overthrown in 1893, and eventually led to the annexation of Hawai’i to the United States about 5 years later in 1898.
Our final stop before the airport was to Aloha Stadium, the island’s largest stadium and home to the University of Hawaiʻi Rainbow Warriors football team. Every Wednesday and Saturday, the Aloha Stadium hosts a swap meet / flea market for $1pp entrance fee. Most of the stadium perimeter is set up with vendors and we could have easily spent hours at the place, but we only had about an hour to before we had to head to the airport (which is about 10 minutes away).
We headed back to the airport to catch our flight to the next island on our itinerary, Kauai. The flight from Oahu to Kaua’i is listed as 45 minutes, but our flight took about 30 minutes from wheels up to wheels down. We’re staying on the east side of the island near Kapa’a in a beautiful beach resort…perfect for some rest and relaxation as we adventure around Kaua’i!
When we checked in to the hotel, one of the employees told us that there were a couple Hawaiian monk seals hanging around the beach behind the resort. Obviously as soon as we got to our room, we dropped our bags and immediately headed down to the beach. It was absolutely amazing to see how close the seals were to the resort! It’s super important that the seals are able to use the Hawaiian coastline to take a break and catch a breather from all their swimming and fishing, so it was nice to see wildlife employees actively creating makeshift boundaries to protect these seals from human interaction. The animals are awesome, but respecting their space was even more awesome. We also found out from the wildlife employee that this particular female seal was pregnant!
After some quality R&R with our new monk friend, we were all ready for some lunch (albeit a bit late), so we headed to Coconut Fish Café for some fresh seafood.
We’re in Kaua’i for about a week, and our room has a full kitchen with outdoor barbeque grill access, so we decided to stop at a local grocery store and stock up on some essentials and food that we can prep/cook.
Tomorrow, we plan to hike the Sleeping Giant Mountain trail, which is one of the most exciting trails on the island, so make sure you stay posted!