A Stroll on Waikiki Beach

Finally after being here for a little over a week D and I had enough time to head over to the beach.  Yes, I know it should have been the first thing we did as soon as we landed, but this house hunt is driving us a little crazy and taking a lot of our time.  Life happened, but thankfully we got out and decided to head over to Waikiki Beach.  From where we are staying at the moment this beach is literally “right in our backyard”.  (I wish it was permanently my backyard!  Not likely to happen though….)  It’s a short 2 minute walk from the lobby of the Ilikai hotel to the sand. 

   

"Somewhere over the rainbow"

Waikiki Beach is not only beautiful, spanning approximately 2 miles from the back of the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel to within walking distance of the Honolulu Zoo, but it also provides tourists and locals with a ton to do!  It’s steps from restaurants, bars, and shopping.  No matter what time of the day you decide to go out, there is always a good crowd on the beach and a good amount of people in the water.  When you look out onto the ocean it’s really all you see, sky and blue water.  Turn to your left and you see the awesome Diamond Head Crater (more on the crater in a future post), and behind you you’ll see all the hotels that sprawl along the beach side. 

Waikiki Beach with a view of Diamond Head.

D and I decided to head over to the beach around 1:00pm on a Saturday.  Since we are pretty close to the Hilton hotel we opted to lay our towels down and  stay on the beach directly behind this hotel.  Thankfully the beach is public, so you can pick a place anywhere along the 2 mile stretch to lay down without a charge.  Needless to say the view is amazing from anywhere you are on the beach and the breeze will keep you cool even on the hottest of days.

A couple of things we learned…

Sand and Seashell Mix

“Sand and bare feet don’t mix!” - Wear flip-flops or shoes ALL the time while on the sand!  If you go to the beach during the day, beware, the sand is abnormally HOT!!  We pretty much burned the soles of our feet from the get go.  The sand appears to be white sand, but it’s not.  It totally deceived us in to thinking that it would be nice and cool, a la white sand beaches on the west coast of Florida.  (If you’ve stepped on a white sand beach, you know what I’m talking about.)  Also, the sand on Waikiki Beach is really a mix of sand and seashell pieces.  The shells make it a little hard to walk on, but nothing you can’t handle!

“Cheap umbrella anyone?” - Buy a beach umbrella when you get here!  I know this may seem like a pain to do, especially if you’re only here for vacation, but I highly recommend it! D and I literally tried to use a palm tree to shade us from the sun.  As the sun changed location so did we.  I’m sure we looked crazy getting up and moving every 2 minutes, but if you know me you know that I turn 10 shades darker by just walking outside so I need the shade!  If you have a rental car drive out to the mall or the closest grocery store and get yourself one.  No car, no problem, buy the cheapest one you can find in the closest ABC store (the general store you’ll see everywhere in Waikiki).  The price to rent an umbrella from one of the stands on the beach is ridiculous, and it’s only for a few hours or for the day at most.  It is likely that while on vacation or “staycation” you will head to the beach several times, and you’ll thank me each time you use the umbrella… that is, unless you want to go the “Jersey Shore” route and tan like leather. (No judgment here.)  Once your vacation is over, give it away to another vacationer.  Good karma is always welcome in my book!  

“More foes for your feet.” - The beach and water closest to the Hilton Hotel’s lagoon is very rocky, so be careful where you walk and swim.  D says that it is a better area to snorkel rather than swim.  We did see a  handful of people out there with their snorkel gear.  I’m not entirely sure if there is anything too crazy to see since it’s not a reef, but try it and let me know.  That said, once you swim out a bit it gets better.

“Music everywhere.” - If you are on the beach around lunch/dinner time you’ll have the music of live bands or DJ’s to add to your experience.  We were near the Hilton’s “Tropics Bar & Grill” where they have bands play each afternoon/evening for their guests.  Most of the larger, beach-front hotels also have music playing.  Luckily this allows those on the beach get to enjoy the music as well. 

This is not a great picture, but you get the point.

   

A little bit of everything to rent.

“Rentals, get your rentals!” – There are plenty of stands along the beach and shops a little further away from the beach that will rent you anything from snorkel gear, to paddleboards, surfboards, giant water tricycles and much more.  As with any touristy area the rentals can be on the expensive side.  My suggestion would be to look at the Groupon and/or Livingsocial sites.  These sites tend to have several coupons for rentals and lessons.  We’ve been told that they try to gear these coupons towards locals, but there is nothing that says tourists can’t use them as well.  Keep an eye out.  They can save you a pretty penny.  Just a thought…. 

This upcoming weekend we’re planning to check out the North Shore for the first time.  We’ll see how it compares to Waikiki and what we’ve heard about it.  I’m super excited!