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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Any Hawaii recs?
DH's parents gave us quite a bit of money towards a vacation for Christmas 
(gotta love rich retired inlaws) Anywho, we've agreed to go to Hawaii given I lose my weight, which I WILL. We're going to spend 2 weeks between 2 islands most likely, maybe 3. Any recs on must dos, or things you've always wanted to do? We'll be going in late June for our anniversary.
The only thing on my list is Pearl Harbor, the Volcano national Park (I want to do the helicopter ride) and the sunrise thing I've heard about.
TIA!
Re: Any Hawaii recs?
I've only ever been to Maui, but I loved it and would totally recommend a visit! Back when I visited, American had flights direct from Dallas to Maui, instead of stops in Dallas and LA, like a lot of the other airlines.
You're probably thinking about the sunrise at Haleakala, which is on Maui. I'd also recommend the road to Hana, which has a bunch of great places to stop and walk around along the way. (Waterfalls, hiking, etc.) A friend of mine went to Maui for her honeymoon, and spent a couple of days in Hana, and said it was lovely. (I think they went horseback riding one day, which she said was really fun.) I don't remember the name of the tour group/boat charter, but one day I went on an excursion to snorkel at the Molokini crater, and that was a lot of fun--lots of sea life to look at in really clear water. The boat was fun, too, there were maybe 30 or so people on board and we had lunch on the boat.
A friend of mine went to Kauai last September, and loved it. It's even less populated than Maui, and she said it was her favorite island.
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I went to Oahu a couple of years ago. We didn't make any plans, we just decided day by day. I think my favorite thing was snorkeling. You could see all kinds of cool sea life just off the shore, including turtles. We rented a car and drove around and would just stop at random beaches to snorkel. There is a snorkel park, Hanauma Bay, near Waikiki that we went to. you have to pay but it was worth it. My cousin went when she was there last year and she said visibility was kind of cloudy so you may want to check the water conditions before you go.
Also, you have to go to a luau. We went to one at a resort that was good.
The Diamond Head hike is also a must do. It can be a rough hike if you're out of shape but the views are beautiful.
we went to maui for our honeymoon and had a wonderful time! if i could do it over, i would have gone to either the big island or kauai as well. i've been to oahu, and while it's a fun place to visit - i wouldn't stay more than 2 days there. go visit the polynesian cultural center and the pearl harbor exhibit. when we went there years ago we stayed at turtle bay, but if you're only going for a couple days it might be fun to stay in honolulu so you're in the heart of the busy city.
for maui, we stayed 3 nights in hana and it was AMAZING. we then went and stayed 7 additional nights in napili (the western side of maui). while we liked napili and the western side of maui, it is a lot busier and has a ton of tourists -- it kind of reminds me of oahu. my husband and i prefered the peace and quiet and the beauty of hana and wish we had stayed there for longer.
we stayed in this place in hana: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60630-d111796-Reviews-Hamoa_Bay_Bungalow-Hana_Maui_Hawaii.html.
It was so so so romantic, so peaceful, so beautiful. i would stay there again in a heartbeat. there was also tons to do and see on that side of the island that we wouldn't have been able to do had we only driven to hana for the day.
when we stayed in napili (i don't remember where we stayed, we stayed in a condo) we went to a couple of luaus and also we went snorkeling in molokini and we took a helicopter tour of the island molokai which was amazing (although if we had gone to another island i think it would have been awesome to do the helicopter tour on the big island to see the giant volcano).
also we went to eat at mamas fish house, it was wonderful. we went snorkeling in maui down by wailea beach and saw TONS of giant sea turtes. it was remarkable.
if you end up going to maui, let me know i have a travel book you are welcome to have.
Married and it feels so good!
Damnittohell - I just had a super duper duper long post with a million recs for Oahu, Kauai, and the Big Island and IE ate it. I don't have time to re-type, but shoot me an email at srgarlan AT yahoo DOT com and I can give you a ton of recs from hotels to excursions to restaurants to beaches. I've been to Hawaii 5 or 6 times either for work or play.
Short story - when you decide on islands, go out and get the Hawaii Revealed series books for those islands. If you have 2 weeks I would do Oahu, the Big Island, and Kauai. We have not been to Maui but plan to go in the next 2 years with DH's family.