Hawaii Vacation - Day 8: Farewell Oahu, Hello Maui

We packed up and got ready to leave Oahu. But we had a few last things to do before we left.

First, we stopped near Makapuu Point on the southeast side of the island to take in the magnificent view.

Then we went to Halona Blowhole. I think it blows best during high tide so we were not there at the ideal time. It takes a big wave to really make it blow, and it was hard to time it right to catch it with my camera.

Afterward we drove to the Kahala Resort and met a friend of my wife from Japan for brunch. Mika lives in Waikiki now and it was the first time that Kai and I met her. My wife has not seen Mika very often in the past decade, so she enjoyed catching up with her, and also talking to her about living in Hawaii. (My wife is beginning to think about an eventual move for us to Hawaii.)

We had a great ocean view while we were eating and talking. It was such a nice setting, and there was a wedding going on just to the right of us.

And then it was time to head to the airport and board the plane that would take us to Maui.

The 22 minutes we were in the air was less than the time we were on the ground waiting to fly.

I had hoped that we could enjoy the beach but the rental car company dashed that idea. While all the other rental firms had shuttle buses coming and going from the terminal, we had to wait forever for the one from Hertz. Then, when one finally came, we could not get on it and had to wait for the next bus. We were one of the first on that one, but everyone who was remaining in line crammed onto the bus and we were one of the last off the bus, meaning that we were near the end of a very long line at the counter. To top it all off, even after I got to the counter, they didn't seem to have a car ready for us as we had to wait a long time for the car. All told, we could have flown back-and-forth-from Oahu to Maui about two or three times in the time we waited for our car.

So we didn't have much beach time, but we did manage to get there in time to see the Maui sunset.

I think Kai barely noticed the sunset as he was too busy enjoying splashing in the ocean.

Next, we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Sansei restaurant is famous for their sushi, but Kai wanted to have ramen on this evening.

My wife and I wanted to try some of the Sansei specialties. The following is panko-crusted ahi tuna. It, and all of the sushi dishes were delicious.

And so the second half of our Hawaii vacation has started. Maui will have a lot to live up to in order to match how much we enjoyed Oahu.