01/02/2025
20th– 25th Nov 2024
Our flight to O’ahu was scheduled, that we were supposed to be in Honolulu at 8:09 PM and pick up the car at 8:30 PM. We booked all the cars on Hawaii throught EconomyBookings – which was definitely the cheapest option. The flight was slightly delayed, so we were worried that they would close the rental office for us yet, but luckily we managed to do so. We picked up the car and went to walmart to do some shopping and continued to the north where we will have an early morning swim with sharks <3. We spent quite a long time looking for a place where we could sleep undisturbed, finally we parked in the historical part of the city on a remote road. Unfortunately, the road led to some kind of factory, because early in the morning cars started driving past us and continued behind a barrier that marked private land.
Day 1st (Nov 21, 2024)
We get up early because we have chosen the first group and we should leave the port at 7AM and we have a meeting already at 6:30AM at north shore. There are plenty of other companies in the harbor that provide swimming with sharks, snorkelling or sailing with dolphins. We arrived at the address that was given in the reservation and since there were a lot of other people around us, we didn’t stress. However, when seven o’clock almost approached and we still weren’t on the ship and everyone was ignoring us because everyone thought we had already checked in with someone else, I asked and they sent us to the other side, we panicked a bit. We jumped in the car and arrived about a minute after seven, luckily they didn’t leave us behind, we do a quick check-in and we’re on the boat with the others, phew. If we didn’t deal with the reservation data and instead just entered “North Shore Shark Adventures” in google maps – the company we booked this activity with, we wouldn’t have a single problem, haha.
We’ve read that it’s more worthwhile to book a cage swim than just a swimming without cage because the sharks stay closer when you are in a cage than without a cage. Plus, it looks like we’re super lucky, there’s only 5 of us in the group instead of the usual 15, so we’ll have more time to spend in the cage. We have a captain, a woman, which pleasantly surprised us, because it is not completely conventional and we like unconventional things, and she is also very nice, like the entire crew of the ship. During the cruise, we receive instructions and goggles with a snorkel, and in approximately 20 minutes we anchor. The waves rock nicely with us and we can see the first sharks from the deck of the boat. Wow!
The cage is released and ready for our entry. We all go at once with the understanding that we can stay in the water for half an hour or climb out when we want. As a standard, groups of 5 people take turns and each group spends approximately 10 minutes in the water – yes, getting up early sometimes pays off. Wow! It’s the first time I’ve seen a shark, lots of sharks, and that close up. They look so … calm, non-violent, that you want to pet them, adopt them, haha. I bought a new waterproof case for my phone before I left, so we’re taking a billion photos and videos. We are in the water until the last minute and enjoy ourselves like children. Unreal experience.
In the parking lot, I mainly try to rinse the phone and the cover, because unfortunately some water got inside, not much, but it’s salt water after all. And our fellow travelers ask if I could share some photos and videos with them, because two of them didn’t prepare at all and the last one took a dead battery to his GoPro. That’s also how we found out that he came for his honeymoon, but his wife didn’t want to go swim with sharks, so he has to show her photos and videos so she can at least see what she missed. Agreed, she lost a lot. As I wrote above, the waves were properly rocking the boat and the cage, and others told us in the parking lot that they struggled a lot with seasickness, that if they would be in the water or waiting on a boat for a while longer, they would vomit. I don’t know what they would do if they had to wait twenty minutes on the anchored ship for the other two groups to take turns, so our group was just lucky one.
We plan to make it to the Koloa Gulch waterfall, so we continue east. It’s starting to get hot so we look for a nice beach along the way and found Moku’auia Beach. Beautiful beach with a swing and considering it’s 10AM it’s almost deserted. We freshened up, swam in the clear turquoise water and continued on with our plan – the Koloa Gulch waterfall awaits us. For this hike, you need to secure a hiking permit, which is free, but it is necessary to have one because the route leads through private land >>> https://www.hrihelp.com/hiking-camping
We’ve read that you can’t park at the beginning of the hike because it’s private land, but we went there anyway to see for ourselves, and at the same time we thought we’d at least check closer place where we could park. Most people recommended parking in the town of Laie. We discovered a place with various fresh fruits on the main road, not far from the beginning of the hiku, bought a smoothie and asked if we could leave the car there. We replenished our energy with a smoothie and went on a hike. We knew that we had a varied route that was not very well marked and that we would have to cross the river many times along the way.
The path was overgrown, somewhere well-trodden, so it was clear where to go, but somewhere it was trodden by wild pigs, so we got lost many times. According to the articles we read before we set out on the hike, we learned that one trip should take approximately 3 hours. Considering that we left 15 minutes before noon and it gets dark at approximately 6 pm, we don’t have time to get lost. We basically use mapy.cz for hiking, but unfortunately they didn’t work very well for us in Hawaii, and the way to Koloa Gulch was no different. Unfortunately, we couldn’t even find this route on mapy.cz, so we went more or less blindly, and we couldn’t even estimate how much time we had left. So we decided that if we didn’t reach the waterfall by 3 pm, we had to turn around and go back to the car anyway. We kept telling ourselves that we had to be there in any minute, but we were starting to get skeptical… At 2:45 PM we reached the lower waterfall, hooray! Unfortunately, we didn’t remember all the information from the articles we’ve read and we didn’t bring our swimsuits, which are needed to get to the upper waterfall. So how do you get to the upper waterfall? You have to swim to the lower waterfall, next to which there is a rope that you can use to climb up. Thank God, there was no one else at the waterfall and we didn’t meet anyone on the way, so we decided to take off our clothes and leave all our things under the first waterfall. I also left my waterproof case for phione in the car and we couldn’t climb up without our phone, so we came up with another waterproof bag – a bag after dried banana worked as well, haha).
Climbing up is still possible, but I’m starting to panic, because the rock is of course very slippery and I’m wondering how I’m going to climb down. Luckily, I decided to solve it later and just climbe up, WOW! The waterfall is really worth it. And fortunately it’s so far away, because if it were on a simple, short hike, it would be overcrowded. We enjoy the peace, solitude and the beauty of the waterfall. However, time is pressing, so we set off. Lu decided to jump down, but since we didn’t check the depth under the waterfall, she panics too. She calms down within about a minute and jumps, ufff everything is fine, but I can see the panic in her eyes. She was trying to tell me that she touched the rock with her butt when she jumped into the water, but I can’t really hear her over the waterfall… oh my god, now I’m panicking and I decide to try to climb back down. She told me downstairs that she only touched it lightly, but that it scared her at first. Nothing happened and that’s the main thing. We set off back at almost 3:30 PM, but thank God, the return trip is much faster and we make it to the car while it’s still light. We had a headlamp with us for the emergency, but in this terrain we knew we didn’t want to go in the dark.
So, O’ahu enchanted us, immediatelly, on the first day and I’m already looking forward to the program for the following days. We would like to go to Crouching Lion for sunrise, but we’ve read on All Trails that the hike is closed due to a death – someone unfortunately climbed too close to the cliff and fell down. However, we go through various comments and people are apparently still going to Crouching Lion. So we park below the beginning of the hike, have dinner and get ready for bed to be ready for the next day.
Day 2nd (Nov 22, 2024)
We didn’t get much sleep because the parking lot is not remote at all, on the contrary, it is right next to the main road, so we were woken up by the lights of passing cars and at around 4 am cars started parking around us – obviously we are not the only ones who plan to go to Crouching Lion for sunrise. At the beginning of the trail there is a sign with no entry, the lights going up and the beaten path, it says something else. We were afraid if we would make it and we ran to the top in 15 minutes – the hike is steep, but very short. Unfortunately, we are far from the only ones at the top, but we still enjoy the sunrise and the views a lot. Before we leave, one couple start to talking to us – a nice coincidence, a couple who lives in Canada like us and the boy is originally from the Czech Republic. We generally share the highlights of Hawaii, but we have to move on, we still have a long program ahead of us.
We continue to 3 peak (Olomana trail) – not recommended in the rain, which I am not surprised at all. It is our second day on O’ahu and it has not rained yet, but the trail is still very muddy, in some places there are mud slides. On the way up we only meet two people who are already returning, one of them finished at the first peak and the other reached the second peak. We are keeping our decision open for now. We are at the first peak in less than an hour and thirty minutes, but there were climbing sections that gave me a hard time, because I could see the cliff below me and when I see what the third peak looks like, I apologize to Lu, but I definitely will not reach the third and considering that we see that the views from the second peak will not be different and the gentleman who reached it confirmed to us that the path is overgrown and that it is not worth it, we end up at the first peak, thank God! We have still a lot of hikes ahead of us. The views are perfect, we fell in love with O’ahu at first sight.
Even though neither of us are die-hard gardeners, we planned our next stop at Ho’omaluhia botanical garden – the garden is HUGE and contains not only plants, shrubs, and trees from Hawaii, but from all over the world. We discovered plants there from South America, Africa, and Europe. We went through the part that interested us, but since gardening is not our hobby or profession, we gave up after about half an hour and decided to continue.
The last point of the day is a waterfall again – Lulumahu Falls. And lo and behold… We got lost again. Neither of us wanted to go back, so we continued on, hoping to reconnect with the original path. We reached a ridge with beautiful views, but ugly cliffs. I’m starting to get stressed again. Lu asks if she should go further to see what the path looks like and tells me to get comfortable… With what I see around me/below me, an impossible task for me. I wait in one place and pray that she’ll be back in any minute, it seems like an eternity…
After an eternity, Lu returns and tells me that she didn’t reach the waterfall, but that it looks like we’re on a good path. I ask if the path is manageable for me and Lu says yes, when I see the path, I think it’s not, my head hurts terribly from stress, I’m sweating and I want to teleport to that stupid waterfall. In front of us and behind us there’s only a narrow path with cliffs all around and I don’t want to go forward or back. After another eternity, we reached the waterfall, but we got OVER it. We climbed down the rope to another waterfall and only then, below us, was Lulumahu Falls with a height of approximately 15 meters, from the top it seemed much higher, we research the route, we make up ideas, but there is no other option than to go back the same way. After we got back on the path, we found out that if we hadn’t gotten lost, we would have been at the waterfall in approximately half an hour, maybe less. BUT … We always have to have some extra adventure.
Everything has its pros and cons. The cons were definitely my fear. The pros were that we met dozens of people on the official trail, as soon as we got off the trail, we met one guy during the whole time of hiking, and when we finally got to the waterfall, we were there alone again, hooray! We are covered in mud, so our steps immediately point towards the water. After “swimming” under the waterfall, it’s high time to head to the car. Perfect timing, we arrive just in time for a beautiful sunset. Despite all that, another perfectly finished day in this paradise.
On the third day, we would also like to catch the sunrise from some nice place, which is none other than Koko head. The parking lot at the beginning of the trail is guarded by police, so we have to find another place to sleep. We found a parking lot above Makapuu Beach Park, which did not close overnight and looked quite hidden. We parked in the farthest corner and naively thought that we would sleep undisturbed at night.
Day 3rd (Nov 23, 2024)
Mistake. In the middle of the night, fishermen arrived and parked right next to us, they spread out their rods and tents around us, so of course we didn’t get any sleep, and when we wanted to leave in the morning, we thought we wouldn’t even make it there. We drove to the parking lot under Koko Head for about 10 minutes and walked to the top for about 30 minutes, again nothing difficult, or rather, it is difficult, again it is a short hike, which is incredibly steep, but ideal for sunrise, because it is not a hike of several hours and the view is amazing.
On the way up we’ve met a lady who was about 75 years old, she was in a positive mood, she greeted, smiled and wished everyone a nice day. When we met her when we were going down, I asked her wheather we already hadn’t met her in the opposite direction. The lady smiles and tells us her routine, she walks up and down the stairs 3 times 5 days a week, only on Fridays and Sundays she has other activities, so she only goes up once. Wow, she has my admiration! And on top of that…. Her energy, how mental and physical I would like to have, especially at her age.
It’s starting to get hot and our next stop is the natural pools, Makapuʻu Tide Pools. The entire area – both the trail itself and of course the entrance to the pool – is off-limits, due to fatal incidents in previous years. Specificallly according to Department of Land and Natural Resources this area is considered very dangerous. „The area is known to have unpredictable wave surges that have swept people out to sea resulting in a loss of life. Furthermore, the steep and loose trail leading to the tide pools is hazardous to those on it and those below it. Please do not attempt to access the tide pools as you are putting yourself and potentially our rescue workers in jeopardy.“
So we continue to the lighthouse, which is unfortunately also closed, but at least it can be seen from the road and from the lookout above the lighthouse. The walk was very nice, with beautiful views, but we would have enjoyed it more if we could cool off in the pool, because it was terribly hot. In my opinion, it would be enough to allow entry at low tide and prohibit it at high tide, but I understand that it is easier to prohibit entry in general, because not all visitors are responsible and not everyone would watch whether the tide is high or low.
Our next stop is going to be Cockroach Cove (a beach in the bay) – we are really looking forward to the ocean. However, on the way we discovered another tunnel created by lava (lava tube) that leads under the road to the ocean, we are going to explore it. At first we couldn’t even find the inconspicuous entrance to the tunnel. A headlamp or a phone with a flashlight is useful for the journey through the tunnel. I saw some photos where people were lucky and saw seals basking on the rock. Unfortunately, we weren’t so lucky, but it is still a place worth noting for us. At Cockroach Cove we just stopped and looked around, the beach is beautiful, but it is tiny and full of people, so nothing for us.
Everyone recommends Waikiki Beach and since we are heading to Pearl Harbor today, Waikiki is almost on our way. If we didn’t stop there, we wouldn’t have missed anything, and on the contrary, we would have avoided traffic jams, problems finding parking and crowds of people. Moreover, the beach is not interesting at all, so Waikiki was rather disappointing for us. We walked along the beach, jumped into the ocean, bought Poke and continued towards Pearl Harbor.
For Pearl Harbor, we booked admission to the USS Arizona in advance, which can only be reached by boat, so you need to book your admission in advance. Parking costs $7, we arrived at approximately 2 pm, you are not allowed to enter the area with anything, a handbag, backpack, or larger bag. You can have only wallet and water with you. Museums and cinemas are freely accessible, so we initially bypassed the museums, we only paid admission to the USS Arizona, admission cost only $1/person and the last boat leaves at 3:15 pm and the last screening of movie is at 4:15 pm, so it worked out great for us that we went straight to the Arizona and then for the screening.
We were wondering if we had a chance to catch the sunset from Pink Pillbox. We figured we would only have about 15 minutes to run up, the navigation showed us 45 minutes, haha. We hurried to Puʻu O Hulu Trail and caught a beautiful sunset. The trail is only 2.1 km and the climb is about 187 meters in elevation with a really beautiful view.
The next day we had a legal climb up Haiku Stairs, so we moved closer to the trailhead. There was a sign at the recreation park saying the park was closed overnight from 7pm to 7am, so our plan to leave at dawn was thwarted.
Day 4th (Nov 24, 2024)
We woke up in the morning, had breakfast and thought we would try to set off a little before seven, but we found out that there was a police guard standing by the sign, so we didn’t even try. So we set off on the hike right away at 7:00AM. The first few kilometers were supposed to be particularly easy, the only thing that bothered us was the tall and wet grass and mud, because it was cold in the morning. Of course we got lost, we tried to join the hike later, but that was impossible, so we were going back and couldn’t find the turnoff we needed. We finally found the turnoff and that’s where our climb began. Again, there were sections that I didn’t really like, but I wanted to reach the finish line.
The problem came when we needed to climb a steep section that was very slippery, there was nothing to hold on to and there was a cliff below us. I didn’t want to turn around, so we started climbing up to the point where I was trying to grab the “rocks” that were crumbling, I was sliding down the steep hill, Lu was holding me from below and I was having a panic attack. I felt sick and sad at the same time, I really wanted to get to Stairway To Heaven. We got back below this section, had a snack and discussed what to do next. Thank God we met other people going to the top and when they found out that we weren’t continuing because of my fear, they willingly offered me some spikes, saying they had an extra pair. At first I didn’t want to because I felt bad and Lu would go without them or we would each have one spike, but Lu didn’t want them anyway. So we agreed that if they really don’t mind, I’ll borrow them. Wow! I’m incredibly grateful for the spikes, because now I feel about 70% safer and it also calms me down that we’re not going alone, plus we’re going with someone who’s already been to the top and they told us that the section where I got stuck was the worst – that’s what I needed to hear. We learned that someone had recently gone down the stairs – a trail that has been officially closed since 1980’s and there was a police patrol waiting for him under the stairs, entering a closed trail is punishable by a fine of up to 1000 USD and the person in question was held in custody. In 2024, after about three years, the removal of the entire stairs was approved for about 2.5 million USD, which made us want to see the top even more, but of course legally. In the end, everything turned out beautifully, including the weather, we enjoyed the wonderful views, talked to our rescuers and at 11:30AM we reached the “heaven”. After about an hour we wanted to slowly head back, but the others wanted to stay, luckily they were so kind that they told me to definitely use the spikes for the way down and we agreed on a place where I should leave them. The way down went relatively quickly, until the final few kilometers on the straight were endless. At the parking lot we washed off the dust we had collected on the way, changed clothes, refilled our water and continued on.
For this day, we also planned a visit to a pineapple plantation – Dole Plantation, where we learned how pineapples are grown, their origin, had pineapple lemonade and ice cream, and discovered that we have been cutting pineapples wrong all our lives.
Our lifesaviors on the way to Stairway to Heaven showed us Chinaman’s hat Island, which can be reached on foot at low tide. We really liked this idea, but unfortunately we are leaving for Maui the next day at 9:30AM and low tide is at 6AM, but the parking lot by the beach is closed till 7AM, so unfortunately we don’t have time to get to the island. So we move to the beginning of the Waimano Waterfall trail.
Day 5th (Nov 25, 2024)
We wake up early in the morning to reach Waimano Waterfall – we are at the waterfall before dawn, around 6:15AM. Unfortunately, there is not much water, so we only see a mini waterfall and we think that Chinaman’s hat Island would be better. With enough water, however, a visit to the waterfall would definitely be worth it – again, this is a place where you can swim by the waterfall or jump into the water, there is even a rope swing made above the water. We are going to return the car to the airport and are looking forward to the next adventure that awaits us on Maui. So, an article about Maui in a month.
It will be super hard to choose, but I’ll try to write down 3 best spots from each Island.
we consider those as a 3 best spots of O’ahu:
- Kōloa Gulch – definitely the best waterfall I’ve ever seen till today – considering how you have to get there.
- Olomana Trail – even if we didn’t reach all of tree peaks, it was amazing adventure with unforgettable views.
- North Shore Shark – Unforgettable experience which we both HIGHLY recommend.
I have to say that we consider O’ahu as one of the best Islands of Hawaii for hiking, but not only for hiking, of course. We also enjoyed A LOT Crouching Lion, Koko Head, Top of the Lulumahu Falls, Stairway to Heaven of course and I can not forget about Pearl Harbour which was sad but very strong experience.