The day didn’t start out doing non touristy things. In fact it started out as doing a very touristy thing, walking into Waikiki to grab a cup of coffee at Kai Coffee Shop at the Hyatt Regency. We walked the mile to the hotel, saw the long line at 6:30 a.m. and abruptly aborted that plan. Think the island was telling us, don’t do the touristy thing, find your own way.
Back to the house we trotted and made an amazing breakfast of avocado toast (made with a local butter avocado) topped by an egg and it paired perfectly with our coffee.
We made a plan for the west side today, find the non-touristy stuff. Our first stop was Barbers Point Lighthouse, in an industrial zone. If you are a first time visitor to Oahu, I would skip this area. The park you cut through has some homeless that are rather sketchy. We are used to seeing the homeless here, but to be honest, if it was my first visit to Oahu, it wouldn’t be what I want to see.
You cut behind Germain’s Luau once you go through the park and there is the lighthouse standing tall and proud.
Once our photo ops were completed, we hopped back in the car to visit, Ku’ilioloa Heiau at Pokai Bay. Beautiful bay surrounded by a park on one side (filled with a homeless camp) and the other side beach. We paid our respects to the Hawaiian Gods at the Heiau, respecting and honoring their belief system.
Our last stop of our non-touristy tour was to find the bust of Iz. Found him at a community center. We parked alongside the road and popped out of the car to snap a few photos. Now that just screams tourist!
We needed lunch and found the perfect spot to lunch at, Kahumana Organic Farm and Cafe. It was one of the best lunches we’ve had in a very long time. It was an honest meal, not pretentious and I just kept smiling while eating it. I had a starter salad, followed by the day’s special, Cajun Mahi on rice with root veggies and avocados. Mike had the carrot & kale soup followed by the pesto pasta topped with a fillet of Mahi. The setting only made the perfect meal better.
At this point the heat and sun were wearing us out, no true beach hanging out today, maybe next week. We had another stop to make, in an industrial zone in Honolulu, The Honolulu Cookie Company We needed some more goodies for the gift boxes being sent out to people that made large donations to our Oahu Heart Walk on Saturday. You still have time to donate, please consider helping us to raise a bit more, click here if you can give.
Well seeing as we were on that side of Honolulu, we should stop and have a beer at Honolulu Beerworks. It was a local crowd in there this afternoon, we enjoyed sitting at the bar, watching the locals and trying to plan next summer’s trip.
It was close to 3:30 and we had to move the car, because where we were parked turns into a no park zone from 3:30-5:30 during the work week and you will get ticketed. Perfect time to head back to the house to rest, eat a very light dinner and ready ourselves for sunset viewing.
Sunset viewing had many clouds blowing from all directions, with little spits of rain falling on us. Mike jumped in for a float, while I watched the people on land and on sea.
Returning home we had dessert waiting for us. Mike made banana coconut ice-cream yesterday and today it was ready, he topped with a cookie from our little expedition to the cookie store.
Today was about finding the hidden things, that are overlooked or not discovered by one time tourists to the Oahu. We are grateful to have had a few visits already that allows to explore these unconventional spots.
CTHikergal Travels 
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