A GUIDE TO OAHU, HAWAII

                     A GUIDE TO OAHU, HAWAII 

Here you have it, a long overdue guide to Oahu! Hawaii is a true gem, and I'm lucky enough to have been twice in the past few years. Oahu happened to be my second trip, and I loved how this vacay was filled to the brim with activities and places to explore. Unfortunately I cannot recommend any restaurants I enjoyed, nor can I remember any for that matter. Minus the good eats, I have plenty of local spots to share that is a must-see if you're planning a future trip!

                                  BEACH FRONT 

For this trip I tagged along with my friend Emily and her family on their summer vacation, so because we had a larger party, we voted for a condo/house and ditched the hotel or resort idea. The beach house was perfect and made my stay extremely "homey." The best feature about this house, is that is comes with a private beach, and separate balcony from the house! The ocean was so beautiful and clear, perfect for someone who isn't particularly a fan of the water (like me). The house comes with everything a hotel normally would, so towels, sheets, blankets, fans, etc. The kitchen table seats over ten people, and the kitchen is a perfect size for many to participate in the cooking - bonus! When I was swimming in our private ocean, some locals were visiting their home along the shore, and kept asking how we found out about this particular spot, because it's truly a gem of the island that most locals don't even know about! Definitely recommend something like this, because the experience of living in a house for one week, truly captures the lifestyle of the locals much more than any hotel, or more-American resort!

                    DOLE PINEAPPLE PLANTATION 

If your a realy pineapple lover like me, than this dole plantation can be super fun! Now, head's up I found it all to be a little corny (gift shop) and not a lot to do, but it was fun to take some photos, and sip on a homemade pineapple/dole whip smoothie! I think if you have little one's of your own, this place is perfect because you can take a 20 minute train trip and view the plantation and then head back and explore the maze!

                   SWIMMING WITH THE DOLPHINS

This was a dream come true! By far the best decision I ever made, because nothing beats this experience, and do you see the view? Unlike Sea World in San Diego, Sea Life Park offered an atmosphere that felt less like a tank but more like swimming with dolphins in their natural habitat. The trainers were wonderful and made me feel so at ease! You can read more about my experience here, but I definitely recommend Sea Life Park to everyone - even if you decide against swimming with the dolphins because they offer so much more to see and do, such as shark encounters, sea turtles, sea lions, and Pink's to grab a hotdog and pink lemonade if it's a warm day!

                      CATAMARAN BOAT RIDE 

Even if you're a scaredy cat like me, this adventure on the open sea is just for you!! It truly captured the beauty of Waikiki beach and the view of the skyscrapers. If your live in LA this view is typical and therefore isn't too special, however the underwater life in the ocean is. The feature of this boat ride is being able to jump off and snorkel. I'm afraid of the ocean, and heights so I ended up being the last one in the water, but it was worth the risk. The fish I was able to see were so incredible, and the colors were so vibrant. They swam so close to my body I could literally touch them all. The local spot they take you to is commonly known as the "turtle location" because it's where all the sea turtles hang out and eat. Luckily, I was able to see more than five sea turtles underwater, and they were so green and beautiful! Ah, writing about this makes me feel like I'm holding my breath, wearing my oversized goggles, while floating on top of the water, and looking down only to find the most exquisite underwater creatures!

                                       BLOW HOLE 

If you're visiting Sea Park for the day, drive down the road about a mile longer and you'll find this look out spot of this famous blow hole. This view is so beautiful and honestly my photos do not do it justice! It's extremely windy, so prepare yourself when you take photos or video. Your hair will be crazy, and you may feel a strong mist from the water below, but this spot is the perfect Oahu view!

SECRET STAIRWAY

his photo shoot has been the one I've been saving, because it was taken back when I traveled to Oahu. Sadly, it is the only outfit shoot I captured in Oahu, unlike my Maui trip. But, I couldn't be happier with the lighting and plumeria flower in my ear! Looking back on these photos, make me miss this little corner of paradise! It was such a peaceful week. Hawai'i was such an inspiring place for me, and I gathered so many thoughts and ideas for my blog! I've been home now for over a month, and my editorial calendar is now filled with many wonderful posts and I have this ocean blue water to blame!

Where I captured these photos was my favorite spot at where we stayed. Off the patio some narrow stairs lead down to our private beach, and every time I would walk down, I felt like I was in a movie. Green, beautiful flowers covered the whole bottom steps, making it impossible to step down without the branches touching the top of your head, and blocking the view. It reminded me of those moments in a movie when the main characters would walk in the jungle and move a big leaf curtain that hid a beautiful view. Yes, this is exactly how I felt. You can see it from these photos too, the branches totally hide the ocean view when coming down the stairs! Anyways, I'm glad I captured these photos here, to remind me exactly how I felt in these moments when I'd walk down these steps!

POSTCARDS FROM OAHU PT. 6

ell this completes my little series of my trip to Oahu! To finish it off with a bang, I put together a whole video of my trip! I had high hopes of vlogging everyday, but sadly I never really did, rather it's all here and there clips that don't make too much sense, nor show you exactly what I did. This video displays 15 things I love about Hawaii. A lot of it is common to just Hawaii in general, but a few are special to Oahu, like Waikiki Beach. I hope you enjoy this video, and I can't wait to travel somewhere new again because I'd love to learn more about videography. I'm so thankful I was able to go on this trip, it was such a blast!

POSTCARDS FROM OAHU PT. 5

wimming with dolphins is by far the most incredible experience I've ever had in my life! I don't even know where to begin. The whole encounter was amazing, and I loved every minute of it! So we began our encounter with touching the dolphins back, and warming up to it swimming by us. The package I bought included a dolphin kiss, belly ride, and snorkel time. Words cannot even express my love and excitement I had for these dolphins and this day. The photos our personal photography took were amazing and I'm so glad to have them for memory sake. The belly ride was so exciting and felt so good. It was hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that I was swimming with a large water mammal, because dolphins are just so tame and friendly. Literally reminds me of a dog ha-ha. The one dolphin we swam with was named Maui and he was such a sweetheart.

When I first got in the water and lined up to touch the dolphin, I thought to myself how glad I was that I bought this particular package because I was getting nervous. I wanted the interaction with the dolphin personally, rather than just touching it and playing ball with it. However, once our time ended I realized how I could have totally done the royal swim. Once I felt very comfortable around the dolphin, it made me want to do even more with it. It was amazing to watch the trainers swim underwater with it and have the dolphin give them a nose lift with her foot. It blew my mind away at all the abilities these creatures are made with.

After we swam with the dolphins, we watched a dolphin show just like SeaWorld in San Diego! From the show I was able to capture the most beautiful photos of them jumping out of the air, twirling around, spinning a ball on its nose, and racing around the tank. Believe me, it was very hard for me to chose which photos to share here on the blog, because I have so many! Throughout the show I was also able to film some awesome footage of the dolphins jumping out of the water, and I cannot wait to show you all in an upcoming post once I'm done editing a YouTube video for my main channel. The grand finale of the show, they had all four dolphins jump out of the water two times, and I was able to capture that all on video (score!). Swimming with the dolphins was like never I've ever experienced before, and I hope that I can do it again very soon here in California with my family. Interacting with these dolphins touched my heart in a way I cannot describe. I've always had a love for animals, but never knew I could have a passion so strong for dolphins. Watching and observing those trainers made me crave the same opportunity everyday. Working with animals everyday of your life seems like a complete dream to me. Dolphin trainer...sounds like heaven! Who needs to be a dental hygienist anyway? Right?

POSTCARDS FROM OAHU PT. 4

ea life park is a mini version of SeaWorld here in So-Cal and it's a park that has beautiful sea creatures! Sea turtles, sharks, dolphins, sea lions, and fish were all beautifully showcased at this park. It ended up being a great day and so fun to take photos of all the animals especially when I don't own a underwater camera, to take some photos and footage of the underwater life in Hawaii. It ended up being a great day, and I loved watching and observing these wonderful animals. It totally made me want to take a trip down to San Diego and explore SeaWorld!

These photos of the ocean, was our view the entire drive to this park. It reminded me so much of Maui and I loved every second of it. It is a blowhole so that was super cool to see in person! I also got some great footage of it because if I haven't mentioned yet, I'm putting together a video of 10 things I love about Oahu! This was definitely one of them! As I'm editing the video it makes me wish I would have done the same for when I went to Maui and Virginia! In about five days (fingers crossed) the video will be uploaded on my YouTube channel!

POSTCARDS FROM OAHU PT. 3

n Waikiki beach we took a catamaran boat trip! The package came with snorkeling for about an hour and a half, and then a boat ride near diamond head. To be honest I wasn't looking forward to these two hours, because I get terrible sea sickness (which I got in Maui when whale watching) so it seemed like torture. I took some medicine and hoped for the best, and thankfully it worked like a charm. Second, my fear for the ocean is strong and jumping out into the middle of the ocean to snorkel with sea creatures made everything seem worse. I made no promises to jumping in the water, and prepared my friends for my lack of interest. However, I let my mood determine that factor and see if I felt comfortable and prepared for the snorkeling part of the tour.

I couldn't be more proud of myself, because I'm happy to report that I bravely jumped in feet first with no regrets. I was the last person on the boat to jump in, and last person to head back up! I didn't feel comfortable using the breathing piece, just used the mask instead. Floating for a few seconds and then immediately coming up for air was the process for a straight hour, but somehow I didn't mind. My heart was racing and I had to calm myself down once when I jumped in, but then once I realized how I was swimming in the most deepest and largest masterpiece of God, all my fears were pushed aside. Staring at the most incredible fish of the sea, I floated there in awe of my Saviors creation. I had the opportunity to see four sea turtles up close, and they were absolutely beautiful. They were big, green, and tame. The boat ride overall became one of my highlights for the week in Oahu, and being able to swim with such amazing sea life gave me much joy!