As is the case is most metropolitan areas, Honolulu is trying to figure out what to do with its homeless people. Part of the dilemma has resulted in major improvements to beautiful, 500-acre Kapiolani Park, which is located between Diamond Head and Waikiki.
Kapiolani Park was created by King Kalakaua in the 1870’s. A lot of its exceptional trees date back more than 100 years. It encompasses the 42-acre Honolulu Zoo, the Waikiki Shell, Sunday Art Shows, a tennis complex, soccer fields, an archery range, and a three-mile jogger’s course that includes a portion of the Honolulu Marathon course.
Local families as well as visitors enjoy the shady picnic sites and open grassy areas. The Royal Hawaiian Band provides free concerts every Sunday afternoon on the park’s bandstand.
Honolulu officials have launched a new effort to clean up the park, which will have the ancillary effect of evicting the homeless people who have relocated there following their having been pretty successfully removed from the beaches, Downtown Honolulu, Chinatown and the rest of Waikiki.
The four-stage park renovation is in response to a rising “level of anxiety” among both visitors and residents who have been worried about safety, sanitation and security due to the presence of homeless people.
Beach pavilions will be closed from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. for daily cleaning. For the next month, the ocean-front grass area in Kapiolani Park between the Waikiki Aquarium and Kapiolani Beach Center will be closed and refurbished.
Upcoming renovations will include the grass areas around the Queen’s Surf beach, the Waikiki War Memorial and the Kapiolani Bandstand.
And, beginning March 30, there will be temporary closures for the painting and repair of comfort stations and pavilions along the Beach and in Kapiolani Park. Each closure should last about one week.
Beginning April 20 and lasting indefinitely, areas of the park mauka (toward the mountains) of Kalakaua Avenue will be closed from midnight until 5:00 a.m., including the tennis courts; and areas makai (toward the ocean) of Kalakaua Avenue will be closed from 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.
The police are enforcing the new program by ticketing people who do not abide by the closures and arresting them if necessary, and night sleeping in the park has been banned.
What’s happening, of course, is that the city is sweeping its homeless problem to some other location, not solving it.
But while you’re vacationing on Oahu and thinking of spending some pleasant time in a lovely park, Kapiolani Park will be at its very best for your visit.
Certainly, each is worth a visit if you are vacationing on the appropriate island.
If your visit includes Oahu and you have a rental car, we recommend that you drive around the eastern end of the island, remaining close to the ocean, early during your stay. That will give you a good feel for where things are beyond Waikiki and most of the island’s other popular attractions such as the USS Arizona Memorial (1), the Polynesian Cultural Center (4), and the historical areas in Downtown Honolulu. You will discover things you might want to explore more fully later on. We encourage you to print this article and have it available for reference.
Start in Waiikiki on Kalakaua Avenue, which is one-way heading toward Diamond Head, or east. You will pass Kapiolani Park and the Honolulu Zoo (5) on your left and the Waikiki Aquarium on your right. All three are worth seeing when you have time. Kalakaua will become more residential looking as you approach Diamond Head, and you will encounter Diamond Head Road were Kalakaua terminates. Diamond Head Road will take you up to the Diamond Head Lookout, where you might want to pull over in the designated area to gaze for a while. (You won’t be alone, regardless of the time of day.) A quarter of a mile farther on Diamond Head Road is a left-hand turn that will lead you around to the entrance to the Diamond Head State Monument (6), but we recommend going straight on this trip.
Diamond Head Road becomes Kahala Avenue, which will take you through one of Hawaii’s richest neighborhoods. The road is lined with mansions, estates and retreats for the rich and famous. Just before you would continue on to the posh Kahala Hotel and Resort and Waialae Country Club on whose course the Sony Open is played, make a left on Kealaolu Street, where the hedge on your right hides the golf course. Follow Kealaolu until it dead ends at the H-1 Freeway and use the on-ramp. As soon as you’re on the freeway, it will end and become Kalanianaole Highway.
The golf course will still be on your right as you head into East Oahu, a pleasant residential area of the island. You will pass two modest shopping centers on your left (Aina Haina, which is home to the state’s first McDonald’s restaurant; and Niu Valley, which has a couple of nice sit-down restaurants) before you reach Hawaii Kai, a large, canal-laced bedroom community that was created and developed by Henry J. Kaiser in the 1950s. You’ll pass Maunalua Bay on your right, a pleasant place for water sports and sailing, with the Pacific beautifully displayed beyond.
On your left, just past the bay, you will see another shopping center, Koko Marina, which is relatively large and filled with restaurants, shops, attractions and worthwhile water activities. Continue on Kalanianaole Highway and you will pass Hanauma Bay on your right. Hanauma Bay is not listed among the state’s top ten attractions, but it’s close; and it boasts some of the finest snorkeling and scuba diving in the world.
As you move along, you will find yourself on one of the state’s most spectacular drives. There are several spots where you can pull over and take in the views. On a normally clear day, you’ll be able to see the island of Molokai in the distance. You’ll see the Holana Blow Hole on your right. It’s a lava tube under the water at the perfect height for waves to be driven into it. The water is compressed as the lava tube becomes smaller and smaller causing the pressure to increase and force a stream of water to shoot up to thirty feet into the air. It’s worth a stop (There’s a parking area) to watch for a few minutes.
Farther along the highway you’ll pass Sandy Beach Park, a popular bodysurfing beach for young people bordered by a huge, grassy area used largely by locals for dog running, kite flying, picnicking and family gathering.
Passing the Hawaii Kai Golf Course on your left, you’ll drive up an incline that opens to a magnificent panorama you’ll want to photograph. The large parking area on your right is used by hikers, sightseers, cyclists, and others who simply love being there at the Makapuu Point State Wayside. If conditions are right, you’ll see hang gliders that have taken off from the ridge above and will land on Makapuu Beach Park below.
As you continue northward, still on Kalanianaole Highway, you will pass Sea Life Park on your left and go past Waimanalo Beach Park, which fronts Waimanalo Bay, and go through the little country town of Waimanalo before reaching the Windward area of the island. On your left you’ll see the Town and Country Stables and on your right the Olomana Golf Links, where Barack Obama played on his last visit.
Kalanianaole Highway will dead end at Castle Junction, where you will take a left onto Maunawili Road, which becomes Kalanianaole Highway again before it turns into Pali Highway. (Don’t be confused by the name changes; just keep driving.)
You now are headed toward Honolulu, and it’s a beautiful drive. You probably will encounter some rain along the way as you approach the tunnels that allow the road to cut through the Koolau mountains. To your right, you will see an access road to the famous Pali Lookout, a stop worthwhile for the view. By all means, park, get out of the car and take a look.
Back on Pali Highway, you soon will see Downtown Honolulu and the harbor beyond in a panorama. When you reach Vineyard Boulevard, go left. It will become the H-1 Freeway and signs will show you the way back into Waikiki.
It’s a great way to spend the better part of a day, allowing plenty of time to stop and enjoy the sights along the way.
Once again, print this article and keep it on hand if you plan to be on Oahu during your Hawaii vacation. You’ll find it easier than trying to follow a map, even though there will be a map in the glove box of your rental car. The trip is also available by tour bus. Pick an agent from the Hawaii-Aloha Web site or call 1-800-843-8771. We’ll fix you up.
Okay yes, it is rainy season in Hawaii, but it’s really not a big deal. When you plan your vacation, you probably take into consideration the natural phenomena that might interfere with your comfort. There are non-skiing areas where heavy snow is inevitable. There are hurricane belts and tornado regions; rainy seasons and times of draught; places that flood and parch.
In Hawaii, the “rainy season” is all winter long, but it occurs in spurts with plenty of sunshine interspersed. Some winter season weather in Hawaii seems to be wetter than others. For example, we had a spell a couple of years ago where
we went practically 40 days and 40 nights with constant rain. Last year it was pretty dry the whole winter with very little rain or problematic whether. You may have been hearing lately that we’ve had some inclement weather this year. So far this year (Dec. 2008) it’s been kind of a mixed bag, we have had a few days of continuous rain as a couple of weather fronts moved over the islands. Even during periods of bad weather in Hawaii, especially in the winter, it’s not nearly as severe as the weather in the cold in other parts of the country.
The national news has been reporting during President elect Obama’s Hawaii vacation that over the weekend Oahu experienced a weather-related island-wide blackout. This blackout they believe was caused by a lightning bolt which hit one of the main power plants and triggered an island-wide blackout. As a result practically the entire island had no electricity for up to 17 hours. While things can happen during your vacation, we don’t think that kind of scenario will ever happen again in our lifetime. That was one of those freak kind of accidents that will surely never be repeated.
We’ve had severe weather in the past just like anywhere else,including hurricanes, and we get minor earthquakes occasionally. The state is prepared. Currently, the state Civil Defense uses a World War I-era artillery battery in Diamond Head Crater that was converted into a state emergency operations center in the 1970s. Now, there are plans for a larger, modernized emergency center near Diamond Head that could withstand a Category Four hurricane or a powerful earthquake, comfortably accommodate dozens of representatives from state and federal agencies in one control center and run on a generator for at least 15 days.
I tell a lot of visitors when they come to Hawaii in the winter season that they may get a few raindrops but it’s really not a big deal because there’s always something to do indoors and you never forget your in Paradise and remember without rain there are no beautiful rainbows.
One of the most recognizable landmarks on Oahu is Diamond Head. Visible from an airplane and most of Waikiki, Diamond Head has been used in movies and international television commercials for many years as “the” iconic mage of Oahu. It is one of my favorite spots as on clear days you can see the island of Molokai and whales during their migration. It is a must-do on a visit to the island of Oahu. The views looking down from Diamond Head are amazing and well worth the many steps to the top.
Diamond Head is actually an extinct volcanic crater. It is a lasting remnant of a volcanic explosion that occurred approximately 500,000 years ago. Ancient Hawaiians called it “Laeahi”. However what we know as "Diamond Head" can be traced to the 1800s, when British sailors mistakenly thought there were diamonds lodged in the crater’s soil. The "diamonds" turned out to be crystals embedded in the lava rock.
A popular activity for both tourists and residents is to head up the well worn paths to the 760-foot summit. It is a moderate hike taking about 90-minutes roundtrip. I would encourage you to go early as there is no shade on the trail. Important to note, there are many steps and stairs on this journey.
Rest assured this volcano is safe as it has been extinct for at least 150,000 years. So grab your camera and enjoy the hike up to the top to one of Oahu’s most defining features. (Posted by CM – images Wikipedia)
Today we take you inside the Waikiki Marriott and Spa, this property has everything you need for a great Hawaiian vacation.
The beautiful Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa is located across the street from Waikiki Beach and is within walking distance of Kapiolani Park, the zoo and aquarium. It’s an expansive property taking up over 5 acres on Diamondhead side of Waikiki, it has 2 towers with 1300 guest rooms, so its great for large groups or family reunions. This is a full service property with everything you need to make you vacation memorable.
One of the most recognizable landmarks on Oahu is Diamond Head. Visible from an airplane and most of Waikiki, Diamond Head has been used in movies and i
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