Thursday, February 7, 2013

Hawaiian Honeymoon.

As I've been so delayed on posting our wedding photos, I have yet to share the honeymoon shots, either! Here's to dreams of forthcoming spring and summer: sunshine, beaches, bikinis, tropical drinks, and sharing it with my love. So here's a glimpse to our take of the islands. Enjoy!

the honeymoon.

Our three-week getaway to the Hawaiian Islands. I was so excited, having grown up there, to go back in celebration of our wedding. Also, after spending just under a year planning the event, it was nice to relax :) We did three of the islands: Kona / Big Island, Maui, and Oahu.





The Big Island
We stayed five days in Waikoloa Hilton. It is one of my favourite resort places, and I couldn't think of a better place to include in our island hopping honeymoon. It was a great kick-off to our vacation since we were completely spoiled! They have possibly everything you can think of: dolphins, coves, lagoon, water recreation (pedal boats, kayaks, canoes, etc), turtles, fish, parrots, all different kinds of food (breakfast, lunch, dinner), a couple different waterparks, luau, amazing sunsets, retail, and the friendliest staff!

They also have boats and a tram that takes you throughout the resort, but you can also walk. For us, since we were indulging in all of the great food, we decided to walk everywhere (a few miles a day), but that made our first day on Maui a bit difficult, since our legs were so tired!


















Maui.
This was my first time on the island of Maui. I absolutely loved it! Honestly, I wasn't expecting much since I'm completely biased and grew up on Oahu, but after staying here 10 days, I can't wait to return! There were so many great food places (Da Kitchen & Star Noodle were most memorable), and all of the little beaches with great snorkeling!

We rented a nice waterfront condo for our stay, which was amazing since I love cooking. We were finally able to eat a bit healthier :) We didn't get to drive the road to Hana this trip, but hopefully our next one. We did drive the other side of the "butterfly", though, which I didn't think I would survive. Think two cars driving in about 1.5 lanes narrowly wrapped around the ridges of a mountain. It was pretty scary, but the scenery was worth it.

We also got to hang out by the huge Banyan tree in Lahaina: gorgeous! In Lahaina, we partook in the champagne & chocolates sunset cruise in the Scotch Mist. I highly recommend doing this! It was so much fun meeting other people, as well as the crew! You get amazing views of the island and the sunset view is the best! I think I enjoyed the sunsets on Maui, the most, but who am I kidding... all sunsets in the Hawaiian Islands are spectacular.















































the view from the condo.
Oahu.
Visiting Oahu brings back memories of my childhood, as well as the summers spent here when we came back to visit family. It was a great end to our honeymoon, since there's more city here (and we're city people). We also planned it this way, as our friends were getting married here, too!

We got to visit one of Ryan's friend's family restaurants: Duc's Bistro. We both highly recommend it! I have never been a big fan of Vietnamese food (outside of pho), but I don't know if I've been to the right places. Nevertheless, I was blown away and now I crave it all the time!

We also got to visit Hanauma Bay with our friends (sans the newlyweds) the day after the wedding, it was fun to go snorkeling again, but it is very crowded with tourists. We also went to swim with the dolphins, which was quite the experience! While there, we also saw the world's only "wolphin", part Orca part Dolphin.

















I can't wait to go back for another adventure! I very much want to do a helicopter tour on Kona, drive the road to Hana in Maui, and visit the seaturtles in North Shore, Oahu. Just a few things we missed this past trip.

No comments: