Wednesday

Other than needing a vacation desperately, we had a purpose for this trip. I was part of a wedding. So Wednesday and Thursday were devoted to whatever the beautiful bride needed. Our rehearsal was actually a day spent on the beach where the wedding was taking place. It was pretty exhausting but we managed.

The wedding was being held on a private beach that’s part of Kualoa Ranch. We met up with the group at 9 to catch the ferry over to the beach and the guides ran through the do’s and the don’ts. We had paddle boards and kayaks at our disposal. Volleyball and badminton. Scuba gear and beach mats. And a couple boats trips you could choose to go on. We had packed a lunch and drinks and had the afternoon to “rehearse”.

We as a group decided to take a ride on the glass bottom boat and try our luck at seeing some turtles.

Round trip it was only about a 30 minute venture but the water was gorgeous and we were fortunate enough to see a handful of turtles. Not the best picture but you get the idea.

After countless paddle board trips and kayaking, lunch and volleyball, we got down to business. The bride and groom gave us the deets on the next day’s excursion, which took all of 15 minutes and then it was back to the ferry to head to the parking lot.

The wedding location itself was beautiful. But so was the driveway to get to it!

It was a small winding road that was surrounded with fruit trees. Banana, guava, starfruit, papaya and mango. Sugar cane and coffee trees. There was no way we could leave without snagging some.

Kualoa Ranch is home to where several movies were filmed, most notably Jurassic Park. You can take a tour on horseback or ATV, even zip lining. We missed the cutoff for the tours so we just walked part it to get the jist.

We had hours to spare and more island to explore. We had been given a few suggestions on places to eat and we found one quickly once we hit the coastal highway.

Turns out it’s fancier than it used to be because it was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. Which I’m wondering if it was a ‘dive’ because it now has a hand washing station. Getting classy. It really was delicious though and hit the spot.

 

We pin pointed a route to take us the rest of the way around the island and got back on the road. My favorite part? The tunnels.

We took a few pit stops and hurried our way back to the North Shore in order to catch the sunset.

Waimea Beach. Without a doubt, my favorite place on our trip where we enjoyed the sunset. The sand was super soft and the water was perfectly warm and inviting.

We found a deserted spot and sat down to gaze at people as they enjoyed the day coming to an end.

Now for the exciting part. Waimea Beach is home to a very popular spot for rock jumping. Most of our people watching was done on this side. We watched countless people climb up and take the epic leap.

 

And the award for best jump goes to:

Hysterical. Probably not for him but definitely for those that watched. The sunset was just as you would imagine a sunset on a tropical island would be. Breathtaking. It simply got better as it got later.

Before we lost all light we walked back towards the car, rinsed our feet off at the faucet and took one last glimpse at that amazing view and packed in for the night. This trip was proving to be more than I could have imagined.