The “high impact” drive to Kailua
26 Aug
The beautiful drive to Kailua
It’s a short drive from Waikiki to the simple coastal town of Kailua, and the amount of gorgeous scenery per mile is immense. I call this the high impact drive, because it is relatively short and really, incredibly, overwhelmingly beautiful. Coming from Waikiki you would take highway H1 to H2. H2 took 37 years to build, costing $100 million dollars (gasp) per mile! You will drive through Ko’olau mountains for about 15 minutes and marvel at their beauty. Ko’olau mountains form perfect, chiseled peaks covered with every shade of green imaginable, and are just so stunning it’s hard to look away. For the grand hooray, after you pass the tunnel, the road opens up an absolutely incredible view on the left. Open ocean, small towns, lagoons and more green mountains. It is hard to take picture of this wonder as it is too grand scale, and well, you are in a moving vehicle and there is nowhere to pull over. Believe me, we tried.
As you get into Kailua, you pass the ” town center” comprised of several strip malls. There is a mix of the corporate Macy’s and Starbucks with local mom and pop businesses, about an equal amount of both, which is nice. Oahu has a big farmer’s market culture, and Kailua has a nice market every Thursday evening. The sweet corn was my favorite treat. This type of corn only grows on Oahu, it is juicy and unbelievably sweet. We also had a quesadilla from the burrito stand which was average, and had waaay too much cheese, a nice ginger iced tea, and the best organic mangoes. Walking around the market, shopping with the locals and checking out all the fresh farm produce is a very nice to spend an hour, and a cheap fun way to entertain your taste buds. If you need something more substantial than Farmer’s market goodies, read about our Kailua restaurant experience here.
Kailua has a beautiful beach with fine white sand and very clear water. There is a nice beach front park with picnic tables, huge old banyan trees, shady ficus trees and fearless pretty white birds walking around. The scent of the ocean is very strong and refreshing here- makes you want to breathe with full lungs, and save some of the potent oxygen for later. You can rent a kayak right on the beach, get some instruction, and kayak to the nearby tiny Mokulua islands. That is if you are feeling adventurous and need a serious upper body workout. Alternately, being a beach bum is perfectly acceptable here. Laying on the soft sand staring at the turquoise water, and taking an occasional dip was my sport for the day. This beach is rated one of the 10 best beaches in the country, so I wanted to get all my beaching in at Kailua beach.
If you are planning to spend the day here, bring your umbrella. Hawaiian sun is deceivingly gentle, but is in fact very strong.
Oh, and the sunset here is really beautiful and serene…If you can stay till the sun sets, do- it will offer a perfect wind down to a lovely day.
Corn stand at Kailua Market
the organic goods at the market
Kailua beach after sunset
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