The first thing I wanted to do was go have breakfast at Hukilau Cafe in Laie. I saw the Hukilau Cafe featured on a Travel channel show called Man v. Food. Unfortunately the bus driver blew by the stop I was going to get off at and I didn't realize he had also passed by another since there was no announcement. I quickly signaled I wanted to get off the bus, but I wound up having to walk back about a mile back to Laie. The walk back to town passed by a ranch where there were chickens and cows.
Hukilau Cafe is actually on a side street off of an unmarked street the intersects the main road, so I had to ask someone for directions there.
They have this Hukilau burger there that has a beef patty plus teriyaki beef, fried egg, and grilled onions. Unfortunately on Saturdays they only serve breakfast, not burgers, so I tried the Hungry Hawaiian composed of two scoops of rice, SPAM, Portuguese sausage, three eggs and hot cakes, which I gave away to a family. The Portuguese sausage was good but I was disappointed that my over-easy eggs were overcooked and that the SPAM wasn't cooked at much as I would have liked. I'm not sure if I'll ever get to try their burger but I would be eager to even though it would be like a total heart attack.
After breakfast I headed to Laie Point which was featured in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (when "Rachel" jumps off of the cliff side and "Peter" tried to and winds up clinging onto some vines and then kind of falling ungracefully into the water). The walk to Laie Point is through a residential neighborhood where some of the houses look like million dollar homes and some are quite shoddy. That kind of mixture seems really common in Hawaii generally. Laie Point is really beautiful. You get a 270 degree view of the ocean and there are 5 small islands you can see. One is long with a hole in the middle from a tsunami. The waves are quite strong in the North Shore and at Laie there are a lot of places where the waves crash against the volcanic rock of the peninsula. I found the area where "Peter" had been clinging to vines since only the right side had vines. The water seemed a lot closer to the cliff than in the movie, and there were a lot more vines in the movie than there was now.
Laie Point
Island off the coast of Oahu with a hole in the middle
Waves crashing against the side of Laie Point in the foreground. Another small island in the background.
View from Laie Point back towards the shore. Here you can see the vines that "Peter" clung to in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
I was really happy to have seen Laie Point and walked to a bus stop to pick up Route 55 once again to Turtle Bay Resort. The bus is supposed to come every 30 minutes, but I waited a little over an hour at the bus stop. It was so hot and humid that I was dozing off! When the bus finally arrived, Turtle Bay Resort was only about 25 minutes away. I checked into my Deluxe Ocean Front King Bed room on the 5th floor and was very very pleased.
Some very cute turtles greet you on the edifice of the resort was you walk towards it.
My lovely king size bed with super soft pillows. (The bathroom was actually a disappointment with the paint of the tub slightly peeling off and in general it being older than what the bedroom feels like)
My lanai and view
View from lanai
After admiring my room I was back on the road because I wanted to go past Turtle Bay Resort to Haleiwa, a small town in the more western part of North Shore and snorkel at Shark's Cove (west of the resort), which an associate at the firm said was a great place to snorkel. Once again the bus took forever to get to the stop. It was about 45 minutes of waiting. I was also on a bit of a time crunch because I had rented snorkel gear from the resort that needed to be turned in by 5:30pm and I wasn't on the bus until 2:00pm. Luckily once on the bus it was only a 20 minute bus ride to Haleiwa. I stopped off at Haleiwa Joes, which is a popular place to eat but I decided to order take out since I wanted to maximize snorkeling time at Shark's Cove. I got the salmon spinach salad and headed over to Matsumoto's for some famed shaved ice. I ate the salad while waiting in the absolutely ridiculously long line of Matsumoto's. The salad was a pleasant surprise. The dressing was super tasty and the salmon was so moist and flavorful. It was also very fresh as it flaked off easily. Overall I was impressed with Haleiwa Joes and would go back. Matsumoto's is like THE PLACE to get shaved ice, and I've never had theirs. However, the bus came while I was in line and I didn't know when the next one would come since it had been so unreliable, so I got out of line and hopped on the bus to take me back towards the resort to Shark's Cove.
Salmon spinach salad from Haleiwa Joes
The line for Matsumoto's wrapped around the side of the store that isn't seen in this photo.
Shark's Cove was a challenge and a surprise. The area is very rocky which means it's slippery and hard to get out into the water. Plus the waves are strong which only makes it more challenging. There isn't really a beach there but rather rocks and crushed shells which are quite painful to step on. But, all these difficulties are worth it when you get out into the reef area. The water was so clear and the fish were abundant, colorful, and huge. I think I may have even saw some kind of tuna! I definitely saw moorish idols, parrot fish, angelfish, wrasses, parrot fish, and some absolutely enormous blue iridescent fish that I don't know the name of. All in all a great snorkeling time. The only downsides were that I was getting cold since I didn't have a rash guard on and my rental mask was leaking so I had to take frequent breaks to empty it. When I got back on land I learned that the people who stored their stuff right next to mine had their purse stolen while they were in the water! That totally sucked and made me feel thankful that all my stuff was in tact.
Sharks Cove tidepool area that looked fun but since the rocks were so slippery, I did not enter.
Instead I snorkeled in this area.
After getting out the water I was hungry but super watchful for the next bus since I didn't want to miss it. I ordered a mahi mahi sandwich at Pupukea Grill which is conveniently located next to the bus stop. When I got the sandwich I knew it was bad. First of all, there was cheese! The list of ingredients never mentioned cheese and so I was mad. Then looking at the mahi mahi it was thin, dry and overcooked. The macaroni salad was pretty tasteless too. So basically I paid for a bag of chips. I was going to complain but the bus came and I just wanted to leave and find some tasty food at the resort.
Pupukea Grill - yucky cheesy grossness
Back at the resort, after a shower and some cable television, I made my way down to Ola. Ola is the outdoor restaurant where the dining scenes of Forgetting Sarah Marshall took place. Naturally I was excited to experience this food and setting. I got a table on the beach facing the water. It was really, really nice. The only awkward part is the whole eating alone thing, which "Peter" in the movie also experienced. The wait staff were friendly but they did expect someone else with me and they kind of looked at me funny when I said I was by myself. For dinner I ordered the Hamakua Mushroom Orzo with their fish of the day (Mahi Mahi) and garlic fries, which, according to Yelp, are great. The orzo was pretty tasty and very fresh tasting, but I thought it was a little too watery/saucy. The mahi mahi was AMAZING! It was so fresh that it flaked off without any effort at all. It was so tender and juicy too. Mahi mahi is a pretty dense fish, but this tasted quite light. And the garlic fries were SO GOOOOD! Initially they came out drenched in butter (On Yelp reviewers had said it was olive oil but I could see the butter bubbles). I explained my allergy and they brought out another version that was just garlic, green onions and oil. So hot, and crunchy and garlicky. Mmmm. I read Dune and watched the water as I ate. I took my time with dinner since I had ordered so much food. I really enjoyed my meal and setting.
Ola from the back
My view as I dined, sort of sad no one was dining with me though.
Yummy mahi mahi with vegan orzo
Oh goodness, the most tasty garlic fries I've ever had!
I headed back up to my room for the night after dinner. I was so exhausted from my super long day and activities that I sat out on my lanai for a while watching the sunset.
I was in bed around 8pm and watched lots and lots of TV, mostly Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Hi Kimi!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jane and I'm with Dwellable.
I was looking for blog posts about Laie to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, drop me a line at Jane (at) Dwellable (.com)
Hope to hear from you :)
Jane