Category Archive: Oahu

Oahu’s Mt. Olympus: The Wild Green Yonder above Waikiki

Fifteen minutes after twirling a cocktail umbrella at Waikiki Beach, you can be embarking on one of the best tropical ridge hikes in Hawaii. The trek to Mt. Olympus (as students at the… Continue reading

Is this Hawaii’s sexiest beach?

Dreamy Lanikai Beach on Windward Oahu is pure eye candy, with cupcake islands just offshore its silky sands. Flowering shrubs line the paths from an uber-cool beach cottage community. Don’t be surprised to… Continue reading

The yin and the yang of Waikiki Beach

Most people think of Oahu’s Waikiki Beach as a kind of Las Vegas, minus the casinos, plus the ocean. And that view is true. The two miles of sand—from Ala Wai Harbor to… Continue reading

Everybody’s gone surfin’ at Waimea Bay

The North Shore of Oahu boasts the Mt. Rushmore of pro-surfing venues—Pipeline, Haleiwa, Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay—where real-life beach boys and girls ride unreal waves. The shore also has a few dozen… Continue reading

How the history of Hawaii foretells the future of the Earth

There are eight main Hawaiian Islands, created by erupting lava in a universe of ocean, just as there are eight planets (sorry Pluto) adrift in space. Hawaii is easily the world’s most isolated… Continue reading

Guess which Hawaiian island has the most trails

With an urban corridor that is home to nearly a million people—more than double the rest of the Islands combined—you wouldn’t think that Oahu has more trailheads than Maui, Kauai, or the Big… Continue reading

Oahu’s Ho’omaluhia: From the gates of Hell to the Garden of Eden

Running down the middle of Oahu is the Ko’olau Range, a razorback ridge (really, it’s only a foot wide at places) with steep green cliffs, nearly 3,000 feet high, that are choked with… Continue reading

Waikiki: Wacky Wacky

Waikiki Beach is all about now, every day, 24/7. It’s totally off the wall, literally in this photo of a boogie boarder joining his brothers and sisters to ride the shorebreak at The… Continue reading