Inside each tank is an adult day octopus—called hee in Hawaiian—native to Hawaii waters and active during the daytime. At Kanaloa Octopus Farm, it’s a look and touch kind of experience. It’s a sunny Friday afternoon and I’m on a tour with 20 other people. Kanaloa Octopus Farm is located at scenic Keahole Point, about 10 […]
You know the saying that it’s all about the journey and not the destination? Most people think that refers to life, but we’re going to say it was originally spoken about driving the Road to Hana. Maui’s famously serpentine drive is an all-day (or better yet, multi-day adventure) that’s packed with waterfalls, hiking trails, beaches,
When thinking of Oahu’s surf, a few images come to mind. The throaty barrels at Banzai Pipeline. The dangerous, shallow reefs of Rocky Point. The large, gargantuan waves of Waimea Bay. But really, from the North Shore to Honolulu’s south coasts, there are surf spots geared toward all skill levels, from beginner to advanced. Check
“Paddle, paddle, paddle!” Dustin Tester shouts to Elena, who digs her hands swiftly into the warm Maui waters. With a gentle push from Tester, the board Elena is lying atop gets picked up by the oncoming wave’s momentum, and now she’s coasting. Slow, but steady to her feet, Elena stands on her large, foam surfboard—
“There’s something funny about putting on a wetsuit and then walking across a golf course,” jokes Tim Rollo, our Maui scuba instructor from Tiny Bubbles Scuba, about our nighttime excursion. We’re strolling the beach path that’s right next to the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course, clad in wetsuits for our night dive at Puu Kekaa, aka
Charging the biggest waves you can find. Knifing the drop on a 30-foot bomb. Hacking and slashing, turning and smacking every wave that comes your way, big or small. That’s what it means to be a female surfer. And through the persistence of these determined female big-wave riders, efforts to change the course of
I’m starting to lose my grip. Ten feet above the ground, my toe is cinched in a small inlet and I’m reaching hard for the next hold. My hands should be sweating, but they’re covered in white chalk, which keeps them dry. My focus is entirely set on not falling off this rock. I make
Snaking across the upper rim of Kauai’s Nualolo Valley, a footpath thrusts its travelers onto a sheer edge. That’s where I find myself this sunny December morning, teetering on the ridge after a two-hour traipse through damp woods where spongy mushrooms and delicate wildflowers grow. Pitted against an unblemished blue sky that melts seamlessly into the hue of the
When I first catch sight of Armin Engert outside his hangar in Hana, he’s wheeling a Radio Flyer wagon—and it’s filled with three jugs of gasoline. It’s a practical means of transporting fuel out here at the Hana Airport, where bananas and papayas grow right by the runway and pigs rustle in the bush. Compared
In the early morning darkness, brittle ʻaʻā lava rock cracks, then crumbles beneath my feet. Navigating my way toward Hawaiʻi Island’s rugged western shoreline, there is barely enough light to see the path ahead. I stop briefly and gaze at the infinite spread of glistening stars, the same twinkling lights early Polynesians used many centuries
No one is allowed to visit Hawaii’s Forbidden Isle—the 70-square-mile island, which on a clear day can be spied from Kauai’s west coast—unless they are invited by Niihau owners the Robinson family, or by one of its 70 full-time Native Hawaiian residents. The one exception is reserved for those who book a tour through the
Birdsong and the quiet splash of my paddle: Those are the only sounds I hear as I kayak upstream against a gentle current. Bright orange hau blossoms float in the eddies. Fish dart in and out of still, sunlit stretches of water. To either side, there are fern-covered hillsides and rain forest greenery in the
