1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (113 page)

W
HERE
: 3 miles east of Waikiki. Tel 808-587-0285;
www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dsp/oahu
.
H
OW
: The Clean Air Team (Tel 808-948-3299;
www.honolulufreebies.com
) offers guided hikes to the crater entrance the 1st Sat of the month.
B
EST TIME
: early morning, to beat the heat.

Snorkeling Where Only Royalty Once Swam

Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawaii

For a first-time snorkeler in tropical waters, it might seem like a psychedelic dream: A cloud of black-masked raccoon butterfly fish in brilliant yellow flitters by, followed by a swarm of black-and-white
Hawaiian damselfish hovering close to their favorite coral head, while parrot fish in green, yellow, and orange dart in and out. Welcome to O’ahu’s most popular snorkeling spot, Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, with its Hollywood-perfect 2,000-foot crescent-shaped beach bordered by palm trees. Once a volcanic crater, now breached by the sea, Hanauma used to be the exclusive beach of the royal families and the place where the sport of uma (hand-wrestling) was performed, but today visitors arrive every day by the thousands. They’re drawn by the gorgeous white-sand beach, shallow water near the shoreline, and more than 100 different species of abundant marine life. Fish identification charts sold in local shops will help the uninitiated I
D
the hawk, surgeon, trigger, file, puffer, trunk, and other fish living in these calm, warm waters.

Hanauma means “curved bay” in the Hawaiian language.

Most snorkelers explore close to shore, in the safe 10-foot-deep inner bay, which is almost always crowded. Serious scuba divers go farther out, shooting “the slot” through the reef’s edge to get to turbulent Witch’s Brew cove and braving strong currents in 70-foot depths at the bay mouth to see coral gardens, turtles, and sharks. Hanauma Bay is a conservation district, so you cannot touch, take, or feed any marine life here. Before putting a toe
in the water, visitors are guided through the $13 million, 10,000-square-foot Marine Education Center, which houses a variety of marine exhibits and a 7-minute orientation video about the Marine Life Sanctuary. Rent fins, masks, and snorkel equipment at the beach, jump in, and enjoy the underwater wonder of it all.

W
HERE
: 10 miles east of Waikiki. Tel 808-396-4229;
www.co.honolulu.hi.us/parks/facility/hanaumabay
.
W
HEN
: closed Tues.
H
OW
: A shuttle beachbus runs frequently from Waikiki to Hanauma Bay (tel 808-848-5555;
www.thebus.org
).
B
EST TIME
: early, about 8
A.M.
, on weekday mornings to avoid crowds and parking problems.

Hawaii’s Past, on the Streets of Its Capital

O’ahu, Hawaii

Hawaii is both an isolated archipelago and a crossroads of civilization, with a fittingly rich history. That history lives in Honolulu, and not just in a museum or in the state archives. It’s there in a voyaging canoe at
Honolulu Harbor, reminding every passerby of the oceangoing Polynesians who discovered the islands 1,500 years ago. It’s there in the landmark Kawaiaha’o Church, a reminder of the profound impact of the missionaries who brought Christianity in the early 19th century. And it’s there in the handsome ’Iolani Palace, the last home of the Hawaiian monarchy and subsequently the seat of government of the Republic, Territory, and finally State of Hawaii, until a new capitol building was constructed behind it in 1969.

A historical tour of the islands starts at the Hawaii Maritime Center. A sister institution of the Bishop Museum (see p. 960), it tells the story of seafarers from the ancient Polynesian voyagers all the way up to the days of the S
S
Lurline,
which from about 1933 to 1963 brought tourists from San Francisco on five-day cruises. Exhibits cover the history of surfing and canoe racing, the huge seaplanes that once delivered mail to the islands, and the changing relationship between man and whale in Hawaii, from hunting to watching. Outside, the
Hokule’a,
a double-hulled voyaging canoe that in 1976 reenacted the Polynesian voyage of discovery, traveling to and from Tahiti, is moored next to the
Falls of Clyde,
a four-masted schooner that ran tea from China to Oahu in the late 19th century.

In 1820, Christian missionaries arrived from America’s East Coast to convert a people they considered heathen. The Mission Houses Museum preserves three of their historic buildings, restored with period furnishings. Across the street stands the New England–style Kawaiaha’o Church, the first permanent Christian church in the islands. Finished in 1842 after five years of collaboration between the missionaries and Hawaiians (who were ordered to work by King Kamehameha III), the church was built with 14,000 coral blocks—each weighing half a ton—taken from the offshore reefs. Sunday’s 9:00
A.M.
service is conducted in the Hawaiian language.

Perhaps the saddest reminder of history for many Hawaiians is the ’Iolani Palace, an extraordinary four-story structure in Italianate Hawaiian Renaissance style. Built by King David Kalakaua between 1878 and 1882 at a cost of $360,000 (an amount that nearly bankrupted the Hawaiian kingdom), it was the
first electrified building in Honolulu—it even beat the White House and Buckingham Palace to the punch. The last member of Hawaiian royalty to occupy the palace was Queen Lili’uokalani, who was overthrown by U.S. Marines on January 17, 1893, ending the Hawaiian monarchy. Today the palace galleries include exhibits of the crown jewels, ancient feathered cloaks, and the royal china.

’Iolani Palace is one of the only royal palaces in the U.S.

H
AWAII
M
ARITIME
C
ENTER
: Tel 808-536-6373;
www.bishopmuseum.org/exhibits/hmc/hmc.html
.
M
ISSION
H
OUSES
M
USEUM
: Tel 808-531-0481;
www.missionhouses.org
.
When:
closed Sun–Mon.
K
AWAIAHA’O
C
HURCH
: Tel 808-522-1333.
’I
OLANI
P
ALACE
: Tel 800-532-1051 or 808-522-0832;
www.iolanipalace.org
.
When:
closed Sun–Mon.
B
EST TIME
: weekend closest to the 10th of June for the King Kamehameha Celebration (
www.hawaii.gov/dags/kkcc
).

Plate Lunch, Poke, and a Side of Spam

O’ahu, Hawaii

Honolulu’s hundreds of restaurants range from flagships of celebrity chefs to humble dives where ethnic cuisine is cheap and plentiful. The dining scene here is as exciting as that of any major American city, thanks to
Honolulu’s diversity and place at the crossroads of the Pacific: Within a couple of blocks you can find a superb sushi bar, a top-notch steakhouse, a lunch counter serving spicy Filipino delicacies, a local-style plate-lunch wagon, a classic American diner, and an upscale exemplar of Hawaiian regional cuisine.

It wasn’t long ago that few foodies would deign to use “Hawaiian” and “cuisine” in the same sentence. But in the early 1990s, a band of creative local chefs combined Hawaiian ingredients with a variety of traditions to produce cross-cultural fusions—Euro-Asian and Indo-Pacific cooking. A revered figure in Hawaiian regional cuisine, Alan Wong works his magic at his eponymous restaurant and its more casual branch, the Pineapple Room. He combines tastes from all the ethnic groups of Hawaii with the organic, seasonal ethic of California cuisine to create signature dishes such as macadamia-coconut crusted lamb chops with Asian ratatouille.

Wonder chef Roy Yamaguchi created Roy’s, Hawaii’s biggest success story, with a string of more than two dozen restaurants stretching from Guam to Pebble Beach. The original site, a hectic, fun spot at Hawaii Kai, opened in 1988, and still serves Yamaguchi’s signature blackened island ahi with spicy soy mustard butter. George Mavrothalassitis, a James Beard Award winner and another of the original group of chefs who gave birth to Hawaiian regional cuisine, combines Hawaiian style with influences from his native France. His well-known Honolulu bistro, Chef Mavro, introduced the trend of serving wine pairings with each course.

At the other end of the culinary spectrum is Hawaii’s “local food,” the cultural hybrids of plate lunches,
poke,
and shave ice. The plate lunch usually comes from a lunch wagon and consists of fried meat or fish, “two scoops rice,” plus a macaroni salad, and a sprinkling of julienned cabbage. Heavy gravy is often the condiment of choice; the beverage, a soft drink in a paper cup or straight out of the can. Poke (pronounced po-K
AY
), cubed raw fish seasoned with onions and seaweed, was made famous by local chef Sam Choy of Sam Choy’s Breakfast, Lunch, Crab, & Big Aloha Brewery and Sam Choy’s Diamond Head. For dessert there’s the ultra-simple culinary creation known as shave ice, the island version of a snow cone, only served with shaved instead of crushed ice. Locals swear that Matsumoto Shave Ice, on Kamehameha Highway in Haleiwa, serves the best.

A deliciously authentic representation of local food is the unassuming ’Ono Hawaiian Foods, a dive featuring island dishes you’ve likely never heard of—such as sweet
haupia
pudding made of coconut milk—as well as that old-time Hawaiian favorite, Spam. Along with Guam and Saipan, Hawaii accounts for the greatest per-capita consumption of Hormel’s “spiced ham.” Spam
musubi,
a popular snack, is a sushi-style combination of Spam, rice, and seaweed.

A
LAN
W
ONG’S
: Tel 808-949-2526;
www.alanwongs.com
.
Cost:
dinner $60.
T
HE
P
INEAPPLE
R
OOM
: Tel 808-945-8881;
www.alanwongs.com
.
Cost:
dinner $50.
R
OY’S
: Hawaii Kai. Tel 808-396-7697;
www.roysrestaurant.com
.
Cost:
dinner $60.
C
HEF
M
AVRO
: Tel 808-944-4714;
www.chefmavro.com
.
Cost:
dinner $75.
S
AM
C
HOY’S
& B
IG
A
LOHA
B
REWERY
: Tel 808-545-7979;
www.samchoy.com
.
Cost:
dinner $50.
S
AM
C
HOY’S
D
IAMOND
H
EAD
: Tel 808-732-8645;
www.samchoy.com
.
Cost:
dinner $60.
M
ATSUMOTO
S
HAVE
I
CE
: Haleiwa. Tel 808-637-4827.
Cost:
$2.
’O
NO
H
AWAIIAN
F
OODS
: Tel 808-737-2275.
Cost:
lunch $20.

A Jam-Packed Cultural Stir-Fry

O’ahu, Hawaii

As the sun’s rays first cross over the Ko’olau Mountains, Honolulu’s diminutive, five-by-three-block Chinatown awakens with a riot of sounds, smells, and colors. The dialects of at least half a dozen different
Asian countries fill the air, as vendors set up their wares in open markets. A heady mixture of smells wafts through: pungent dried herbs, aromatic blends of different ethnic breakfasts, fragrant blooming lei flowers, and burning incense. The dawn illuminates the area’s unique architecture and dramatic colors. By 9
A.M.
, crowds have filled the sidewalks. They move not with the slow gait common in more laid-back parts of Hawaii, but with the hurried steps of bargain-hunters, the swift shuffle of early morning shoppers pulling their already overflowing carts, and the purposeful strides of businesspeople talking loudly on tiny cell phones. The only people to pause are wide-eyed tourists trying to assimilate the rapid assault on their senses.