We are just off the leeward coast of Oahu, a world away from bustling Waikiki near the Ko Olina Resort & Marina and the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa (http://www.ihilani.com/) where we are staying. Here, we’re snorkeling with marine biologist Tori Cullins and her crew at Wilde Side Specialty Tours (www.sailhawaii.com) at a spot where sea turtles return again and again to have fish clean them of sand and algae
We swam with wild spinner dolphins—two pods, maybe 30 of them racing around our boat; there are very few places in the world to do that, I learn. The Hawaiian spinner dolphins feed at night, we learn, and return to this area close to Hawaii’s western coast to play and rest.
This is Disney’s first foray into Hawaii and is designed so that families vacation here in a new way, promises Djuan Rivers, Vice President of the new resort as he leads me on a hard hat tour.
Kauai is Adventure-Central and my daughters, young cousin and oldest friend—a girls’ trip!-are sure seeing that this morning. “It is the place to come for outdoor activities,” declares Maui Native Eric Dee.
“We just want to relax,” my adventure-loving crew says. So that’s what we do, and there couldn’t be a better place to do it—with or without kids—than this Hyatt Resort with its network of pools–one with a water slide we all love and one just for adults, a gentle salt water lagoon for the youngest vacationers.
Hanalei and beyond makes me think this is what Hawaii used to be like—one-lane bridges, narrow winding roads, shaved ice stands selling flavors like Li Hing Mui (sweet Asian plum) and Guava, small shops with colorful Hawaiian shirts hanging outside.
Not bad for a morning on vacation. Other adventures include the chance to paddle along the Na Pali Coast along 2,000 foot sea cliffs, through sea caves, bike down Waimea Canyon, paddle the Wailua River or a kayak trip along with a zip line adventure.
It turns out that of all the endangered species of plants in the United States, two thirds are from Hawaii, and this research effort is designed to help these plants once again flourish
I’m traveling with my two daughters, Reggie and Melanie, my 15-year-old cousin Eva Weinberg, and my best friend, JoAnne Cagen. It is our last gasp of summer before the girls scatter back across the country to jobs in San Francisco, school in Colorado and Connecticut. The trip is especially poignant for JoAnne.
Nantucket — the only place in America that has the same name for the island, the county and the town — does have a well-deserved reputation for being preppy. “It is the only place you can wear pink pants and get away with it,”says one local.
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