North Shore Adventures

We visited the North Shore area a couple of times during our vacation, it was about a 45 minute drive from where we were staying in quiet Ko Olina. Our rental car was an adorable red jeep, the perfect vehicle to zip around the island in.

Even though the drive was rather long, the views were amazing and made the drive all the more enjoyable.

On one of our visits to the North Shore, we started our day with breakfast at Cafe Haleiwa, they are famous for their legendary breakfast menu.

We each got one of their famous Tropical Delight waffles. In hindsight, we probably should have shared, they were massive! But so, so delicious with all our favorite hawaiian flavors.

After our huge, carb fueled breakfast, we needed to walk some of it off, so we headed to Laniakea Beach to see if there were any giant sea turtles out and about.

Laniakea Beach is most well known for it's turtles, but it is also an absolutely gorgeous beach, it looks like a post card. It is also part of the 7-Mile Miracle, which makes up an area in the North Shore that is prime for big surfing waves during the winter time.  

For decades Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles have frequented Laniakea Beach more than any other spot on Oahu, which is why this area has taken on the name Turtle Beach. It is thought that the turtles love this rocky cove, because it provides a feeding ground with kelp and green moss that grows on the rocks below.

It is prohibited by federal law to touch, provoke or even get too close to these magnificent sea creatures, there are volunteers that devoted their time daily to roping off safe distance viewing areas, and answer questions that visitors may have about the sea turtles

While we were there, we were lucky enough to see Oliva-Dawn, a 44 year old Green Turtle, she was relaxing in the sand, enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Our second visit to the North Shore was basically all about getting some Matsumoto's shaved ice. I like shaved ice, it's not my go to favorite treat, but it's alright. I was excited to go here since it is such a well known, North Shore specialty, but I don't know if I would have put it at the top my, must go to places.

HOWEVER, this shaved ice was SO GOOD that it completely blew me away. I crave it whenever I think about it, I never thought shaved ice could be that good. 

I got a combination of Lilikoi, guava and pina colada flavors all drizzled with creamy, sweetened condensed milk. The ice was almost fluffy, the texture was smooth and unlike any shaved ice I have ever had. It was pure heaven. I ate mine so fast and wished we could have gotten this treat every single day.

All our meals on the North Shore came from food trucks, there were so many good ones to choose from it was hard it narrow it down to only a few. Lu got some delicious Korean BBQ from this adorable truck, Lex got nachos from Surf N' Salsa, and I got the most flavorful chicken quesadilla from North Shore Tacos. It was fun that we could all get what we wanted and not have to settle on just one place or type of food.

We would then take our food truck lunches and have a picnic either on the beach or with a view of the beach, Hawaii livin' is what dreams are made of.

We had one beach day on the North Shore, there are just too many fun things to see there! Plus, most of our beaching was done at our hotel. We chose Pipline Beach so that we could enjoy the sun and the waves as well as all the surfers. 

We set up camp and settled in fora day in the sun. We had a few little visitors come hang out with us. There are wild chickens all over Hawaii and I am here for it! Lu and I had such a fun time watching them.

It was the most perfect beach day!

When we were walking back to our car, we saw this mama and her baby chicks and had to stop to watch them for a while. I probably stayed and watched them too long and I definitely took too many pictures of them, but they were just too cute, I couldn't help it.

The little brown chick was sassing it's mom the entire time we watched them, it was none stop chirping at her.

While we were on the North Shore, we also visited the Dole Plantation and Giovanni's Garlic Shrimp truck, but because they are both such big deals, they got their own post. Stay tuned for pictures from those excursions!