Ko Olina Beach Club

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The kids in our group loved playing at the lagoons, swiming pools, water slide and hot tubs. They really didn't care so much for the restaurants but did like Fia Fia and hula lessons. The Marriott Ihilani has a pond full of hammer head sharks that the kids really liked to watch.

There is a kiddie area with a sand pool in front of the Hale Moana Tower. Here is a picture of it from the Kona Tower.

 

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The Marriott Beach Club is walking distance to Aulani. Aulani is the amberish colored building.

 

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The lagoons are nice. Aulani has Hawaian outrigger rides at the lagoon in front of their resort. It is really easy to just hang out at the resort.

Every one liked the flea market at the Stadium. This is only open 3 days a week and a really good place to buy 7 for $20 shirts. The shark tooth necklaces are only $1 here compared to $15 at the resort. Hats are cheap here too. You can barter here as there is alot of competion for your dollars.

The snorkel / dolphin trip from Ko Olina was something everyone enjoyed. We saw sea turtles, tropical fish and dolphins. There are sea turtles in the lagoons in front of the resort. They hang out in the roped off area which has a small rip tide except during slack tide. The rip is not bad and ends up in shallow rocky area. All the cool fish hang out by the rocks.

 

[Art]

This is more for Mom and Dad, but we did the sunset cruise from the resort when we were at Ko Olina last week.

Again, maybe not for the kids, but we went up to the North Shore and watched the Billabong Surf meet. Last Thursday, there were 10 to 16 foot waves in the Banzai Pipeline, and the surfers claimed that it was just about perfect. Very slow traffic in the area.

For a special food treat, we stopped at one of the shrimp trucks in Kahuku on the north shore. About $12 for 10 to 12 really fresh shrimp in spicy garlic sauce. It is a certain challenge; the shrimp are cooked in their shells so it can be a slightly messy meal. We did some cooking on the grills at Ko'Olina; our favorite item was some fresh ahi that we bought at the Tamura market in Waianae. Much superior to the frozen version that we get on the mainland.

If you haven't been to Hawaii before, be prepared for culture shock when you hit the grocery stores. Everyday prices (milk $6/gallon) are like mainland hotel prices, so you can imagine what Marriott and Disney charge for their hotel restaurants.

An excellent place to feed the kids breakfast and lunch is the Koa (no, it's not a campground) Pancake House in the shopping center in Kapolei. Good food and very reasonable prices.

Art