To Oahu’s North Shore – Kualoa Ranch and Turtle Bay

Every visitor to Oahu needs to make the trek to the North Shore at least once. Most make it a day trip but this time we opted to spend four nights at Turtle Bay Resort so we could linger and enjoy all the North Shore has to offer!

So we said goodbye to Waikiki and headed across the Ko’olau Range via the beautiful Pali Highway, stopping by the lush Nuʻuanu Pali Overlook.

According to Wikipedia, “The Nuʻuanu Pali has been a vital pass from ancient times to the present because it is a low, traversable section of the Koʻolau mountain range that connects the leeward side of the mountains, Honolulu to the windward side, Kailua and Kāneʻohe.  The Nuʻuanu Pali was the site of the Battle of Nuʻuanu, one of the bloodiest battles in Hawaiian history, in which Kamehameha I conquered the island of Oʻahu, bringing it under his rule.”

The overcast and always windy overlook gave us views of the Ko’olau Cliffs, the highway below and the windward side of the island where we were headed.

Our first stop on the other side was at Kualoa Beach Park where the mountains meet the sea,

and you can see Mokoli’i island (aka ‘Chinaman’s Hat) offshore.

We stopped for lunch at Kualoa Ranch, a 4,000 acre private nature reserve and tourist destination, where many TV shows and movies have been filmed, including Jurassic Park which made the valley famous.

From there we continued on up the Kamehameha Highway and after a quick stop for shaved ice in Laie,

we arrived at Turtle Bay Resort which would be our home on the North Shore for the next five days.

We settled in, and had these views from our balcony

then had dinner by the pool and watched the sun go down.

It wouldn’t be the last time.

Stay tuned for more Hawaiian adventures!

~ Susanne