Hawaii Part 3: Hunger Games Beach, Pipeline, Secret Island

While in Laie, we stayed at a cute little place we found on Airbnb. It was a converted shipping container with an outdoor toilet and shower. It had that Hawaiian laid-back vibe that made it fun, and it was super convenient to the things we wanted to do. There aren't many places to stay on the North Shore - by design - so this worked perfectly for us. It was private and comfortable and super cute!

The view from the lanai.

A less desirable feature of our little place was the company. One night, I went out to the bathroom and came face-to-face with a giant spider probably five inches in diameter, then that morning we met this little gecko friend on the wall inside our room. Everyone says the lizards are your friends - they eat the spiders - but I'm not trying to suddenly wake up with a lizard on my face, and I honestly don't believe this six-inch long lizard could eat that massive, hairy spider.

The next morning, we picked up Megan Goodman and her boyfriend Johnny Aisake and went to breakfast at the Hukilau Cafe in Laie. We tried all the Hawaiian-esque pancakes - macadamia nut, coconut, and banana - and the Hawaiian french toast, which was made with sweet Hawaiian bread. The macadamia nut pancakes were my favorite.

From there, we set out for the beach. We went to a beach near Turtle Bay which they used in filming the second Hunger Games movie, so it has been dubbed the Hunger Games beach. It was a short walk from the road down to the beach through a beautiful little forest which had some banyan trees. The banyan trees were also in some movies, including one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, so you know I was all about that.

Johnny, being the jungle man that he is, showed off by climbing one of the vines, swinging on it, then transferring over to another one like a true Tarzan.

The beach was beautiful. I don't know what I'm saying. All the beaches we visited were beautiful.

One of the reasons Megan and Johnny wanted to take us to this beach was because there are some great coconut trees there, which Johnny liked to climb. He grew up climbing coconut trees in Fiji, so he likes to show off I guess and climb to the top and get coconuts then crack them open to eat. We chose a tall tree for him intentionally, and he scaled it like a champ.

Everything was going great until he got to the top. He was feeling tired, I guess, so he got himself up above the coconuts to take a rest but the branch he was resting on broke and he didn't have the strength to catch himself. He held onto another branch for a minute and slid down it, then lost his grip and fell. He hit another tree on his way down, which broke his fall enough to lessen the final impact on the ground. It was a totally surreal moment to watch him fall out of a forty-foot tree. It was so fast but felt like it was in slow motion at the same time. Fortunately, he came away with only some scrapes and bruises and a slight concussion. It could have been so much worse, and I'm so grateful it wasn't. We took him and Megan back to campus where he got checked out then they rested the rest of the day.

With our afternoon unexpectedly clear, Jaime and I decided to go watch the surfers at the Bonzai Pipeline, which is a popular surf spot known for big waves. Most of the surfers that we watched were young kids - I think they were all on fall break. They were pretty impressive!

I was pretty unimpressed with the waves. I was really hoping for bigger walls of water. After we'd been there for a while, though, I decided to go out and play in the waves for a bit and turns out they look a lot bigger when they're right in front of you. :) I got beat up quite a bit, but it was actually really fun. Our afternoon there was super chill and it was one of my days in Hawaii - I liked being at the beach, having something to watch, and enjoying the weather.

People watching is also pretty fun there. Some teenagers next to us were doing back flips off the edge of the sand.

We were treated to a pretty cool sunset. The sky looked totally clear, but once the sun started going down we realized there was an imperceptible level of clouds. The sun was pink and fiery and dropped below the clouds for a minute but then resurfaced before going down completely.

On our way back to Megan's, we stopped at the famous shrimp trucks and got some garlic shrimp and coconut shrimp. It was yummy, but like all food in Hawaii, was totally overpriced.

The next morning, we went with Megan and Johnny and the Fiji Club to a place called Secret Island. It's a private beach that has lots of amenities available for use. The Fiji Club provided delicious food and we hung out sunbathing, kayaking, and paddleboarding. They also had ping pong, volleyball, and canoes. Johnny was still recovering from his fall so he didn't do much, and I hate kayaking so I didn't do that, but we still had a great time.

Me, Jaime, and Megan under our palm canopy

Megan and Jaime kayaking

Jaime and I paddleboarding. She got up on her knees then on her feet eventually, but I just let her paddle me around and enjoyed the ride. :)

These two are just the cutest. Both very happy, friendly, kind, and wonderful. They're a great couple and just good people. We had a great time with them, and they were fabulous hosts.

Those cliffs! I loved how everything was so green.

We were all pretty tired so we chilled out that afternoon, watching TV at our place, then we went to get burgers at 7 Brothers and acai bowls at Angel's. Then we watched a movie at our place.