The A-Personality in Paradise

I KNOW ALL ABOUT the restorative powers of Hawaii. I can appreciate the peace that comes from gazing out over the endless blue Pacific. For about a minute. And then I have to be in it. Or on it. Or under it. We’re talking A-personality here. Gotta keep moving. That’s why, when I go to Hawaii, I come to Oahu.

The beaches here are lovely. No less so than the beaches of Maui or Kauai or Hawaii. But on Oahu, when you opt out of a beach day, the options are endless. I’m here just three days and four nights, splitting my stay between the luxurious Halekulani on Waikiki and Kahala Hotel & Resort. Both have histories of winning the coveted AAA Five-Diamond award.

The hotels are marvelous, but they’re just home base for an assault on the island from land and sea. On day one, the assault begins predawn. My itinerary has me out the door at 5:30, driving to the leeward coast and Waianae harbor, where Wild Side Specialty Tours’ 42-foot catamaran Island Spirit waits to put me on the water and under it—snorkeling with the spinner dolphins and sea turtles.

Dolphins can be moody, according to our marine biologist, Dani Bordon. On this day, the dolphins have major attitude. When our boat draws near, they take off. In the water, I finally come close to three of them, attempting to follow. But dolphins can reach speeds up to 35 miles an hour. Even at my most frantic, that’s fast for me. But the sea turtles? Ha! I do laps around them.

There’s a bonus on this late-winter day. The humpback whales are on their annual mating and birthing migration. Breaching and spouting, they provide a spectacular show of sight and—thanks to Dani’s hydraphone—sound. Through underwater amplification, we hear moaning and twanging—like cattle lowing, or someone playing a saw. I may not be swimming with the whales, but we are getting up-close and personal.

Second day out, I’m on terra firma—motoring over the Likelike Highway to the windward side, and an appointment with the prehistoric. Destination: Kualoa Ranch.

The entrance to the 4,000-acre cattle ranch is unimpressive. To get to the action, visitors must pass through a souvenir shop (puka shells and chocolate-covered macadamia nuts) and Auntie Pat’s Paniolo Café (cafeteria-style teriyaki steak, anyone?). Back of the house is another story. Here, they offer horseback rides, a jungle expedition, a ranch-and-movie-set tour and—for the more adventuresome—ATV rides deep into the Kaaawa Valley, filming site for Jurassic Park and TV’s Lost.

At the sign-up desk, I ask Joshua Christie if we should watch out for dinosaurs. “Why do you think we had you sign the waiver?” he shoots back.

This is not an extreme sport—the ATV engines have governors limiting them to 10 miles per hour—but it’s rough terrain. At the start, there are four of us, including our guide, Kaipo Lau. But one, a young Japanese woman with arms as thin as the handlebars, washes out on the training course, leaving three.

About halfway through our ride over hills, into valleys and through streams—at a ravine, we spook a small herd of cattle and their calves—we come to a clearing where the lush, green mountains rise thousands of feet above. Kaipo instructs us to turn off our engines, and the quiet is startling. “This,” he says, “is where the ancient warriors came to relax after a battle.” Of course.

My third and final day, I’m operating out of the Kahala Hotel & Resort, with two items left on the agenda: a 1 3/4-mile hike up to the rim of Diamondhead, and a final encounter with dolphins. Here, in the hotel’s own lagoon—and under the watchful eye of their trainers—they can’t escape me.

There are six Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in the rotation for the hotel’s interactive Dolphin Quest programs. I’m in the water first with Kolohe, who’s promptly sidelined by trainer Jessica Aschettino for “inattention.” (What’s up with this dolphin attitude?) He’s replaced by his half-brother, Kai Nalu. Kai and I quickly come to an understanding, and before we’re through, we’re getting on famously.

“These dolphins understand about 150 of our words and hand signals,” Jessica says. Pretty smart, I’m thinking.

“And how many of their words do you understand?” I ask.

She smiles. “None, really,” she says.

If You Go
Hawaiian Airlines offers daily non-stops between San Diego and Honolulu. For price information and reservations, call 800-367-5320 or go to hawaiianair.com. Rates at the Halekulani start at $385 a night for a garden-view room and range to $5,500 a night for the Vera Wang Suite. Information: 800-367-2343 or halekulani.com. Rooms at the Kahala Hotel & Resort start at $395 and range up to $4,600 for the presidential suite. Information: 800-367-7525. Better rates are available on the Web site: kahalaresort.com. Dolphin Quest adventures at the Kahala, for ages 11 and up, start at $185. For information on adventures at Kualoa Ranch, call 808-237-7321 or go to kualoaranch.com. For information on sailing and snorkeling adventures at Wild Side Specialty Tours, phone 808-306-7273 or go to sailhawaii.com.

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