Normandy Adventures: North Shore

We rented our car for 2 nights so today we’re going to the North Shore where the beaches are nicer, they have good food (including shaved ice), and a different side of Oahu. For breakfast, Norm bought spam musubi from Musubi Café Iyasume and it was delicious!! The best was the egg and cucumber spam :) After a quick breakfast we headed to the North Shore!

Our breakfast everyday

Get in my mouthhhhh

We initially thought the North Shore would be less touristy but of course, by the time we got there, we were surrounded by Japanese tourists =P Our first stop was to find some wifi to find a beach and a washroom. Luckily, the first place we stopped had both and Matsumoto's shave ice! The shave ice is reasonably priced (~$3.50) plus we added condensed milk on top which sounds very sweet but it actually adds such an interesting texture and flavour to the shave ice. Before we left the plaza, Norm bought a spam t-shirt for himself and his brother. In a nearby surf shop, Surf N Sea, we bought a set of good quality snorkeling gear which makes a world of difference when snorkeling. Norm was stuck with the crappy snorkeling gear we bought for $12.99 at an ABC store since he's a way better swimmer than me =P

Long lines

Matsumotoooo

Making our shave ice

Condensed milk topping...mmmMMMM

Aloha

With our new snorkeling gear, we made our way to Turtle Bay and the name did not disappoint! There were so many huge turtles by the shore and in the water. For a while, we were snorkeling in the water and didn't see any turtles but then from the corner of my eye I saw something moving and it turned out to be a giant turtle! It was very startling and I almost panicked but good thing Norm was there.

Chilling out by the shore

Say cheese!

Panicking... Getting too close....!

After swimming with the turtles, we drove around the North Shore to see if there was anything else to see. It was all very beautiful and scenic but it was mostly beach after beach after beach. We had our share of the beach so we made our way back to where we came from. On the way back we stopped at Waimea Valley, which we didn't pay to enter but it is a historical nature park.

Run Mandy Run

What we saw without paying

Before we left the North Shore, I debated getting another shave ice but instead we got some grub from Giovanni's Shrimp Truck which is located in a parking lot with a couple of other food trucks. The truck is eclectically decorated and the shrimp scampi was deeeelicious! Definitely worth the garlic breath after =P

Giovanni's eclectic food truck

Shrimp scampi (hot hot sauce for Norm)

Pre-dinner

By the time we got back to Honolulu, we dropped off our car and went to dinner at the Doraku Sushi located in the Royal Hawaiian Center. We realized that restaurants with two $$ on Yelp are actually $$$$$ :( The food was mediocre and pricey. At least before dinner we caught the end of a luau dance and after dinner I got a souped up shave ice :D